<p>Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemn the 13-year jail sentence passed on journalist <strong>Ngwe Soe Lin</strong> by a special court inside Rangoon&rsquo;s Insein prison on 27 January. He is the second video reporter for a Burmese exile radio and TV station based in Oslo to be convicted in the space of a month.</p>

<p>The massacre of 31 journalists in Maguindanao, the Philippines, on 23 November 2009, most graphically illustrates the violence and impunity that threaten journalists not only in the Philippines, but throughout the region.</p>

<p>A guidebook launched today gives tourists an alternative view of Shan State by providing a pictorial expos&eacute; of the deliberate neglect, destruction and reinvention of local cultural and historical sites.</p>

<p>A young blogger, Win Zaw Naing, is facing a possibly 15-year jail sentence just for posting pictures and reports about the September 2007 protests, known as the Saffron Revolution. Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association call for his release and the release of all the other detained bloggers.</p>

<p>115 civil society organizations and political parties from 20 countries today submitted an open letter to China&rsquo;s President Hu Jintao calling for the suspension of oil and gas pipelines through Burma in order to prevent rights abuses and regional instability, avoiding financial and image risks to China. Petitions were submitted by the Shwe Gas Movement and its solidarity networks at Chinese Embassies in Thailand, India, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.</p>

<p>Open defiance against Chinese dams in military-ruled Burma surfaced this month as dam construction and a forced relocation process began in the country&rsquo;s northern Kachin State. Affected people directly confronted leading military personnel and held mass prayers, while a community network has written to the Chinese dam builders.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Fifty one civil society organizations from Burma today submitted a&nbsp;petition to the Thai government at the ASEAN People&rsquo;s Forum demanding&nbsp;an immediate halt to dam plans on the Salween River to avoid being&nbsp;drawn into Burma&rsquo;s escalating civil war.</p>

<p>(23 September 2009, Geneva/Bangkok) The United Nations Human Rights Council (Council) concluded its general debate yesterday, under &ldquo;agenda item 4: human rights situations that require the Council&rsquo;s attention&rdquo;. This crucial agenda item is to provide the Council with the opportunity to bring to attention country-specific human rights situations. Regrettably, however, this was not the case at the 12th regular session of the Council with only 14 member and observer States addressing the Council on Burma.</p>

<p>(Mae Sot - Thailand) -&nbsp;The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP) can confirm that so far 43 political prisoners have been released from various prisons in Burma.</p>

<p>On 16 Sept. 2009, the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) and the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) will petition the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants calling for an urgent inquiry into the commencement of a nationality verification process for Burmese migrants in Thailand. Subsequently, a set of recommendations will be submitted to the Royal Thai Government.</p>

<p>The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) condemns the guilty verdict and 18-month extended house arrest meted out to Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on 11 August 2009. SEAPA joins the international community in rejecting this judgment, and in demanding the immediate release of Suu Kyi, a democracy icon in Burma and for the rest of the world.</p>

<p>As the target date for launching the ASEAN human rights body (AHRB)<br /> nears, civil society groups have warned depriving it of watchdog<br /> powers would erode the credibility of the regional organization.</p>