Statement

As of yesterday, at least 700 monks and 500 other citizens have been taken away by security forces in every part of the country. They include prominent persons, such as comedian Par Par Lay in Mandalay, and staunch human rights defenders such as lawyer U Aye Myint in Pegu. They also include many members of […]

On September 25, the Supreme Court has announced that it adopted the Rule on the Writ of Amparo. The new rule, which takes effect on October 24, provides “remedies to any person whose right to life, liberty and security is violated and threatened”. It covers the unlawful acts or act of omission by public officials […]

On the morning of 27 September 2007 people around the world were wondering if the protestors in Burma would back down in the face of heavy force that is believed to have left five monks and one civilian dead on the previous day, two monasteries looted and hundreds arrested. They did not. Throughout the day, […]

The Buddhist monks in Burma have been on the streets for several days now, falling upon the last resort under their disciplinary code (Vinaya Pitaka), in calling upon the military regime of the country to step down and to respect the people. The people of Burma are facing extremely difficult times. The cost of basic […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 27, 2007 AL-030-2007 A Joint Statement submitted by the World Council of Churches, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development and the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) to the 6th Human Rights Council PHILIPPINES: Extrajudicial killings Thank you Mr. President. This statement is supported by the World Council of […]

Thank you, Mr. President. I wish to address the Council as both a human rights defender and a victim of human rights abuses in Pakistan. The situation in the country is not gaining the attention it deserves here. The media are being silenced, human rights defenders face grave reprisals, torture is endemic and the country […]

The Delhi High Court on September 21, 2007 sentenced the editor, the resident editor, the publisher and the cartoonist of English daily Mid-Day guilty in a contempt of court case. The charge against the convicted journalists was that they published a report and a cartoon concerning the former Chief Justice of India, Mr. Y.K. Sabharwal. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information direct from Rangoon to confirm reports that this morning, 25 September 2007, government vehicles manned by the personnel of township councils, quasi-government officials, government-organised thugs, police and others have since around 10am been patrolling the streets warning that there are to be no further protests or […]

Item 3: Children in armed conflict – Ms. Coomaraswamy, Under-Secretary-General, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Thank you Mr. President, The ongoing use of child soldiers in many of Asia’s armed conflicts remains a serious concern for the Asian Legal Resource Centre. We welcome the work of the Special Representative on child soldiers in […]

September 24 is Constitution Day in Cambodia; a public holiday called to celebrate the anniversary of promulgation of the country’s new constitution on the same day in 1993. This constitution was adopted by a constitutional assembly elected under the auspices of the United Nations, which administered the country in 1992 and 1993 pursuant to the […]

The protests that began in Burma during August to voice public frustration and discontent over sharp price rises have in the last week fast accelerated–under the guidance of the Buddhist clergy, the Sangha–towards an uprising to end the country’s military dictatorship. The monks leading the latest events have declared the formal “overturning of the alms […]

It was in August of this year that Indonesia’s draft revised Penal Code Bill was to be submitted to the President for parliamentary debate. Predictably, this did not take place. No one knows  when, or even if, this draft, which has been in revision for the last twenty years, will reach the hands of the […]

At the United Nations Human Rights Council several European Union countries attempted to assist Sri Lanka out of its present serious crisis by suggesting human rights monitoring by the United Nations to buttress the local mechanisms of law enforcement, which have suffered a serious collapse. While the Sri Lankan government, for reasons which are difficult […]

One of the greatest legacies that Gautama Buddha left to the ascetics who followed his path was the requirement that they obtain their food and other needs in the form of alms from the people. The giving and receiving of alms is thus a profound act of adherence to his teachings and among the most […]

On 27 September 2006, eight days after the coup that has dragged Thailand back to the dark days of military intervention into all areas of political and social life, the country’s ambassador to the United Nations told the General Assembly that “we can well expect that one of the first tasks of the new civilian […]

ASIA: UN Human Rights Council statement in response to the Mr President, Madam High Commissioner, As Human Rights Defenders from Asia, we welcome the commitment and initiatives of you and your office for the protection of human rights in Asia, where domestic mechanisms continue to be inadequate. The lack of a regional human rights mechanism […]

Ten persons were killed by an angry mob on September 13, 2007 in Bihar state of India. A few days before, another person suspected for theft, was attacked by a mob in Bihar. In this incident, a police officer also participated by dragging the suspect around by his legs tied to the officer¡¦s motorcycle. On […]

Mr. Mian Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister of Pakistan, was abducted on September 10, 2007 from Islamabad airport and put on a PIA flight bound for Saudi Arabia. He has since been kept incommunicado and his whereabouts remain unknown. At the time of his abduction it was announced by the authorities in Saudi Arabia […]

We would like to bring to the notice of the Council the trend of attacks on religious leaders and places of worship in Sri Lanka, due to their involvement in protecting and assisting victims of ongoing hostilities between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE). This violence is part […]

On 31 August 2007 the Court of Appeal in Thailand upheld the decision of a lower court that a group of persons had in 2002 been exercising their legal rights under the abrogated 1997 Constitution when they went to protest about a gas pipeline project on the border with Malaysia, leading to clashes with the […]