Statement

Stephen Suntharaj, age 39, has been working for Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) since March 2008 as program officer. He formerly worked for Child Protection Authority, Jaffna branch. Stephen had taken up many cases of child abuse in Jaffna as a result was threatened by different groups and ultimately had to flee Jaffna. […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-100-2009 May 8, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission CAMBODIA: The Bar Association must not be an instrument to curtail professional freedom The international norms and standards relating to the legal profession require that the lawyers could practice their profession without fear and intimidation. The professional rights of the […]

During the fourth phase of the national general elections held yesterday in India, the state government of Rajasthan has resorted to controversial security measures. On the pretext of ensuring safety, the police ‘sanitised’ the state by imprisoning hundreds of poor people. Of those arbitrarily imprisoned, there are a large nu mber of young migrants, who […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement of the former Prime Minister of Nepal Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The statement is the abridged transcript of Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s speech he made to the People’s Liberation Army cadres. The speech was made on 2 January 2008, three months prior to the Constituent […]

India is about to complete the national general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. The fifth and the last phase of the election is expected to be completed on 13 May. The results will be declared on 16 May. Politics and its shallowness in India apart, any government that assumes office in the country after […]

The world’s attention at the moment is fixed on about 192,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and another 50,000 – 100,000 civilians trapped within a five square-kilometer area in what used to be called the no-fire zone. BAN Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, in a press release issued after a telephone conversation […]

The resignation of the Prime Minister of Nepal and its prompt acceptance by the country’s President, expose the vulnerability of the ongoing democratisation process in that country. The peace process in the newest democracy of the region, even after nine months, appears to be extremely fragile due to the continuing tensions between the Maoists and […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-096-2009 May 6, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Fundamental rights upheld Supreme Court holds that police authorities have not heeded chief justice’s recommendations against police abuse, rampant dishonesty and corruption Making a judgement in a fundamental rights case Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane (S.N. Silva, C.J. and Justice […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-097-2009 May 06, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: The dubious role of Pakistan army in dealing with Taliban thereby legitimizing the massacre After the failure of the peace initiatives with the Taliban and Tehreek-e- Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi (TNSM), the government of Pakistan has started an operation with the […]

Last Friday, May 1, the appointee Senate of Thailand elected seven new persons as the country’s National Human Rights Commission. They are, Police General Vanchai Srinuwalnad, assistant commissioner general of the Royal Thai Police; Mr. Parinya Sirisarakarn, former member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly of Thailand (2007); Mr. Paibool Varahapaitoorn, secretary to the Office of […]

The parents in Batticaloa decided to stop sending their children to school for a week as a mark of protest over the kidnapping and killing of an eight year-old girl Satheeskumar Thinuska. Earlier six-year-old Varsha Jude Regi was also abducted and killed after a demand for ransom. According to a Daily Mirror report the decision […]

“We may have to take choppers and machetes, we will have to attack with choppers those who jump over the boundaries,” chanted a group of people from Hela Urumaya, (a Sinhala heritage party), gathered in front of the British High Commission to protest the visits of the British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband and his French […]

At a news conference on 23 April 2009, Ms Mu Sohua, Member of Parliament (MP) for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), flanked by her lawyer, announced that she was going to file a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen. This decision followed a public speech Hun Sen had made in which he attacked […]

The government of Pakistan has entered into an unconstitutional agreement with the Islamic militants operating in the country to implement an Islamic code of practice, the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation (NAR), through a resolution passed in the national assembly on April 14, 2009. The President signed the resolution immediately. The resolution, passed without any debate in the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) are very concerned that, on 3 April, the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges (OCIJ) at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT), rejected a request by the defence seeking disclosure of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission believes that the life of Balochi lawyer, Mr. Kachkol Ali is in danger, after he witnessed the abduction of three clients, shortly before they were found murdered in Balochistan province. Although the captors wore plain clothes, various signs suggest that they were from Pakistan’s military intelligence agencies. Please see our […]

Three Baloch nationalist leaders were killed after their abduction by plain clothes persons in mysterious vehicles that bore no registration plates. They were taken from the chambers of a prominent lawyer and their deaths have raised several questions on the role of state spy agencies, particularly about military intelligence (MI). All three murdered persons, Ghulam […]

Five media organisations in Sri Lanka issuing an investigative report entitled, ‘The Resurgence of Terror and the paramilitary forces in Sri Lanka,’ stated that covert operations are carried out by paramilitary groups that have the patronage of an ultra-powerful authority in carrying out terror operations. The report referred mainly to attacks on many journalists, including […]

As Indonesia takes part in its third parliamentary election under a new order regime, one might be tempted to see it emerging as a modern, democratic state that has overcome its atrocious decades of military rule. But appearances here are deceiving. In 1998 the country started to establish the rule of law and build a […]

The report from Nepal, where a mob led by the Maoist cadres, in the past two days, interfering and preventing the court proceedings at Surkhet district is one more incident that highlights the wrong direction in which the country is headed. Parbati Thapa and Sumitra Tamata, two leaders of the All Nepal Women’s Organisation (Revolutionary), […]