A major EU-funded anti torture program is nearing completion, following a two-year series of activities in four countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Timor Leste. The program focuses on both prevention of torture and developing community-based healing methodologies for victims. Strategies implemented as part of the program include intensive training for frontline workers on torture […]
In May 2015, the first series of eight one-hour episodes of the TV series The Sun, the Moon and the Truth was broadcast to large audiences on national television in Myanmar. The writing and production of the legal drama series grew from a collaboration with Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and was supported by […]
Read More… from Popular Television for Human Rights Education
A participatory research program in Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Myanmar is focused on understanding how women victims of gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict settings survive in situations where impunity is the norm. AJAR worked with women survivors of violence and torture, them using participatory, in-depth methodologies to document their stories and support their own efforts […]
Read More… from Participatory Action Research on Women and Impunity
In early 2015 AJAR commenced a two-year program to support victims of serious violations in Indonesia by establishing community-based learning centres focused on human rights education and capacity-building. Participants in the initial workshops began to formulate their purpose and identify the needs of their communities, and to develop plans to create community learning centres, recognizing […]
In June 2015, AJAR hosted a group of senior Pakistani government officials and civil society representatives on a week-long learning exchange to Indonesia. At the end of the exchange, participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to witness how Indonesia addresses a broad range of key issues, including the pluralist and tolerant form of Islam practised in […]
Read More… from Indonesia: Pakistan and Indonesia South-South Exchange
AJAR organized a joint event to mark International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June 2015 in Yangon, Myanmar. Our partners Wimutti Volunteer Group (WVG) and torture survivor Ma Thandar (wife of Ko Par Gyi, a journalist who died in military custody in October 2014) spoke out about the plight of torture […]
Read More… from Myanmar: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture Event in Yangon
On 10 June 2015, survivors and community members of Marabia marked 35 years since the violence, mass arrests and disappearances that took place in their community, a village in the outskirts of Dili. Timor-Leste’s truth commission (CAVR) found that in response to a surprise attack by the resistance army (Falintil) on military targets around Dili, […]
Read More… from Timor-Leste: Remembering Marabia after 35 Years
In May 2015, AJAR reunited fourteen of an estimated 4,000 ‘stolen children’ with their families, after up to 35 years apart. These children were taken from East Timor to Indonesia by Indonesian military forces during the military occupation, when most were five to ten years old. The survivors were gathered from many areas of Indonesia, […]
Read More… from Timor-Leste: Reuniting Timor-Leste’s “Stolen Children”
Dealing with past abuses is challenging to Indonesia’s democracy. A key element to rebuild a nation struggling for the truth of history is to hear and include the experience of survivors of the violence during the New Order dictatorship. To grow a locus of truth and reconciliation in the community level, AJAR held a training […]
Read More… from Seeding victims to become human rights defenders