Statement

In recent years, the Human Rights Council’s predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, placed Nepal at the top of the list of perpetrators of forced disappearances. Following interventions and the establishment of a field office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country, disappearances have dropped significantly. Information received by […]

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) is gravely concerned by the insufficient action on the part of the Human Rights Council to address the growing problem of extra-judicial killings and . The ALRC has alerted the international community, including the Human Rights Council, concerning this growing and extremely grave situation on numerous occasions. For example, […]

Last week the Sri Lankan Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) successfully prosecuted a police sergeant who had solicited and accepted a bribe of Rs. 6,000/= (US$ 60.00). The news of this successful prosecution only evoked a sarcastic response from the public. In one newspaper a columnist referred to it as “catching […]

In recent months several dead bodies had been found in the streets of Manila with placards about their necks or bodies suggesting that they were criminals. When two corpses were found at the Manila’s downtown area in Sta. Cruz district, the placards suggests they were thieves and warning others, supposedly not to do the same, […]

On August 24, 2007, the Cambodian Government, the National Assembly, the Senate, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and its coalition partner FUNCINPEC, in unison decried a request for former King Sihanouk to be stripped of his immunity and face trial in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The request had been made to the National Assembly by […]

Cases of 547 persons killed and 396 persons disappeared during the period from January to June, 2007 according to a report published by three well-known civil society groups, the Civil Monitoring Mission, law Society and Trust and the Free Media Movement. The report was issued on 23rd August 2007 and states that it is not […]

Disappearances after arrest or forced disappearances have become a major political issue in the country. Enforced disappearances of persons following illegal arrest has been a common phenomenon in Pakistan since the military government took power in 1999. The situation became worse after the 9/11 incident in the United States and the government of General Musharraf […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission today joins with the Asian Migrant Centre, Hong Kong, and other organisations worldwide in a global day of action to call for the repeal of the provincial decrees in Thailand against the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers there. The provincial decrees, which have been introduced in […]

A group of 25 human rights activists and defenders from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand who gathered for the Human Rights School Session of the Asian Human Rights Commission for 2007 wish to express their deepest solidarity with the victims and families of forced disappearances and wish to add […]

To the surprise of many, the protests against sharp fuel rises in Burma have continued for a second week, despite constant arrests and harassment of demonstrators and their leaders by plain-clothed police, government officials and gangs of thugs mobilised for the purpose, while soldiers are reported to be watching and waiting in the wings in […]

The state government of Manipur has imposed a series of restrictions regarding ‘publication of objectionable materials’ by the media in the state through its notifications dated August 2 and 14, 2007. The restrictions were published as orders issued by the State Home Department. These orders is a response by the state in the excuse of […]

It is customary for the older generation to tell the younger generation a living memory of what the nation has been. For the survival of a nation and its own identity, a closely guarded national conscience is of paramount importance. It is such jealously guarded conscience that provides the foundation of a nation. Without such […]

The authorities of Bangladesh are giving contradictory figures relating to the number of accused persons in cases lodged with different police stations of Dhaka and other cities. This has been learned from bulletins and reports published over the national television channel as well as private TV stations, including the Dhaka based daily newspapers, which quoted […]

On August 21, 2007 at 6 a.m. a wealthy and well-connected businessman named Oum Chhay, who had been arrested on suspicion of drug-trafficking, was found lying dead on his back on the ground beneath the balcony of the office of the Anti-Drug Department in Phnom Penh. The police immediately said that the suspect had committed […]

The Democratic Voice of Burma radio has posted a video on its website that vividly illustrates the true nature of the recent “arrest” of protestors against the price hikes in fuels there. The footage, shot by an unidentified person at around 1pm on 25 August 2007, shows at least six unidentified plain-clothed men carrying protest […]

Sri Lanka’s Deputy Solicitor General Savindra Fernando has been quoted in the local press as stating that Sri Lanka has often been bullied into signing United Nations (UN) conventions. He was speaking during celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention. Such international instruments on human rights […]

The house of a prominent journalist, Mr. Nadir Shah Adil was attacked by a force of police officers, not less than 30 in number, with an armored car and two police jeeps on August 21, 2007.  Mr. Adil was not at home at the time. Officers from two different police stations of Kalri and Baghdadi […]

The situation in Bangladesh is worsening day by day, with the repressive actions being taken by the authorities only adding fuel to the growing conflagration. Protests that began at Dhaka University on August 20, 2007, have spread beyond the student population and the capital, to include participants from many walks of life. They are beginning […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been following with deep concern and interest the tense situation in Burma since last Wednesday, 15 August 2007, when the military government dramatically increased the costs of all vehicle fuels by up to five times the previous level, without prior announcement. The price increases were immediately passed on […]

Predictably, the military junta in Thailand has coerced, threatened, bought and cajoled part of the electorate into passing its 309-article constitution on August 19. From results to date, just over 14 million people out of the country’s 45 million eligible voters crossed the box in favour of the charter. As only 25 million bothered to […]