Statement

The participants from throughout Asia gathered for the Fourth Regional Consultation on an Asian Charter for the Rule of Law in Hong Kong from the 17-21 November 2008 studied the state of the prosecution system in the Philippines and its implications for human rights. The Philippines’ prosecution service, though maturing in recent years after being […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the violent attacks unleashed in Mumbai by an underground armed group calling itself the Deccan Mujahudeen. As reports come in, an estimated 107 innocent persons have lost their lives and more than 300 persons injured in the incident. More than 200 persons are currently being held hostage by […]

In the No Fact Zone of Sri Lanka flowers are blooming, the country is flowing with milk and honey and the old paradise still remains the old paradise. Internally displaced people are all smiling and enjoying their lives as never before; under the trees, in the flood, bitten by snakes, they are living as if […]

This week a website maintained by the Ministry of Defence published a report in which they referred to some lawyers as traitors as they appeared for alleged LTTE suspects by filing fundamental rights applications before the Supreme Court on their behalf. It is universally known that it is the job of lawyers to appear for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shares in the global outrage that has this week greeted the sentencing of dozens of persons to lengthy jail terms for their parts in the nationwide protests against the military dictatorship there in September 2007. The cases have mostly been conducted in special courtrooms within prisons, and without any […]

Due to its maintenance of a conscription system, South Korea’s military has long been plagued with ill-treatment, resulting in trauma and even suicide for the individuals concerned. After several years of civil society struggle, a law enabling the investigation of suspicious deaths in the military was finally passed, establishing a presidential commission to begin its […]

Due to its maintenance of a conscription system, South Korea’s military has long been plagued with ill-treatment, resulting in trauma and even suicide for the individuals concerned. After several years of civil society struggle, a law enabling the investigation of suspicious deaths in the military was finally passed, establishing a presidential commission to begin its […]

In June 2006 a five member bench of Supreme Court judges ordered police in Kashmore, Sindh province to arrest a PPP leader and national assembly member, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, for involvement in Sang Chatti (offering young girls as blood money). He was accused, along with others, of offering a total of five young girls […]

A special call to all human rights organisations and especially women’s organisations to intervene in a scandalous incident where a 13-year-old girl has been subjected to sexual abuse and confinement The 13 year old Khaleda Khatun, who the family had earlier said to be missing was found today, by a search party at the Sumi […]

Mr. D.W.C. Mohotti, an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, (Membership Number of the Bar Association M. 859) by way of an affidavit has narrated the harassment that he has suffered while accompanying a client to the Bambilipitya Police Station. This lawyer is a junior of Ranil Samarasuriya, a senior lawyer practicing in […]

Two pieces of legislation have recently been submitted to South Korea’s national assembly, their purpose clearly to restrict people’s rights to . Both have been submitted by the Grand National Party, the country’s majority ruling party, with the likelihood of being passed before the end of the ongoing legislative session on December 10, 2008. The […]

Surangi Sandamali Padmini Peiris is the wife of Sugath Nishanta Fernando who was assassinated on September 20 in broad daylight by two unidentified gunmen who the family believes were working on the instructions of several police officers against whom Nishanta Fernando had filed a complaint which lead to a bribery case and a fundamental rights […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to bring to the notice of all lawyers the arrest of two senior lawyers and human rights defenders in Rangoon on November 7, 2008 for submitting a letter to court on behalf of their clients on November 6 in which they have communicated the wish of their clients to […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission joins with the Burma Lawyers Council in condemning the detention of two Supreme Court advocates in Rangoon yesterday, 7 November 2008, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release. Police arrested the two senior advocates, U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein, at their houses last night after they […]

Mangala Pinsiri Samawareera, a cabinet member in several governments and presently the leader of a political party and Member of Parliament yesterday (November 6), reported in Lanka Dissent, an E-publication, that he has been receiving death threats due to the exercise of his freedom of expression by establishing a forum called ‘Defence Watch’. According to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-286-2008 November 7, 2008 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Government tries to derail the case of a young girl who was shot dead after being mauled by the murderer’s dogs The special representative of President Asif Zardari has completed her probe into a brutal murder of a 17-year-old […]

The importance of the results of the United States election on this occasion is more a reflection of the overwhelming rejection of the way in which America has been run in the recent past, particularly during the Bush administration, than merely a victory for Barack Obama. The overwhelming enthusiasm before the election, as well as […]

The pronouncement by Prime Minister Mr. Han Seung-Soo that he cannot accept the recommendations of of Korea (NHRCK) regarding the police abuse of power relating to the handling of candlelight protests, amounts to the condoning of serious violations of basic human rights by the police and is an expression of political unwillingness to deal with […]

The arrest and subsequent detention of four activists, including a labor lawyer, on separate occasions in October and November of this year raised serious questions regarding how public prosecutors function in the Philippines. The irregularities in the filing of charges in court and the manner in which they are dealing with cases raises the question: […]

The letter from the Mahason Balakaya threatening lawyers who appear for terrorists raises many questions which go far beyond the matter of the protection of the individual lawyers who have received such threatening letters. Why is it necessary to deprive a terrorist, alleged or real, representation by lawyers at legal proceedings? An inquiry into that […]