Statement

NEPAL: Flood menace in Nepal’s Terai

Statement | Nepal | 08-09-2017

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) are extremely concerned over the Government of Nepal’s slow response to the flood affected Terai region. Continuous four-day heavy rains since 10 August 2017 triggered floods and landslides across the country, causing a great loss of human life and property. This is […]

PAKISTAN: Policing system plagued by pervasive corruption

When thinking of police officers in Pakistan, inept, corrupt and intimidating are some of the first thoughts that come to mind. Their attitude towards complainants and victims of crime are particularly devoid of civility. In fact, complainants are harassed for daring to report crimes and demanding justice. The country’s justice delivery mechanisms largely fail victims, […]

INDONESIA: Government must make public the 2005 fact-finding report on Munir’s case

A Joint Statement by Asian Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International Indonesia, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Asia Justice and Rights, East Timor & Indonesia Action Network, The Observatory for Protections of Human Rights Defender OBS, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Protection International, TAPOL UK and International Federation […]

SRI LANKA: නීතිඥ වෘත්තියේ හා අධිකරණ පද්ධතියේ වැරදි වසන් කිරීම නොව ඒවා නිවරදිකරවා ගැනීම කාටත් ප‍්‍රයෝජනවත් වනු ඇත.

ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ අධිකරණ පද්ධතියේ ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැන් මතුවී තිබෙන විවාදය මේ පිළිබඳව පැවතී ඇති සාකච්චා වල වැදගත් අවධියක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. රන්ජන් රාමනායක මහතා හා ලංකාවේ නීතිඥ සංගමය අතර ඇතිවූ විවාදයක් සේ මෙය පටන් ගැනුනත් මේ වන විට එය පළල් ක්ෂේත්රකයක් කරා පළල් වී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳ මහජන අවධානයද ඉතා බලවත් ලෙසින් ඉස්මතු වී ඇත. සමස්ථ […]

SRI LANKA: Instead of being apologists for a failed system of justice, it is better to take initiatives for speedy reforms

Perhaps for the first time in the contemporary history of Sri Lanka, an important debate is now taking place on the need for judicial reforms. This debate has come about as a result of a statement made by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka with regard to a public statement made by Deputy Minister Ranjan […]

PAKISTAN: International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances – Government refuses to criminalize the menace

A joint statement of Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), World Sindhi Congress (WSC), Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) and Rightsnow on the  International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances Each year on August 30, the world stands in solidarity with the victims of the enforced disappearances and their families and vows to fight against […]

NEPAL: Peace without Truth & Justice, Reconciliation without Accountability is not Acceptable

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Advocacy Forum (AF), Amnesty International, Accountability Watch Centre, Conflict Victims’ Common Platform (CVCP), Committee for Social Justice, INSEC, Inhured International, Peoples’ Voice, Voices of Women Media, NEFAD, DFHRI, HURFON and OHR, on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances The Commission of Investigation […]

BANGLADESH: Incumbent government should not be afraid of probing disappearances if its hands are clean

Dhaka/Bangkok/Hong Kong/Manila: 29 August 2017: Bangladesh Government owes answers to the families of the victims of enforced disappearances regarding their whereabouts. Reports show that enforced disappearances, a ‘crime against humanity’ under international law, is being committed systematically since the incumbent government assumed office in 2009. However, the government denies the alleged incidents of enforced disappearances, contradicting […]

SRI LANKA: Lawyers, prosecutors and judges should face the mirror

A Press Release issued by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has threatened contempt of Court action being taken against a deputy minister who has made some serious criticisms against the Courts and the legal profession. While it is not our intention to defend the deputy minister, we are perturbed by such threats against anyone […]

INDIA/BURMA: Do not deport Rohingya and other refugees living in India

Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic group belonging to Burma, are considered the most severely persecuted people in the world. The majority of Burma’s 800,000 strong, Muslim populace, identifies as Rohingya and have faced severe discrimination in this Buddhist-majority nation. Rohingyas are routinely denied basic rights to healthcare and livelihood. By the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law they […]

