Forwarded Statement

INDIA: PUCL Condemns killings of security personnel in Tongpal Village, Sukma District, Chhattisgarh

Press Note March 12, 2014 Stop the Bloodshed. Declare Immediate Ceasefire.  Sit for Talks to end violence. The PUBL condemns the killing of 16 security personnel, including 11 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, 4 policemen and a civilian. The incident occurred in a land mine blast followed by indiscriminate firing by Maoists at Tongpal […]

INDIA: 129 (30%) MPs declared Election Expenses of less than 50% during Lok Sabha, 2009. 123 (28%) MPs declared zero election expenditure on electronic/print media campaign.

Press statement March 4, 2014 The government cleared a proposal of the Election Commission recently to raise the expenditure limits for Lok Sabha elections from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh for each Lok Sabha constituency in bigger states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka etc, and from Rs 22 […]

PHILIPPINES: Rizal Park is not for sale.

“RIZAL Park is not for sale. RIZAL Park is for the people.” This is the statement of Defend Job Philippines in the midst of a looming privatization plan for Luneta Park. On February 6, 2014, a Public consultation on the Master Planning of the Rizal Park Complex, Manila (Luneta Park) as a flagship Tourism Enterprise […]

PHILIPPINES: SELDA forms People’s Claims Board, demands recall in BS Aquino’s appointment of PNP general to recognize ML victims

SELDA announces the formation of the People’s Claim Board, in protest of the Pres. Benigno Aquino III’s appointment of a PNP general in the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board (HRVCB) to implement the law. The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) has repeatedly urged the BS Aquino government to immediately form the […]

INDIA: Battle for Budget: Interim Union Budget Denied proportionate allocation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Battle for Budget: Interim Union Budget Denied Proportionate allocation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes National Confederation of Dalit Organization (NACDOR) is grieved to learn that Union Government failed to population proportionate allocation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the interim budget. The political parties are preparing for the General Election 2014 and […]

INDIA: Media deadlock continues in Arunachal Pradesh for the second day

Press Statement Journalists’ Forum Assam February 16, 2014 Guwahati, Assam, India JFA urges Nabam Tuki for ending Arunachal media deadlock Expressing grave concern over the cease of publications of all seven daily newspapers in Arunachal Pradesh for successive second day on Sunday, the Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has urged the authority to resolve the matter to uphold […]

PHILIPPINES: “Wheel of torture” symbolizes culture of torture impunity in the Philippines

Dear friends,  We wish to share with you the following statement from United Against Torture – Philippines. Asian Human Rights Commission  Hong Kong ————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-FST-011-2014 February 4, 2014 A Statement from United Against Torture (UATC) – Philippines forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission PHILIPPINES: “Wheel of torture” symbolizes culture of torture […]

INDIA: Letter from Prashant Rahi on Imprisonment and Toruture, and Appeal for Campaign Against Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA in short)

Letter from Prashant Rahi on Imprisonment and Toruture, and Appeal for Campaign Against UAPA – See more at: http://sanhati.com/articles/9031/#sthash.1yVgsvrX.dpuf, January 29, 2014 Dated : January 07, 2014 Dear friends, Heart-felt greetings at the onset of yet another tumultuous years of struggle for civil and democratic rights, which are increasingly threatened the world over by police atrocities […]

WORLD: Cricket needs comprehensive governance reforms not a concentration of power

27 January 2014 – Transparency International (TI) chapters from nine cricket-playing countries, including Australia, India and United Kingdom, express serious concern at proposed reform of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and call on the ICC to publish a formal response to the Woolf Report and meanwhile halt any other significant governance reforms. A joint statement […]

CHINA: For Freedom, Justice and Love – My Closing Statement to the Court

For Freedom, Justice and Love – My Closing Statement to the Court Xu Zhiyong, 22 January 2014 This is Xu Zhiyong’s closing statement on January 22, 2014, at the end of his trial. According to his lawyer, he had only been able to read “about 10 minutes of it before the presiding judge stopped him, […]

PAKISTAN: The total number of deaths in 2013 reached to 5665 in different incidents of violence

A report by Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) The month of December saw a moderate reduction in the number of casualties related to militant, sectarian and politically-motivated violence plaguing Pakistan. The overall death toll was at around 275 while up to 325 people were wounded in these hostilities bringing the total number of […]

SRI LANKA: Lawyers Collective mourns the death of Justice Sriskandarajah and urges for the transparent appointment process of judges

The incumbent President of the Court of Appeal, Justice S. Sriskandarajah, has passed away after a brief illness. He was appointed to appointed President of the Court of Appeal in 2011 after serving as a judge of the High Court and then as a judge of the Court of Appeal. He delivered a large number […]

CAMBODIA: Stop the Violence: A Call for Release, Investigation and Reparation

We, the Cambodian and International Civil Society Organizations represented in this statement, condemn the use of armed force and escalating violence against the Cambodian people. At the start of 2014, following three weeks of peaceful demonstrations in Phnom Penh, tensions increased dramatically as authorities brutally cracked down on garment factory workers, who were demonstrating for […]

INDIA: Interim Report Assam Public Hearing on Sexual Violence

Guwahati:  January 13, 2014 Interim Report: Introduction The insanity of the vicious and tragic violence over the years in India has always been masked and at the best ‘managed’ (read suppressed) by brute force and fear. There is no dearth of evidence to speak of the grave consequences on women and children in particular. The […]

INDIA: New laws to protect women bring no hope to victims

Press statement 9 January 2014 New laws to protect women bring no hope to victims of sexual violence in Assam exclaimed a shocked panel of Jury members at the Public hearing on sexual violence A two day State level Public hearing on sexual violence was organized by Women in Governance [WinG-India] in Guwahati on January […]

INDIA: Status Report on Condition of Persons living in Riot Relief Camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli Districts of Uttar Pradesh

Press Release 6 January 2014 Following the unprecedented outbreak of riots in the rural areas of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat, Meerut and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh in the first week of September, tens of thousands of Muslim families have been living in relief camps for the last four months. However, over the past week, the […]

INDIA: Press Statement on the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar district in UP

Press Statement on the Report  prepared by Mohan Rao, Ish Mishra, Pragya Singh and Vikas Bajpai, December 30, 2013 A team of independent academics and a journalist carried out an inquiry into the communal violence that shook Muzaffarnagar district in UP this past September. The report is based on the findings of the team during […]

SINGAPORE: Handling of riot aftermath exposes national laws and practices that violate international standards

Dear friends,  We wish to share with you the following statement from the Think Centre, an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Singapore. First registered as a business (RCB) on 16 Jul 1999 and today as a society (under ROS) on 20 Oct 2001, the Centre aims to critically examine issues related to political development, democracy, […]

INDIA: Press statement from Independent People’s Tribunal on the Functioning of National Human Rights Commission, 16 December, 2013

An Independent Peoples’ Tribunal was jointly organised by Human Rights Law Network, All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National / State  Human Rights Institutions [AiNNI],  Human Rights Alert,  Vanvasi Chetna Ashram,  Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti,  South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM),  People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, […]

SOUTH KOREA: Appeal to all sectors of society from Miryang villagers after experiencing a hard time in the third suicide attempt against the Power Transmission Tower

1. Legs are shaking and heart is trembling. This time, with good fortune, we could have saved one’s life. If we did not force emergency services up to the mountain, having believed what we were told by the police who said that she did not take medicine but only consumed alcohol and if we did […]