Statement

Representatives of several human rights organizations in Pakistan have visited the hospitals where hundreds of victims of the October 18 are being treated. The bomb blasts occurred during the welcoming procession of Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP). One of the purposes of the visit by the human rights groups was to prepare […]

We reproduce below the first of a series of five cases researched on the basis of the information collected by the Asian Human Rights Commission in the past years reflecting the type of issues faced by persons who, having become victims of crime or abuse of rights faced extraordinarily repressive conditions when they sought redress. […]

Ms. Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and Chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party, after returning Pakistan from self exile of seven years, is holding mammoth gatherings and welcoming receptions in her new election campaign, with large contingents of armed persons who make no effort to conceal their weapons. During October 18, at her welcoming reception at […]

In the Mount Livinia Chief Magistrate’s Court a journalist from the Sunday Leader, who was arrested on the strength of a telephone call made by a minister, was granted bail by the Chief Magistrate. The magistrate is reported to have reprimanded the officers of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) for making the arrest in this […]

On October 22, 2007 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received a communication from the government of Kerala in India. The communication, in the form of a letter, dated September 9, 2007 prepared on behalf of the Additional Chief Secretary to the government informs the AHRC that if the AHRC is concerned about incidents of […]

In the light of the decision by the Pakistan government to remove one of its leading investigators from the well known Karachi bomb blast case, the Asian Human Rights Commission also urges that the investigation into the murder of Mr. Faraz Ahmed Naveed should also be removed from this officer for the same reasons of […]

The police officers who were involved in torturing eight persons of Pir Jo Goth, Khairpur district, Sindh, in their custody at three different police stations are enjoying impunity two months after the constituting of an inquiry committee, as the Additional Session Judge, Khaipur is on leave. The Sindh police are also threatening the victim’s families […]

16 years ago today, the Cambodian warring factions representing their country and 17 concerned countries, including Cambodia’s neighbours, other Asian countries and western countries, gathered in Paris, France, to sign, in the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a set of agreements to end the war in Cambodia. All the 18 State signatories […]

On the night of October 18, 2007, two blasts occurred at the welcoming procession of thousands of people, arranged for arrival of Benazir Bhutto, the Chairperson of the Pakistan People Party, after her self exile of eight years. More than 130 people were killed and about 550 injured. The government of Pakistan claims that the […]

On the 27th October the day for the disappeared will be commemorated by the Families of the Disappeared and Right to Life together with the Asian Human Rights Commission. The monument for the disappeared was established at Raddoluwa Seeduwa, near Negombo in the year 2000 as a symbol of the disappearances which have become a […]

Quite regularly reports appear in the press of persons in police custody, having tried to attack the police with grenades or other weapons, being shot dead. The Gampaha police are reported to have killed two persons who, while in a police cell, tried to escape. These two persons were arrested regarding an attempted bank robbery […]

Last week, almost exactly on the same day, two victims of crime expressed in public their fear of their attackers long after the offences had taken place. The first one was Ms Chem Sopheap, 35, a vendor of sugar cane juice in Phnom Penh. She had to go into hiding upon the news that her […]

The following is a reply to a report published on October 12, 2007 in The Official Website of the Sri Lankan Government’s Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, written by the Secretary General, Rajiva Wijesinha, My comments in some previous columns regarding Cambodia and Nepal seem to have appeared dangerous to Rajiva Wijesinha, who seems […]

The leading members of the legal profession and judiciary of Sindh Province in Pakistan are being continuously victimized and harassed for protesting against the holding of presidential elections and also for initiating legal action against the government and a ruling party for the killing of two lawyers. Accordingly, presidential elections in Pakistan were conducted on […]

A proposed European Union-India bilateral trade and investment agreement is expected to be different from its predecessor in that it will likely have been stripped of conditionality clauses on human rights. This is a surprising and significantly negative new position on the part of the European Union (EU), which has traditionally placed human rights elements […]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently in Sri Lanka having arrived for a country visit for a period of five days. In September Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur against torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment was also in Sri Lanka for about ten days. Both visits highlight one […]

A Dutch journalist, Jon Bottis, learned a lesson about Sri Lankan policing when he made a complaint about the theft of his personal belongings from his apartment in the holiday town of Hikkaduwa recently: “One policeman called him outside the station and asked him whether he needed a woman to have sex with.” Having arrived […]

Thank you Mr. President, The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) welcomes the holding of a special session on the human rights situation in Myanmar. This initiative is timely, vital and a significant opportunity for the Council to prove its worth. However, the session must deliver tangible and constructive outcomes if it is to be considered […]

The numbers of persons and Buddhist monks and nuns who have been taken into custody in Burma during recent days remains unknown. This is largely because none of them have been taken in accordance with any law. There has not even been the pretence of law as normally exists in Burma. Hundreds have been rounded […]

On October 1, 1965, a period of oppression started in Indonesia, when the Indonesian government entered into a violent conflict that resulted in years of human rights abuses. In a joint effort, today, a group of non-governmental organizations urged the National Commission for Human Rights in Indonesia (Komnas HAM) to start inquiries into the human […]