Asia Human Rights Monitoring Systems (ARMS) Project, supported by Open Society Initiative (OSI), is an ambitious project of SEACeM to develop an integrated database of human rights system in Asia. This system aims to enhance the ability for human rights NGOs to monitor human rights abuses through an integrated web-based documentation system as Information, Communications & Technology (ICT) can be a powerful tool to promote human rights. SEACeM has envisioned to developing such a system for civil society organizations.
The Asia Human Rights Monitoring System project Phase I started in June 2010. During this pilot phase of ARMS project, a total of 5 country partners and 3 regional partners joined forces in the development of an effective online database system. They are 3 regional partners including Asia Indigenous People Pact Foundation and Forum-Asia in Thailand, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances in Philippines, and 5 national partners including Kontras in Indonesia, Suaram in Malaysia, Village Focus International in Laos, Taskforce Detainees of Philippines in Philippines, and People’s Empowerment Foundation in Thailand.
The ultimate goal of ARMS project in long term is to improve the human rights condition in Asia by enhancing the capability level of the defenders of human rights in the region. Based on SEACeM’s experiences in capability building for independent media and civil society groups in the region, it is proven that the use of new technologies can greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of NGOs in advancing their advocacy goals and aspirations. In terms of technology usage such as content management system, the adoption amongst NGOs has increased dramatically namely with the introduction of user friendly system such as Joomla, Drupal and recently WordPress CMS.
With this initiative, SEACeM is aiming forward for NGOs to effectively develop intervention plans based on the human rights violations collected and documented in an online web-based portal. This gave birth to the Asia Human Rights Monitoring Systems (ARMS) project and its development under the funding of OSI.