The core of the freedom of association is a right that is enclosed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is also included in several of the United Nations covenants as well as embedded in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the charters of regional bodies such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and is also included in the agreements on worker rights that have also been adopted by the International Labor Organization (Kozac, 2010; Puddington, 2008). The freedom of association is very important in an era in which many political parties and other organization's credibility has suffered as, the freedom of association can play a very important role in strengthening trade unions, NGOs and organizations that give voice to a common person (Atleson, 2008; Puddington, 2008)
The core of the freedom of association is a right that is enclosed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is also included in several of the United Nations covenants as well as embedded in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the charters of regional bodies such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and is also included in the agreements on worker rights that have also been adopted by the International Labor Organization (Kozac, 2010; Puddington, 2008). The freedom of association is very important in an era in which many political parties and other organization's credibility has suffered as, the freedom of association can play a very important role in strengthening trade unions, NGOs and organizations that give voice to a common person (Atleson, 2008; Puddington, 2008)
In 2007 amendments were made to the Industrial Relations Act (IRA) and the TUA about restricting the worker's rights. The registrations could be refused or withdrawn by the director general of trade unions (Bronstein, 2009)
These migrants are tied to a single employer under the work permits that they get and due to this the rate of their being abused increases a lot and they also have the fear of retaliatory deportation because of which most of the times they don't even complain about such abuse being done to them as, in the past there have been cases in which the migrants have been deported on protesting against abuse or their not getting their rights. Many of the Indian migrants workers, who were protesting outside the India's high commission about their unpaid wages, were beaten by the police in February 2006 (Brown, 2010; Carrell, 2006)
Activists and lawyers were arrested while they were doing an illegal march which marked the International Human Rights Day on December 9. Edmond Bond, was arrested because he was preventing the officials from destroying the Human Rights Day banners, he was the Bar Council Human Rights Committee chairman (Casebeer, 2010)
Studies have shown that except for sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe the associational rights have been declined in almost all the other regions of the world in the past recent years. In the former Soviet Union, Middle East and North Africa these associational rights are under particular pressure (Cihon, 2010)
The HINDRAF leaders ran away from the country shortly after the rally as the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi threatened that under the draconian International Security Act (ISA) all the protestors would be detained without trial. However, under the ISA five leaders were detained (Dau-Schmidt, 2009 and 2010)
The HINDRAF leaders ran away from the country shortly after the rally as the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi threatened that under the draconian International Security Act (ISA) all the protestors would be detained without trial. However, under the ISA five leaders were detained (Dau-Schmidt, 2009 and 2010)
A lot of democratic transformations that have occurred in the past few decades in countries such as Ukraine, South Africa, Philippines and Serbia have been influenced by the freedom of association as it has played a very important role in these transformations (Aaron and Katherine, 2007; Puddington, 2008). In the past few decades there has been an emergence of a new wave of authoritarianism and its major target is the civil societies (Estreicher, 2008)
A lot of democratic transformations that have occurred in the past few decades in countries such as Ukraine, South Africa, Philippines and Serbia have been influenced by the freedom of association as it has played a very important role in these transformations (Aaron and Katherine, 2007; Puddington, 2008). In the past few decades there has been an emergence of a new wave of authoritarianism and its major target is the civil societies (Estreicher, 2008)
Freedom of Association in Malaysia In 2007 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Charter was signed by Malaysia in which it committed to supporting the human rights, freedom of association and democratic principles, but the government became very intolerant of the criticism that it was facing and due to this a lot of disturbances and crackdowns took place which worsened by the general elections in 2008. During that year migrant workers' ability and their rights were even more restricted under the legislative amendments because of which they can't make trade unions (Freedom House, 2008)
A list of cases was presented in 2003 in ILO showing where the DGTU had randomly denied the bargaining and organizational rights. In 2004 further cases of this sort were presented (Friedman, 2007)
A list of cases was presented in 2003 in ILO showing where the DGTU had randomly denied the bargaining and organizational rights. In 2004 further cases of this sort were presented (Friedman, 2007)
In January these crackdowns actually started when the first among the four demonstrations against the highway toll hikes were staged by the protesters. In these demonstrations a lot of arrests were made and the detainees included opposition leaders (Fudge, 2010)
Whereas, the organizations that are often shut down by Egypt are the ones that are in the favor of democracy. Similarly, Russia is a lot more patient towards the organizations that have nationalist or communist orientation than it is towards those having liberal and democratic point-of-views (Kirchner, Pascal and Michael, 2010)
The prominent political and cultural trends of the 21st century which are in complete opposition of the campaign to limit the civil society have greatly enhanced international trade relations and have included enhanced freedom of movement within the states and also globally and expanded access to information. All these regimes that have been working to suppress the freedom of expression have passed laws to hinder the working of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and to ensure that their efforts are working, they have also silenced the press (Kozac, 2010)
Under the Societies Act of 1996 the NGOs were to register themselves with the government. A society is defined by this act as a partnership, club, company or an association of seven or more people, including trade unions, businesses, political parties and schools (Lynd and Daniel, 2008)
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) organized a rally in December in which the police shot down two unarmed protesters. Tear gas and water cannons were used by the police for the dispersion of the demonstrators (Malin, 2010)
Freedom of association is also an important part of the pluralistic democracy (Tekle, 2010). The previous communist countries of the Central and Eastern Europe which had been, in the past, ruled by the a system which was so inflexible that it literally considered any sort of activities that were not according to the state control as a threat, this system treated such independent organizations that worked in order to expand the horizons of liberty in a very brutal and harsh manner (Puddington, 2008)
Freedom of Association in Malaysia When one talks about the foundation of a powerful civil society, freedom of association is very important for the foundation along with the rule of law, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and free and competitive elections. Freedom of association is also an important part of the pluralistic democracy (Tekle, 2010)