Statement

UN Human Rights Council Member-States September 14, 2009 The undersigned human rights organizations have the pleasure of writing to request that, in the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which will take place between September 14th and October 2nd, UN Human Rights Council Member-States will both discuss the situation of serious and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned about the uncontrolled violence against religious minorities in various districts of Punjab province, instigated by fundamentalist Muslim groups and religious leaders who illegally use mosque loud speakers to provoke Muslim folks to attack the settlements of religious minorities. The situation has dramatically worsened after the formation […]

Last week two prominent LTTE leaders, Daya Master and George Master, were released on personal bail by a Magistrate in Colombo after the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) filed a report stating that the inquiries under the Prevention of Terrorism Law were concluded and that there was no evidence to proceed against them under this law. […]

On Sep 2, 2009, Hong Kong SAR government announced that the food allowance in lieu of free food for foreign domestic helpers would be increased from not less than HKD 300 per month to not less than HKD 740 per month. Please see the full text. The statement that announced the freezing of domestic helpers’ wage […]

The state fails to respect UN Human Rights Committee¡¦s request to provide protection to a family of witnesses following the assassination of the husband The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the Sri Lankan government to honour the request made by the Human Rights Committee under its rules of procedure to provide protection to a mother […]

On the 10th September, 2009 the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Bill, 2009 was placed before parliament. This bill attempts to bring Bangladeshi law in conformity with the international law. This bill has come to the parliament by way of a private member¡¦s bill proposed by Saber Hossain Chowdhury, one of the members for Dhaka […]

While the country faced two unexpected deaths of former presidents this year, which have been commemorated nationwide, the deaths of five men in the process of forcible dispersal by the police which took place in January 20 in Youngsan-4ga, Seoul have been forgotten by the people and are no longer discussed by the media due […]

On September 2, the Asian Legal Resource Centre released a statement calling urgent attention of the UN Human Rights Council to the threat of indiscriminate revenge killings in Balochistan made by Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies. (Please refer to the ALRC statement at: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/2205/) That threat was tragically realized on September 6, when the Frontier Constabulary (FC), […]

A recent incident in Balochistan has put a temporary halt to the year-long targeted killings of non-ethnic Baloch teachers in the province. It has also clearly exposed the hand of state agencies in the deaths, and the resulting province-wide unrest. On 22 August two men were captured by residents of Mastung (near Quetta) as they […]

Unlike many other countries, Cambodia is bound to international human rights obligations, including one towards its citizens who wish to participate in the promotion of human rights. Thus, under the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 that ended the conflict in that country, “Cambodia undertakes”, among other things, “to support the right of all (its) citizens […]

On September 7, 2004 human rights defender, reformer and leading civil society activist Munir Said Thalib was killed for his critical views of the government and military in Indonesia. One of Munir’s main achievements was the elucidation of crimes committed by the military in both Indonesia and East Timor. More than ten years after Suharto’s […]

The recent case against Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese junta is internationally well known. The case and the verdict were condemned all over the world as one more demonstration of a completely fake trial merely orchestrated to silence Burma’s opposition leader. She has already been under house arrest for two decades. Aung San […]

A letter came from the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) postmarked Delhi 14 July 2009 was received by the AHRC. It concerned two complaints regarding children who died of malnutrition in Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh in 2007 (for the full text of the letter, please see here). The final conclusion after two year and […]

Mr. Rasool Bux Mengal, joint secretary of Baloch Nationalist Movement (BNM), was abducted on August 23, 2009 by plain-clothed men on a double cabin and had since been missing. On August 31, Mr. Mengal’s body, with his identity card around his neck, was at a remote location. The wounds on the body suggest the victim’s […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is saddened, disappointed and shocked but not surprised at the judgment of the High Court of Colombo in sentencing J.S. Tisssainayagam to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for a simple piece of writing which he had done and which was interpreted as aiding and abetting terrorism. The AHRC is not […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) for the International Day on Enforced Disappearances. They urge Thai government comprehensive action taken against enforced disappearances to the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong […]

When he was made National Police Commissioner some six months ago, Nath Savoeun, set out to welcome criticism from the public of his police force whose image had been badly tarnished by his predecessor due to arbitrary arrests, brutality towards the weak and poor, and impunity for the rich and powerful. In a meeting soon […]

On 25 August, 2009 the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh issued a landmark ruling on extra-judicial penalties in the name of arbitration. The Court ordered the government, law-enforcing agents and local governments to take immediate measures. These measures are against issuance or execution of extrajudicial penalties such as beating and caning […]

On 12 August, seven-year-old Juni Kumari was found missing from her home in the village of Ghagni in the state of Bihar, India. On 15 August, her body was found abandoned in a sugarcane field near her village. Juni’s mother recovered the girl’s body. Her head had been shaven and sandalwood paste applied to her […]

On 13 August, 2009 the Chief Officer of Women and Child Development Department in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh visited Spandan, a human rights group working on right to food. Since the children died of malnutrition in 2008 (for more details on this, please refer to previous Hunger Alert), the local administration started a new project to […]