Statement

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 […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 29, 2006 AS-200-2006 Closing statement of the 6th Human Rights Folk School of the Asian Human Rights Commission ASIA: Still a long way to go to rule of law & human rights in Asia The 6th Human Rights Folks School of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) was held in Hong […]

On 27 August 2006 it was reported that fighter jets and helicopters attacked the south western province of Balochistan, killing some 37 government opponents, including a former governor and chief minister of the province, Sardar Akbar Khan Bugti. The military action is also reported to have claimed the lives of two members of the provincial […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on August 24 issued yet another appeal about further threats and violations of fundamental rights by the Border Security Force (BSF) stationed along India’s border with Bangladesh. In the latest incident this August 18 the family of a torture victim was allegedly threatened by a BSF intelligence officer over […]

The Bangkok Post on August 23 reported a spokesperson of the deputy prime minister of Thailand as saying that the government of Argentina understands the human rights situation in Thailand. According to the news report, an aide of the deputy prime minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, said that “Argentina has no problem with Dr Surakiart’s qualifications” to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 24, 2006 AS-196-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission  BANGLADESH: Lawless law-enforcement & the parody of judiciary The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and its sister organisation the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) have today released a landmark new report on the collapsed and primitive policing and judicial systems […]

An announcement by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that she is appointing a high level Commission of Inquiry to probe into the extrajudicial killings was exposed as a hoax within just a few days of the announcement and even one of the nominated commissioners, a catholic bishop, publicly announced that he would not be party to […]

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has announced the proposal for the appointment of a high level commission to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings, as well as to supervise the actual investigations carried out by Task Force Usig.  This announcement comes as there is mounting pressure from within the Philippines as well as internationally against the government […]

While the call for a peaceful resolution of the Sri Lankan conflict has arisen from high level sources such as the Secretary General of the United Nations and even the Pope, these make hardly any difference to the dismal situation of complete neglect of the suffering caused to the people by all parties to the […]

The Amnesty International report on the political killings, human rights violations and peace process in the Philippines published in August 2006 points to the need for the political will to investigate and stop political killings and the legacy of impunity in the country:   “Unearthing the evidence establishing responsibility for the current pattern of political […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the decision of the government of Kerala to initiate action on reported custodial deaths in police stations. However, while some may consider this to be a bold step by the state government–contrasted by feet-dragging in the central government of India on police abuses–in fact it is but a […]

Last week Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) published an editorial entitled the ‘UN should not ignore [the] Sri Lankan conflict’ (August 8, 2006).  The editorial wondered as to why despite the levels of violence in the Sri Lankan conflict being equal to, or worse when compared to Lebanon and other theatres of conflict, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned but not surprised to hear that a senior police officer was threatened with death on 9 August 2006 when an anonymous caller to the police headquarters in Colombo said that a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) from the Tamil community would be killed soon.  The AHRC is concerned […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-188-2006 August 10, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Court delays, rights violations and impunity give no cause for celebration of Supreme Court’s Golden Jubilee As part of its celebrations of fifty years of existence, the Supreme Court of Pakistan is holding an International Jurists Conference starting August […]