Statement

The September 19 military coup has been described by some persons as benign. Their reasoning goes that the government of Thaksin Shinawatra was bad and intransigent. Whatever way it could be removed was good. Even normally well-informed news media have evoked images of a quiet and non-violent coup that is expected to just “slip in […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission reiterates its condemnation of the military coup in Thailand and calls for immediate restoration of the constitution and civilian government. Since this morning, September 20, the coup group headed by army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin has made a series of pronouncements under martial law. These include that: 1. The democratic […]

Earlier the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) circulated the complete text of this judgement (please see AS-217-2006).  Among the many completely baseless legal positions on which this judgement is premised there are some outstanding issues.  The AHRC intends to explore a comprehensive critique on this judgement soon.  In the meantime we would like to mention some […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the military coup in Thailand and calls for immediate restoration of civilian government. At approximately 10pm on September 19 a group of officers headed by army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin took power while Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was attending the UN General Assembly in New York. The group, […]

The Bangkok Post newspaper of Tuesday, September 19 cited Vasant Panich, the human rights commissioner charged with investigating killings that occurred during the 2003 “war on drugs” as saying that the victims in cases he had investigated were mostly innocent persons whose deaths have never been properly investigated. Vasant, chairperson of the Subcommittee on Legislation […]

We reproduced below a judgement made by a bench of five judges, presided over by the Chief Justice, Sarath N. Silva, of Sri Lanka, which leaves no doubt that the court wishes to nullify the impact of Sri Lanka being a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as well as […]

A judgment made by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on Friday, September 15 has all but removed the country from the international human rights community. The court declared that neither United Nations conventions signed by Sri Lanka nor the directives of monitoring bodies are binding on the country. The decision has tremendous ramifications both […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that army Lieutenant General Rukmangat Katuwal was appointed as army Chief of Staff of Nepal on September 10, 2006, by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Mr. Katuwal, who was set to retire before this appointment took effect, stands accused of being responsible for a plethora of […]

In Sri Lanka a white van without a number plate is a symbol of terror and the disappearances that occurred in all parts of the country.  Commissions on Disappearances in the South during the last few years of the 1980s have documented at some length how armed men, travelling in white vans without number plates […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by reports emanating from the Philippines concerning alleged attempts to provide one of the most notorious members of the armed forces of the Philippines, Major General Jovito Palparan Jr., with de facto immunity from questioning with regard to investigations into widespread extra-judicial killings. Palparan has reportedly […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the European Parliament Resolution on Sri Lanka which was distributed on Thursday, September 7, 2006.  The full text of the resolution is reproduced below: P6_TA-PROV (2006)0356 Sri Lanka PE 378.328 European  The European Parliament, –        having regard to its previous resolutions on Sri Lanka of 18 May 2000[1] , […]

The journal entry of the magistrate’s court of Muttur for September 4, 2006, regarding the case of the killings of the 17 aid workers in Muttur belonging to Action Contre La Faim reads as follows: Hon. Mr. Suhada Gamlath through phone directed me to send the file to Hon. Magistrate Anuradhapura to handle the file […]

There is a saying in India that, “If a dog goes mad it can be chained; but what can be done if the chain goes mad?” Applied to law enforcement, criminals are the dog, the police are the chain. So applied, the question is very appropriate for India today, and not least of all, West […]

In its drive to develop and beautify Phnom Penh, the Cambodian government and city municipality have made land concessions to private developers and have used excessive force to evict inhabitants. Evictees have been forced to accept compensation at well below the market price of their land, and made to live in resettlement areas far away […]

Maina Sunawar was 15 years old when members of the Nepalese armed forces arbitrarily arrested her. Since this date – February 17, 2004 – she has disappeared. All the evidence indicates that she was tortured to death by members of the military, who have since sought to deny her arrest and cover up her death. […]

The home minister of Kerala recently admitted that the justice system in the southern Indian state is failing. His reason for this assertion was the low conviction rate, which he attributed to lazy and corrupt public prosecutors. The prime minister and Law Commission of India have in the recent past expressed similar concerns about the […]

According to reports from the Sri Lankan press: Twenty four policemen including 4 Sergeants attached to Kollupitiya police station were interdicted with effect from yesterday after an inquiry conducted by Colombo Central SSP Sisil Perera on the instructions of DIG Pujitha Jayasundera…These officers who were attached to Security points around Temple Trees were warned earlier […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AS-203-2006 August 31, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission NEPAL: Prosecute acting Army Chief and remove the Army Act’s machinery of impunity The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned by the lack of credible action being taken by the authorities in Nepal to address the culture of impunity […]

In mid-August Heng Pov, a former Phnom Penh police commissioner and advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen who is now hiding in a foreign country, issued a public statement and gave an interview to L’ Express, a French weekly journal. In these he reveals that the government has itself been behind a number of big […]

Asia is littered with countries where policies of abducting and “disappearing” people have had terrible consequences. Among them are Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. In none of these countries have the families of victims obtained redress; nor has the truth of their disappearances been told. The effects on the political […]