It’s already been a busy fall at Asia Catalyst.

We were thrilled to bring Khine Su Win, our Myanmar Program Officer, to the United States in September.

It’s been two years since we launched our Myanmar Country Program. The hunger for our year-long intensive training program has been positively overwhelming. Over the past year, Khine has led our human rights documentation and advocacy program with rural women, LGBT communities, people who use drugs, women living with HIV, and opium farmers in Shan and Kachin states – and the demand is only increasing.

Khine’s work with the Mandalay-based LGBT rights group, TRY, is one example of how our partnerships foster positive change. Trans people and gay men were regularly being harassed and extorted for bribes or arrested by the police. In our program, TRY learned how to document cases of unfair arrests and present their evidence to local officials. When arrests escalated during a community festival, TRY honed in on the precinct where most of the arrests were taking place. They had a productive meeting with the police chief and set up an emergency legal response team. A year later, the arrests have gone down. And now, when people are detained, instead of being held for days or weeks, they are usually released by the next morning. Advocacy by TRY to address police behavior and spread awareness of LGBT people’s legal rights continues. Read more via Asia Catalyst