INDONESIA: Stop unlawful deprivation of liberty against Indigenous Papuans

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the unlawful deprivation of liberty of Papuans which has occurred frequently of late. The AHRC has learned that the Indonesian Security Forces have been using excessive force and flaunting their authority to illegally arrest indigenous Papuans. They are simply exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion […]

PAKISTAN: Intelligence agencies using blasphemy to gag criticism of its atrocities

Blogger Ahmed Waqas Goraya, who disappeared earlier this year along with four other social media activists, has recently revealed the names of his abductors. Mr. Goraya posted on his Facebook page that Colonel Khalid of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, and a civilian deputy director, Mr. Irtiza, tortured him while in custody. Having remained […]

SRI LANKA: Video showing the IGP grabbing a Police Officer by the collar challenges the respect due to on-duty Policemen

There is a saying that “if you are bitten by a cobra there is hardly any cure”. The situation of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) violating the law and committing an act of torture appears to have the same effect. This is not because of a defect of the Law in Sri Lanka. It […]

INDIA/BANGLADESH: Stop the Unlawful Detention of Bangladeshi Migrants

In May 2017, a young boy was apprehended by Border Security Force(BSF) officers in Dinajpur, West Bengal. MASUM, our partner organisation in West Bengal conducted a fact-finding mission and discovered that almost 18 months before the incident, his father had come to India, searching for a job, with the help of a middleman. The boy, […]

SRI LANKA: පොලිස්පති පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකුට වදහිංසා කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය හා පොලිස් සේවයේ කීර්තිනාමය

“නයෙක් කෑවොත් කළ හැකි වෙදකමක් නැතැයි” සමහරුන් කියන්නා සේ පොලිස්පතිවරයා පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු වදහිංසනයට ලක්කල විට එයට ද ලංකාවේ නීතිය කරින යාත්මක වන ආකාරයට අනුව කල හැකි දෙයක් නැතුවා සේ පෙනේ. එය නීතියේ ඇති අඩුපාඩුවක් නිසා නොව ලංකාවේ නීතිය කරිය යාත්මක වන ආකාරයේ ඇති බරපතල පැහැරහැරීම් හා මගහැරීම් නිසාය. පොලිස්පතිවරයා පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයේ නිළධාරියේකුගේ කොළරයෙන් අල්ලා ඔහුට තර්ජනය […]

INDONESIA: Serious violations of human rights in Papua should be investigated

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Indonesian Authorities to ensure that cases of human rights violations that occurred in Papua must be investigated properly, under fair trial principles and the Rule of Law. In the last two months, the AHRC has documented and reported some three cases of serious human rights violations, as […]

INDIA: 70 years on and still struggling for humanity

Statement | India | 16-08-2017

Divya Bharathi, a filmmaker recently released her debut film ‘Kakkoos’, a documentary on the plight of manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state. In the past one month, there have been two reports of deaths of workers engaged in manual scavenging, both from New Delhi, India’s capital city. Seven manual scavengers died due to the inhalation […]

INDIA: Independence Day for cows as hospitals massacre children

Statement | India | 14-08-2017

How exactly can one react to a republic that lets more than 60 of its children die in just 48 hours for the want of oxygen as the company supplying oxygen to the hospital had stopped it after repeated warnings for the same over non-payment of Rs. 68 Lakhs? How exactly one must feel after […]

PAKISTAN: Call to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance without any reservation

A Report by the Asian Human Rights Commission/Asian Legal Resource Centre to the 113 session of United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) are concerned about the increase in cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. The state has utterly and […]

INDIA: Release NBA activists now, stop drowning people without rehabilitation

Statement | India | 08-08-2017

The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly condemns yesterday’s late evening attack on Narmada Bachao Andolan’s peaceful sit-in and fast by the Madhya Pradesh state police. The police forcibly arrested Ms. Medha Patkar and 11 others and have detained them. The activists were protesting against Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to submerge the area violating the Supreme Court of […]