Statement

SRI LANKA: New Year’s Wish List for 2007

AS-321-2006 December 29, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: New Year’s Wish List for 2007 1. That fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution be fully honoured; the right against illegal arrest (Article 13.1), the right against illegal detention (article 13.2), the right against torture (Article 11) to be fully respected and […]

BANGLADESH: Sedition charges against leading Bangladesh lawyers involved in writ challenging assumption of office by chief adviser-Part 2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AS-323-2006 December 27, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission BANGLADESH: sedition charges against leading Bangladesh lawyers involved in writ challenging assumption of office by chief adviser – Part Two The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that the police in Bangladesh have filed sedition charges against 12 lawyers […]

BANGLADESH: Sedition charges against leading Bangladesh lawyers involved in writ challenging assumption of office by chief adviser-Part 1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-320-2006 December 27, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission BANGLADESH: Sedition charges against leading Bangladesh lawyers involved in writ challenging assumption of office by chief adviser The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that the police in Bangladesh have filed sedition charges against 12 lawyers practicing in the […]

INDONESIA: A state mechanism by which victims are able to press for justice is urgently needed

STATEMENT- ABOLISHMENT OF TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION BILL On the 7th December 2006, the Supreme Court in Jakarta abolished the highly controversial Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Bill of 2004, which the residing Judges described as “illogical”. Said residing Judge Jimly Asshidiqque; “The Court rules that the law goes against the Constitution and has to […]

SRI LANKA: Judicial Service Association should not look for scapegoats for public loss of confidence in the judiciary

The newspapers reported a request by the Judicial Service Association (JSA) to “implement the death penalty to halt the loss of public confidence in the judiciary.”  This, according to the report was done at the Annual General Meeting of the association which comprises of judicial officers from High Courts, District Courts and Magistrate’s Courts around […]

SRI LANKA: Reporting on torture – Ours is a concern beyond a mere legal issue – further correspondence with the Chairman of Wijeya Newspapers Ltd

We refer your our earlier statement ‘SRI LANKA: Do newspapers like the Sunday Times, Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa contribute to the prevalence of endemic torture in Sri Lanka?’ and the dossier of documents available at: http://www.srilankahr.net/pdf/newsreports_onPalithaCase.pdf.  Mr. R.S. Wijewardene, the Chairperson of Wijeya Newspapers Ltd has responded to our letter and the AHRC has replied with […]

INDIA: Savage rape & killing of Dalit family a wake-up call for India

Statement | India | 17-12-2006

On September 29, four members of a poor peasant Dalit (non-caste Hindu) family in Khairlanji village of Bhandara, in the northeast of the state of Maharashtra, were brutally killed in planned mob violence by caste Hindus. Four members of the family were paraded naked before almost the entire village, and tortured and savagely assaulted with […]

THAILAND: Three months of hypocrisy

A policeman in the south of Thailand speaking confidentially one day to a human rights defender explained how he gets assigned to kill people. The superior officers do not give direct orders. Rather, they may call him to an informal meeting after work, and share some drinks. They bring him into their confidence, and treat […]

INDIA: Uttar Pradesh government ignores hunger tribunal findings

Statement | India | 14-12-2006

In September 2005 the Asian Human Rights Commission and Varanasi-based partner the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) organised a public hearing on hunger in the east of Uttar Pradesh. The panel, which was chaired by a retired high court judge, directly heard 25 detailed complaints of starvation from people of various Dalit (so-called […]

THAILAND: Police reforms mean command responsibility

In recent weeks there has been a lot of talk in Thailand about the need to reform the police. Everyone agrees that policing in Thailand is a huge problem. As is common throughout Asia, the police force is the main day-to-day perpetrator of killings, torture and other gross abuses of human rights there. It is […]

CAMBODIA: Law abolishing parliamentary immunity is unconstitutional & unacceptable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AS-215-2006 September 14, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission CAMBODIA: Law abolishing parliamentary immunity is unconstitutional & unacceptable On August 31 the National Assembly of Cambodia adopted a new law regarding its members. The Law on Members of Parliament is intended, among other things, to regulate parliamentary immunity, including […]

SRI LANKA: Abductions and disappearances continue in Colombo and elsewhere unabated and the state turns a blind eye

The abduction of yet another Tamil businessman on December 11, in Kotahena by an unidentified group was reported in Lankanet.  The victim is said to be Chabamale Muttu Folton (42) and he was abducted near his house at Paramananda Vihara Mawatha. The article reported the following: “The suspects who had come in a white van […]

THAILAND: Former DSI chief must be interrogated over human rights cases too

The committee appointed to hunt for corrupt deals done by the previous government of Thailand has called for the former head of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) under the Ministry of Justice to appear before it on Wednesday, December 13. It is seeking answers from Pol. Gen. Sombat Amornvivat in relation to his department’s […]

PAKISTAN: Inaction of judiciary encourages continuing disappearances

During year 2006 there has been no relief in Human rights violations.  On the contrary, as in previous years cases such as torture, disappearances and violence against women has increased. The government lacks the capacity to carry out its obligations under international norms. Pakistan is remains in the severe grip of military control it has […]

THAILAND: Self-censorship causing serious damage

On December 7 a man was arrested and charged for having spray painted over images of the King of Thailand in the northern province of Chiang Mai. The man reportedly claimed that he was drunk and expressed regret for his actions. However, a member of the military junta running the country has ordered the army […]

INDIA: Failed justice mechanisms ensure most Indians do not benefit from economic development

Statement | India | 09-12-2006

More than 70% of the Indians are being left behind and ignored in India, while the government is lauding the country’s developed status. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has noted through its work that there was no improvement in the human rights standards in India during 2006, as compared with the economic growth that […]

SRI LANKA: Human Rights Day Statement: Killing match in Sri Lanka intensifies

The most violent place in Asia at the moment is Sri Lanka, with the state not taking any serious steps to bring the situation under control. The state blames the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for creating the violence throughout the country, while the LTTE blames the Sri Lankan government for using military and […]

PHILIPPINES: An improved criminal justice system is key to upholding human rights

The Philippines in recent times has been plagued by widespread and systematic violations of human rights, which include unabated extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances, among others, that are occurring in an increasingly unexplained fashion. The sense of frustration and distrust of the victims and their families that they will ever attain justice is the […]

ASIA: Extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture and other forms of gross human rights violations still engulf Asia’s nations

In addition to the general statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) for International Human Rights Day on December 10, we are also making the brief comments below on the human rights situation in several Asian countries. A more comprehensive report will be available soon. Sri Lanka The most violent place in Asia […]

ASIA: Flawed criminal justice systems negate the realisation of human rights in Asia

Discontent over malfunctioning democracies and legal systems and the consequent setbacks these shortcomings cause for human rights and the rule of law, as well as aggressively expressed aspirations to resolve such problems, are marked features that define the year 2006 in many Asian countries. Specifically, Asia’s people feel discontent over the authoritarianism of democratically elected […]