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The culture of women’s movement often set it root in motherhood as symbol or a weapon to create space. The notion of motherhood proved instrumental for women struggle for justice world wide. Patriarchal values existing in the society portrays women as inferior, however, this portrayal raises their presence and accessibility in public life as evident […]

The latest issue of Torture – Asian and Global Perspectives covers the issue of military torture in the article, Psychodynamic – Military torture in UN peace operations. This article by Claus Kold raises the question of human rights abuses committed by soldiers attached to UN peace keeping operations. In the introduction to the article, Kold […]

In 1958, north east India was declared as a ‘disturbed area’ and the draconian legislation Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) was imposed to fight the ‘enemies’, who claimed to fight for freedom from a colonizing power. To date, the law and the declaration have achieved nothing. The fight of self-determination by the people […]

Anybody can make a claim to the fish in the open sea. But, once caught, it becomes the property of one who caught it. However, the Law of the Sea 1982, provides the proprietary country the exclusive right to its natural resources, including fishery resource within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles […]

The extension of ‘disturbed area’ status for north eastern states since 1955, and thereby the activation and extension of emergency laws, has been but a routine administrative exercise for the union government. The legacy was upheld this year. The union has again extended the ‘disturbed area’ status of Assam for another six month period, with […]

हमारे संविधान की उद्देशिका के अनुसार भारत एक समाजवादी, पंथनिरपेक्ष, लोकतंत्रात्मक गणराज्य है। संविधान के अनुसार राजसत्ता का कोई अपना धर्म नहीं होगा। उसके विपरीत संविधान भारत के सभी नागरिकों को सामाजिक, आर्थिक और राजनैतिक न्याय, विचार अभिव्यक्ति, विश्वास, धर्म और उपासना की स्वतंत्रता प्रतिष्ठा और अवसर की समता प्राप्त कराने का अधिकार प्रदान करता है। लेकिन मध्यप्रदेश में इसका ठीक […]

Irom Sharmila Chanu’s story is a bizarre, almost schizophrenic, tale of absurdities. It has a woman who has not eaten a morsel for a full 13 years. It has a state that has kept her incarcerated for most part of all these years and is force feeding her through a tube in her nose. The […]

The fact that every third child of Gujarat is malnourished comes as no revelation. It cannot be for a state whose Chief Minister Narendra Modi, now Prime Ministerial Candidate of the main opposition party in the country, had infamously blamed the growing malnutrition in his state on ‘beauty conscious girls’ trying to maintain slim figures. […]

“It is madness for sheep to talk peace with a wolf,” said British historian and clergyman Thomas Fuller. In other words, we cannot change the nature of wild creatures. We cannot predict when snakes, lions, wolves or any other wild animals will attack, and without protecting ourselves we cannot sit calmly. In the context of […]

I was not yet in my first standard of school when the strategies of the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) (earlier known as Special Component Plan for Scheduled Castes) were put into force. Way back in 1979-80, the SCSP mandated every State/Ministry to earmark funds from the Plan outlay, atleast in proportion to the population […]

Modern slavery: a matter of poverty, the rule of law and the indifference of the national government Pakistan ranks third in the Global Slavery Index. It is estimated that there are 2,000,000 – 2,200,000 people involved in various forms of modern slavery in Pakistan. Pakistan counts a population of 179,000,000 people and with the increasing […]

“What can be measured, can be addressed, that’s the point of the Global Gender Gap Index”. With these words Ms. Saadia Zahidi, report founder and co-author of The Global Gender Gap Report, launched the 2013 edition on October 24. “We are trying to understand how countries are empowering women economically, politically, how much access they […]

He is Jejhon Macalinsal. To those who know him he was a young activist, those that did not would fear him. In April 2002, he and two others were arrested, tortured and detained after the police illegally raided their home and planted explosives for which they were charged with possession. They were linked to a […]

Every year on October 24, people from all around the world, celebrates World Polio Day. The world certainly deserves celebrations as the deadly disease has been decreased significantly and it is estimated that barring three countries, Polio has globally been eradicated. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012, only three countries, Afghanistan, Nigeria […]

While inside a bookstore in a city in southern Mindanao, I saw a booklet containing the biographies of modern Filipino heroes. Their names are not new to Filipinos. In fact, their photographs and their work are displayed in museum exhibits, the streets and public owned buildings even bear their names. Photo: Loreto Cambo (left) and […]

इन दिनों एशिया के सबसे बड़े और पुराने जंगलों की सूची में शुमार सिंगरौली जिले के महान के जंगलों में विकास की आग लगी हुई है। महान नदी के किनारे बसे इन जंगलों पर 62 गांवों के लोग निर्भर हैं तथा यहां वन सम्पदा के साथ 102 जंतु प्रजातियां मौजूद हैं। यहां गिद्धों की कुछ […]

बीते दिनों राज्य सभा के बाद लोक सभा द्वारा भी खाद्य सुरक्षा विधेयक का पारित कर दिया जाना एक शक्तिशाली देश होने के बावजूद भूख के घर के बतौर भी जाने जाने वाले भारत के करोड़ों गरीबों के लिए एक बड़ी राहत भरी खबर है. एशियन ह्यूमन राइट्स कमीशन भुखमरी के उन्मूलन की दिशा में […]

The following interview was originally printed in the latest issue of the Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives. An Interview with Dr. Sunil Cooray on Torture in Sri Lanka Dr. Sunil Cooray is a senior lawyer who is very well known in Sri Lanka. He has been in legal practice for 46 years. He is the […]

The following review was originally printed in the latest issue of the Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives. by Eran Wickramaratne Basil Fernando’s well researched book documents state perpetrated torture reaching back to 1998 and tells a harrowing narrative of the willingness of state machinery to resort to the most egregious violations of personal security and dignity […]

The following interview was originally printed in the latest issue of the Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives. An exclusive conversation with Dr. Nora Sveaass Born in Oslo, Norway, in December 1949, Dr. Nora Sveaass is a clinical psychologist who has been engaged in various parts of the world in relation to human rights and rehabilitation after […]