The APMA Alumni Network

The Asia Pacific Masters Alumni Association (APMAA) is a network of graduates from the Master of Human Rights and Democratisation (APMA) programme in the Asia-Pacific region. Established in 2010, APMAA aims to promote and protect human rights and democracy by supporting continuing education and creating networking opportunities among its members and the broader community.

The APMA programme, coordinated by the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand, is a 12-month interdisciplinary course designed for practitioners and activists in the field of human rights and democratization. Graduates of this programme automatically become members of APMAA, joining a diverse community of human rights defenders and researchers committed to advancing human rights in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Through the initiatives and activities, APMAA strives to create spaces for collective leadership, transparency, and mutual support among its members, recognizing the challenges faced by human rights defenders in the region. The association encourages alumni to co-create and generate knowledge and resources relevant to human rights movements locally, regionally, and globally.

Association Activities

The major activities of the alumni association have been to curate open spaces for alumni community members to co-create and produce learnings and resources relevant to the human rights movement locally, regionally and globally. The association publishes newsletters to keep members informed about recent activities, alumni stories, and developments within the organization. Keeping the spirit of the network, we gather online or physically, on an as-needed basis to show up with solidarity for human rights causes. Poetry gatherings, statements on human rights issues, sharing professional opportunities like learning workshops, internships and fellowships for graduates, collaboration with Global Campus on various projects, etc. are the major focused activities of the APMAA programme.

APMAA aims, through its activities, to bridge intersecting approaches from Asia and Pacific region with global human rights movements; and strengthen the relationship of APMAA community with relevant institutions, stakeholders and movement partners. The association also engages in facilitating internal important policy work, general practices and the smooth functioning of the alumni bodies.

Our Vision for the Future

The vision of the APMAA is to engage primarily in activities that will help us to strengthen our community of Alumni as a resource hub on human rights knowledge. The motto of the association is to cater itself to activities that contribute to promotion and protection of human rights in the region. As human rights scholars, activists, changemakers and human rights defenders, APMA alumni members are often prone to the attacks from the state and non-state actors in their work for promotion and protection of human rights in the region. Members of APMAA come together in solidarity to do collective advocacy and in times of need, mobilise resources for the members facing such risks. The leadership team of the association strives to make the Asia and the Pacific network more vibrant and engaging, and to be owned by the members.

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