Statement

A national authority for the prevention of abductions, and a national institute for studies on the prevention of extrajudicial killings are urgently needed The abduction of six-year-old Varsha Jude Regi has highlighted a phenomenon for which Sri Lanka has been notorious for many decades. Sri Lanka has one of the world’s worst records of abductions […]

A comparison of the abduction of Varsha Jude Regi and the Delgoda family massacre The abduction and the killing of six-year-old Varsha in Trincomalee, followed by the deaths in custody of two of the alleged abductors brings to mind many similar instances, particularly the case of the family massacre at Delgoda where on the 26th […]

On March 17, five years to the week of the disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit at the hands of police officers, the ambassador of Thailand to the United Nations Human Rights Council insisted that his government is doing all that it can to conclude the case. Responding to the Asian Legal Resource Centre, […]

Following the violent 33-hour mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters on February 25 and 26, which saw more than 70 persons killed, the government has been swift to act. However the rising death toll of those under suspicion in custody is a cause for grave concern. The government¡¦s first steps were promising and within […]

Sri Lankans looked at their TV screens and newspapers last week with shock and shame as the story of the abduction and killing of six year old Varsha Jude Regi of Trincomalee came to the attention of the entire nation. Although much has been talked and written about this horror story, the real societal meaning […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-065-2009 March 20, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SOUTH KOREA: How to express opinions without fear of ‘legitimate’ punishment? According to the report in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Development Index recently released by the International Telecommunication Union, South Korea took second position following Sweden in terms […]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, stated on the 13th March: “Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.” Pillay said. “We need to know more about what is going on, but we know enough to […]

The Cambodian government¡¦s drive for the all out development and beautification of urban centres has created one of the most serious problems for its people. This particular problem is widely known as land grabbing. It is characterized by the grabbing of the land belonging to the poor and weak with unjust or no compensation, by […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  March 18, 2009  ALRC-STM-002-2009 A Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre ASIA: The region to benefit from the High Commissioner’s visit The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) appreciates the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navanethem Pillay to Nepal and India. During her first official visit to […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is concerned to find two cases this month in Pakistan’s Punjab province that have targeted the Ahmadi minority sect. In one incident fifteen men in Sargodha district have been charged for attending a place of worship that resembles a mosque, after a complaint was lodged by a radical local religious […]

Clearly demonstrating the iron will of the people of Pakistan to return to the rule of law and reassert the independence of the judiciary the people took to the streets, lead by the great movement of the lawyers and ready for the long haul. The announcement today by the prime minister to reinstate the deposed […]

The law enforcement community in Pakistan has been shamed once more by an incident in which three officers arrested a boy, beat and raped him in custody, and distributed a video of the rape. A year later the boy is still in remand and the policemen have not been charged.  According to the national manager […]

For a government that came into power promising to champion the rights of lawyers and restore the independence of the judiciary, the cabinet of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has done a dramatic about-turn.  A day into the latest campaign by Pakistani lawyers and activitists, the Punjab government has been […]

The government’s announcement that permission from the Ministry of Defence is required for all functions to be conducted with the participation of the general public, and that the approval of the nearest police station must be obtained for all public functions to be conducted on a regional level, will have disastrous effects on the rule […]

Cambodia’s constitution which the Constituent Assembly issued from the UN-organised election had adopted in 1993 has established an institution of direct democracy called National Congress. This is the congress of people where, according to Article 147 of the Constitution, Cambodians meet their rulers “to be directly informed of various matters of national interest” and “to […]

A core element in any judicial function is impartiality. The common saying is that judges need not only to be impartial but need to be seen to be impartial. Over the centuries codes of conduct have been developed which places limits on the judicial officers contacts so as to ensure that parties to cases before […]

“All kinds of gambling shall be absolutely prohibited everywhere in the Kingdom of Cambodia, except when authorized by the government”, says Article 1 of the Law on the Prohibition of Gambling of 1996. This prohibition is after all not absolute, and the government had successively given licences to gambling and betting establishments to operate in […]

It was reported on Sunday, March 8 that according to the Prime Minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, the arrested director of the independent news agency Prachatai is entitled to make a complaint if she feels that the police action against her was unjustified. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has already condemned in the strongest […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-053-2009  March 9, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PHILIPPINES: “Guilt by relation” renders due process meaningless On March 4, 20-year-old Rebelyn Pitao, the daughter of a rebel leader in Mindanao, was reported to have been forcibly abducted by unknown armed men, from a passenger motorcycle she was riding […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-052-2009  March 8, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Conditions for women are more precarious on International Women’s Day 2009 Much more political space has been given to women’s issues in Pakistan in recent years. The Musharraf administration passed the Women’s Protection Bill (amending the repressive Zinna and […]