Thailand and Vietnam's leaders are turning diplomacy into a crackdown on activists. Today, 28 May, during To Lam’s official visit to Thailand, both leaders in a joint statement committed that neither country would allow its territory to be used for political activities against the other. They also pledged to strengthen extradition cooperation to suppress transnational dissent. In a region where authoritarian governments already hunt critics across borders, this is a dangerous

A victory for freedom of expression in Thailand! 🇹🇭 Today, the Thai Criminal Court dismissed the royal defamation and cybercrime charges against Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, founder of the progressive Future Forward movement and a key figure in Thailand’s pro-democracy struggle. The case came from his 2021 livestream criticizing the government’s mishandling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and its unfair favouring of Siam Bioscience, a company owned by King Maha ​Vajiralon

Bopha* is a woman environmental activist from Southeast Asia. She faced imprisonment for her activism and fled her country to survive. But the harassment only followed her in digital spaces. 👁️ As Bopha describes it, "Transnational Repression is a government tactic to shut down the voices of those who look for social justice.” 🚨 Repression continues online through digital threats or attacks: threatening messages, fake accounts, coordinated harassment, sexualised abuse, disi

The UN General Assembly 🇺🇳 has voted overwhelmingly to back the International Court of Justice’s landmark climate ruling, affirming that States have legal obligations to prevent climate harm and protect people from the climate crisis. ⚖️🌏 This is a major victory for climate justice, frontline communities, Indigenous Peoples, youth movements, and everyone who has been saying what polluters refused to hear: 🔸 Climate destruction is not “development.” 🔸 Climate inaction i

Laws drafted about communities, without communities, will never deliver justice for communities. ✊ At the ICAR Annual Meeting 2026, our Founder & Executive Director Emilie Palamy Pradichit brought one urgent message to this global gathering of corporate accountability leaders when it comes to #mHERDD laws: ⚖️ 𝗗𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱, 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘅-𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁...

Dear Manushyan, Dear Friend, Across Laos and Thailand, Indigenous Peoples continue to face systemic human rights abuses linked to business activities and development projects. The guardians of the land are being treated as obstacles to profit, conservation, and state control, while corporations and authorities move forward with impunity. Manushya’s two new UN submissions are grounded in the realities of Indigenous communities, including firsthand testimonies and community-led

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) Across the region, LGBTIQ+ people across the region are still punished for existing. In 🇧🇳 Brunei, homosexuality can carry the death penalty. In 🇮🇩 Aceh, Indonesia, same-sex relations are punished by caning. In 🇲🇾 Malaysia and 🇲🇲 Myanmar, homosexuality can mean prison. In 🇵🇭 the Philippines, transphobia reigns with discrimination and killings of trans-activists. And in 🇹🇭 Th

Borders are supposed to protect. So why are human rights defenders still being hunted in exile? Human Rights Watch has noted that, “Thailand has become a ‘swap mart’ for dissidents across the region, where governments cooperate to target critics beyond their own borders.” This is transnational repression (TNR). When states reach across borders to surveil, intimidate, silence, detain, forcibly return, or even physically harm those who speak out. From digital surveillance and o

On 14th May 2024, Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom, a 28-year-old pro-democracy activist from Thailand and member of Thaluwang, died in custody while in pre-trial detention. She had been detained after her bail was revoked in a lèse-majesté (Section 112) case and had gone on hunger strike to protest the denial of bail and the imprisonment of political dissidents. Bung should still be here. She was not convicted. She was not sentenced. She was a young woman human rights defender d

When diplomatic pressure cancelled the world's leading digital rights forum, we made a choice: keep going. Join us for a critical conversation that was meant to take place in Zambia, now coming to you through a webinar. 🌐 How the UN Cybercrime Treaty is Advancing Transnational Repression in Southeast Asia 📅 Monday, 29 June 2026 📍 LIVE on Manushya’s Facebook and YouTube 🕝 2:15 - 3:45 PM Kathmandu 🕞 3:30 - 5:00 PM Bangkok 🕧 6:30 - 8:00 PM Naarm 🌏 Across Southeast Asia, g

✂️ On 10 May 2026, in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 53, Bangkok, an online controversy became offline violence. A trans woman known as “Madam Lor” was surrounded by a large, angry crowd after a dispute that reportedly began with criticism of transgender Muslim women wearing hijabs, then escalated over alleged offensive remarks about Islam during a livestream. A restaurant meeting meant to ease tensions quickly turned into public humiliation: under intense pressure, she was made to apologi

For over 80 years, a heavy veil of silence has covered one of the most brutal chapters of World War II: the systematic sexual enslavement of over 200,000 women and girls in Southeast Asia by the Japanese Imperial Army. They were euphemistically called “Comfort Women”, but there was NOTHING comforting about military sexual slavery. Many were teenagers who were abducted and brought to “comfort stations” where they were raped around the clock by soldiers in occupied territories.

We jumped on the Millennial vs Gen Z social media trend, because hey, we're a proudly intergenerational feminist team at Manushya. And as a team of decolonial and intersectional feminists at Manushya, we don’t see the Global North and Global South as just geography. We see them as lived realities shaped by privilege, marginalisation, and structural inequality. You can live in the North and experience the realities of the South through poverty and exclusion. You can also live

In a Devex article by Rebecca L. Root, Manushya’s Founder & Executive Director Emilie Palamy Pradichit reveals how the cuts gutted life-saving protection systems for the growing number of repressed activists and citizen journalists. “When the USAID funding cuts came in, it became a question of life or death. There were several activists, including citizen journalists, who we were not able to protect right away,” Emilie Palamy said. At Manushya, the suspension of US funding fo

🌐 A feminist digital future is possible, BUT only if it is rooted in justice. On 23 April, our Founder and Executive Director, Emilie Palamy Pradichit, spoke at the panel “Digital Rights, Gender Equity and Youth Protection in ASEAN’s Digital Transformation,” moderated by Angela Romano from the University of Queensland. As part of a leadership training for emerging Southeast Asian women leaders in digital transformation, the panel brought together feminist voices with one sha