As the newly appointed Regional Coordinator of APWLD, in recognition of the 20th anniversary, I would like to pay homage to and acknowledge the vision and dreams of the founding members that inspired the formation of APWLD twenty years ago and to the APWLD network members, partners and women's movement who have in solidarity and through collaborative partnerships continued to support that vision. This issue of Forum News continues with the interviews of network members in celebration of the 20th anniversary. The substantive goals that APWLD set at inception in promoting women human rights and using law as a tool to empower women for social change has not changed, the global environment has clearly witnessed significant changes and the challenge is to continue to take the leadership role in women human rights issues in Asia Pacific and to adapt our strategies and clarify and refine our positions to respond to current and emerging issues on the national, regional and international scene that are interwoven with women's human rights issues.

We cover some of those issues in this edition of Forum News, such as migrant workers, women human rights defenders, violence against women. Despite the fact that many governments are party to international human rights conventions and have a duty to protect the rights of all people living within their borders, they have failed to do so. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Workers, Dr Jorge Bustamante is urging NGOs to support a standard which will require all UN member - states to produce quantitative statistics on undocumented workers which he will propose at the upcoming UN High-Level dialogue on Migration and Development in September. APWLD's Labor and Migration Task Force have also expressed critical concern on the lack of gender perspectives in the UN Secretary General's Report: International Migration and Development, 2006. In Japan, Women's groups that have been involved in the advocacy work to raise awareness on the particular needs of migrant women to be recognised in the law, have formed a network and started lobbying towards the 2007 amendment to the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and Protection of Victims. From Sri Lanka we read how the New Law on Domestic Violence is being implemented.