Statement

Between 1975 and 1979 the Cambodian people suffered one of the world’s most brutal regimes, the Khmer Rouge, which used, among things, torture as a means to assert its rule. In its notorious Tuol Sleng Torture Centre in Phnom Penh, some 16,000 Cambodians died horribly by the systematic use of torture by the Khmer Rouge […]

From 1971 until the defeat of the LTTE there has been a continuous period of violence where both rebel groups and the state engaged in an attempt to outdo each other in brutality. One of the consequences of this period was the virtual destruction of the system of civilian policing. Now, with the end of […]

The practice of torture is endemic in Asia, and the region’s governments show no political will to eliminate it. In fact, states treat torture as a necessary aspect of social control, directly or indirectly approving the practice. The clearest indication of the states’ unwillingness to eliminate torture is the refusal to criminalise the practice, as […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-143-2009 June 23, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Day against Torture, 26 June 2009 BANGLADESH: Bangladesh’s Parliament urged to criminalise torture Article 35 (5) of the Constitution of Bangladesh states: “No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or […]

Torture in custody is a very common phenomenon in Pakistan because of the rouged legal system and impotent rule of law. The laws of the land are silent on the issue of torture by the law enforcement agencies. The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has no specific section about torture; it deals only about the word […]

The Indian state of West Bengal is once again in the news for condemnable reasons. In a short span, the conflict in Lalgarh of West Midnapore district has increased in intensity, costing life and property. Today, the Maoists have called for a 48-hour-long strike paralysing life in almost the entire state. Violence propagated by the […]

Amarakoon Dissanayake Sarath Kumara went to the Supreme Court to complain that he was assaulted by several police officers, and was also abused by them. He was then forcibly taken to a police station where he was falsely charged and produced before a Magistrate’s Court. Due to the attack he was seriously injured and had […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-137-2009 June 17, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SOUTH KOREA: Prosecutor deprives defendants of opportunity to fair trial It is well known that the Republic of Korea has achieved rapid economic growth within a relatively short period of time. What is less well known however, is the corruption […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-135-2009 June 16, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Registers on entry and leaving of internally displaced persons needs to be created urgently to prevent forced disappearances Every day 20 to 30 young persons are taken away and their whereabouts are unknown, a leading human rights organisation […]

Prime Minister Hun Sen is utilising much of the country’s electronic media to assert his leadership of the country and send out messages to his people through his public speeches at different functions. Now and again in such speeches he rebukes his critics and makes disparaging remarks and even or threats against them. At times, […]

Over the recent months, a human rights NGO, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), has been making arrangements to hold a public forum for concerned officials and residents of Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh to discuss the issue of the eviction of these residents without just compensation. The Municipality of Phnom Penh has […]

Dear Friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from a Group of Concerned Tamils of Sri Lanka. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from a Group of forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Tuesday, June 9th 2009 We appeal to all concerned to attend to the pressing needs of […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-133-2009 June 9, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: The need to set aside the blatantly wrong conviction of Anthony Fernando With the retirement of the former chief justice, Sarath Nanda Silva, the opportunity has arisen for the correction of a blatantly illegal and unjust judgment relating […]

(Fr. Tissa Balisuriya, chairperson of the Centre for Society & Religion, Sri Lanka, has sent to the AHRC an open letter which he has written and which was published earlier by the Sunday Island with a request to give some publicity to the letter. We are publishing the entirety of the letter together with a […]

Cambodian society was under communist rule for some 15 years before the international community helped it to embrace liberal, pluralistic democracy with rule of law and respect for human rights at the beginning the 1990s. It has in many ways become an open society where people can enjoy property rights, freedom of enterprise in a […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation, Thailand (SERC) on submission of ILO complaint regarding systematic discrimination against Burmese Migrants in Thailand. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation, Thailand (SERC) forwarded by the Asian […]

The targeted killing of members of the Ahmadi community, a minority sect of Islam, is continuing in the Punjab province. In the latest incident, Mian Laiq Ahmad, 54, a well known Ahmadi trader in Faisalabad, an industrial area of Punjab province, was attacked on May 28, by three armed men whilst sitting in his car. […]

Sixty-two children have died of malnutrition in Khalwa Block of Khandwa district since May 2008. They were all from the Korku community, a tribe about which the outside world knows very little. There have been many malnutrition related deaths in the tribal communities in India in different states including Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. […]

The investigation into the assault on journalist Poddala Jayantha took a new turn when the police arrested and interrogated another journalist who provided the initial information about Mr. Jayantha’s abduction. Journalists groups accused the Sri Lankan police of covering up the real culprits of the abduction and the serious assault on Mr. Jayantha. Mr. Bennet […]

When the 67-page PowerPoint presentation containing the list of 105 names of persons, including lawyers, union leaders, religious leaders, human rights and political activists, appeared in public after having been reportedly leaked by a military source, what immediately came to mind was that the reaction and implications were reminiscent of the recent past: victims and their organisation […]