Press Release

(Hong Kong, April 10, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Tuesday deplored the announcement that the emergency regulations in force across Thailand’s southernmost provinces are to be extended by a further three months. According to local news reports, a decision has already been made that the decree would be extended from April 19. […]

(Hong Kong, March 28, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Wednesday launched a new webpage to host a petition against censorship of the internet in Thailand. The petition, by Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT), calls for an end to illegal and unmonitored censorship of websites in Thailand. “Internet censorship curtails public access to […]

INDIA: AHRC calls for international protest over massacre, questions Indian “democracy” (Hong Kong, March 15, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Thursday called for widespread protest to a massacre on Wednesday at an Indian village in which dozens of persons, including women and children, are reported to have been killed, saying that it […]

(Hong Kong, March 12, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission congratulates Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene of Sri Lanka for being recognized as Sri Lanka’s Woman of Courage for the year 2007.  Ms. Pinto-Jayawardene has been given the International Woman of Courage award by the United States. A communiqu?announcing the award states as follows: Ms. Pinto-Jayawardena has been […]

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) launched on Friday a new report describing how the rotten criminal justice system in the Philippines fails to deliver justice to its people and contributes to the widespread human rights violations in the country. The 192-page report, “The criminal justice system of the Philippines is rotten”, describes how the […]

BURMA: Lawyers’ group appeals for “reactivation” of bar council (Hong Kong, March 1, 2007) A lawyers’ group on Thursday made an appeal for the “reactivation” of the Bar Council and for reform of the judiciary in Burma. The Thailand-based Burma Lawyer’s Council (BLC) said in a statement that corruption was destroying the prospects of any […]

(Hong Kong, March 1, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Thursday sent a detailed report on the illegal and arbitrary detention of seven persons in Burma to a United Nations specialist group.  The Hong Kong-based regional organisation submitted the 22-page document to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the case of […]

(Hong Kong, March 1, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Thursday launched a new webpage calling for an end to the emergency regulations in force across the country’s southernmost provinces.  “The emergency decree over the southern provinces permits soldiers and police to abduct, detain, torture and kill with impunity,” Basil Fernando, executive director […]

(Hong Kong, January 31, 2007) A rights defender in Burma on Friday sued 30 news journals for slander after they all published an article portraying her as a prostitute. Naw Ohn Hla, a 43-year-old from Hmawbi, near Rangoon, lodged a complaint in the Sanchaung court over an article published in the periodicals throughout January in […]

(Hong Kong, January 26, 2007) Five Indian men are facing charges of murder despite the “dead” man having appeared in court and told the judge that the case was fabricated, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) revealed on Friday. The five–Bal Govind, Kashinath, Rajnath, Ramesh and Harishchand–were arrested in 2004 and detained for about a […]

(Hong Kong, January 19, 2007) Martial law and emergency regulations should be lifted from Thailand without further delay, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said in an appeal issued on Friday. In the appeal, marking the fourth month after the army seized power Hong Kong-based regional rights group said that the extension of martial law […]

(Hong Kong, January 17, 2007) A coalition of anti-coup groups has announced new protests against the military junta in Thailand, while another concerned about media freedom has reported a sharp increase in censorship there. The 19 September Anti-Coup Network announced on Wednesday that it will call for street protests on January 19 and 21. “We […]

(Hong Kong, January 16, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Monday welcomed the submitting of a letter requesting the Japanese government to take up extrajudicial killings in the Philippines more forcefully with the government there. A coalition of fourteen Japanese civil society groups submitted the letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on […]

THAILAND: AHRC condemns renewal of emergency rule in south, revival of cold war “death squad” command (Hong Kong, January 12, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Friday condemned the announcement that Thailand’s military regime will again renew emergency rule over the southern provinces on January 20. “The worsening violence in the south of […]

(Hong Kong, January 11, 2007) A new order by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh that the country’s judges be set free from government control has been cautiously welcomed by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), which has called for a clear plan to implement it. On Wednesday the full bench of the Appellate Division, presided […]

Embargoed for Release: Friday, 6 June 2003 At: 02:00 GMT For more information, please contact: In Hong Kong, Basil Fernando: +852-2698-6339 AHRC calls for Security Council intervention in Burma (Hong Kong, 6 June 2003) – The UN Security Council must urgently intervene to address the situation in Burma after the most recent attack on the […]

Myanmar: Thousands of people are displaced and starving Mr. Ali Saleem of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) made an oral intervention on behalf of the ALRC on ‘Food insecurity in Myanmar’ at the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights under the Agenda Item 10: Economic, social and cultural rights. This intervention […]

Indonesia: Five years after May 1998 rights, those responsible for the atrocities remain at large Mr. Timothy R. Gill of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) made an oral intervention on behalf of the ALRC on ‘Racially motivated riots in Indonesia in May 1998’ at the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights […]

India: A crime against humanity in Gujarat and state government’s complicity Mr. Timothy R. Gill of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) made an oral intervention on behalf of the ALRC on ‘A crime against humanity in Gujarat’ at the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights under the Agenda Item 9: Question […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is alarmed to learn that a close associate of AHRC and an associate member of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), Muzamil Jaleel, has been assaulted by several police officers who were escorting Superintendent of Police (East) Rafiqul Hassan on the night of Aug. 31, 2002.  Mr. Jaleel is […]