Due 5-8 December I joined the APHR Member Meeting 2025 under the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights network, together with MPs and political leaders from across Southeast Asia.
We discussed two intertwined challenges:
1. Democratic backsliding and shrinking civic space – from restrictive laws and harassment of human-rights defenders to constraints on media freedom and peaceful assembly.
2. The growing impact of AI on our democratic systems – both as an accelerator of disinformation and hate speech, and as a potential tool for monitoring rights violations and building early warning systems.
This points directly to the role of parliaments and political parties in:
– setting clear rules for transparency, accountability and election integrity in the age of AI
– creating robust oversight over state use of AI
– and investing in digital and AI literacy for citizens
I’m taking these insights back into my policy work in Thailand, with a focus on the intersection between democracy, human rights, and AI governance – both nationally and at the ASEAN level.
