Statement

The April 15 decision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to commute to life imprisonment the sentences of all prisoners in the Philippines facing death is an important and valuable recognition of the right to life. There are at least 1000 persons in death row who can expect to have their sentences commuted. The announcement comes after […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) notes with grief the death of Professor T. V. Eachara Varier who passed away on 13 April 2006. Professor Varier has left the legacy of a consistent fight of a father to find justice against the state for the disappearance of his son during the infamous Emergency in India […]

Sri Lanka has presented its candidature for membership within the United Nations Human Rights Council. The 47-member Council replaces the now defunct UN Commission on Human Rights, which was abandoned in late March 2006 due to the fact that, amongst other things, it was failing to adequately protect human rights because its members included states […]

The Sri Lankan president’s direct appointment of commissioners to the National Police Commission and Public Service Commission is a serious setback to the little constitutionalism remaining in the country. These appointments have perverted the independent character of the commissions as established under the 17th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. The root of the commissions’ […]

In its meeting with NGOs on April 6, 2006 to discuss the draft law on demonstrations, Cambodia’s ministry of interior announced a ban on any demonstration to protest against the prime minister. Citing political instability, the ministry’s secretary of state, Nuth Sa An, said any demonstration calling for the prime minister’s resignation would be banned. […]

In blatant violation of Sri Lanka’s constitution, President Mahinda Rajapakse took it upon himself to appoint members to the National Police Commission and the Public Service Commission. These appointments bypassed the constitutional process, which requires the appointments to be approved by the Constitutional Council. Before granting approval, the council is to examine the merits of […]

On March 28 Prime Minister Hun Sen repeated an earlier commitment to decriminalize defamation in Cambodia. Unfortunately, there are good reasons to doubt his promise. In 2005 the prime minister used Cambodia’s criminal defamation law to get a court to sentence opposition leader Sam Rainsy in absentia. He used the same law to arrest nine […]

There is as of today, April 7, a de facto state of emergency in Nepal. Thousands of people have taken to the streets protesting against the government headed by King Gyanendra. Parts of the country have been declared ‘restricted areas’ and the work of security forces stepped up: a futile attempt to curb the ever-increasing […]

On March 29 and 30 Prime Minister Hun Sen mounted successive attacks on the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia, Professor Yash Ghai. The special representative had just finished his second visit to the country and in a March 28 press conference had painted a dark picture of human rights […]

A report in today’s Daily Mirror newspaper of April 3 states that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa “is exploring the possibility of setting up independent commissions under the 17th Amendment, bypassing the now defunct Constitutional Council…” The president is also quoted as having said that he was looking into the possibility of an appointed parliamentary […]

Speaking at the induction of the President Elect of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka during its 32nd Annual Convocation, the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka warned that the judiciary could become a laughing stock and that delays in adjudication may result in people seeking alternative means of justice. These delays were an apparent reference […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 31, 2006 AS-057-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PHILIPPINES: Law needed to stop torture and systemic negligence in the Philippines The brutal police torture and filing of supposedly fabricated charges against 11 persons–including two minors–in Buguias, Benguet on 14 February 2006 is yet another instance of the arbitrary […]

At the end of his second mission as the Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights in Cambodia (March 19-28, 2006), Professor Yash Ghai pointed to the stark fear present throughout Cambodia due to the one-man rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which prevents the growth of democracy and the possibility of human […]

Today, March 30, 2006 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has nominated three outstanding widows of human rights defenders to receive jointly the prestigious 2006 , awarded by the May 18 Memorial Foundation, Korea. The three are: Angkhana Neelaphaijit, wife of disappeared Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit; Suciwati Munir, wife of murdered Indonesian human […]

In a news item published in the Island on March 29, 2006 outgoing chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Radhika Coomaraswamy, confirmed that the terms of office of the Commission members would expire on April 3, 2006. Like the other commissions created under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, the Human Rights […]

On 30 March 1997 Sam Rainsy–now leader of Cambodia’s opposition party–organised and led a peaceful demonstration in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. The rally was called to protest at the corrupt judiciary, which then as now was under the control of the dominant Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Approval had been obtained for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that recently a judge at the provincial court of Rattanakiri in northeast Cambodia took a bribe of over USD 13,000 in exchange for the release on bail of seven out of nine men arrested for murder, and a promise to drop the charges against them. The defendants […]

An article in Friday’s Thai Day supplement to the International Herald Tribune quoted an officer of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) working on the case of abducted human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit as saying that “the case is proving very difficult” because “the DSI only took up the case late last year” (‘DSI condemned […]

In recent days a visitor to the banks of the Mae Klong River in Ban Pong of Ratchaburi province, west of Bangkok, might have noticed a little dinghy moving about in the middle of the swollen water, a small group of people watching from the shoreline. The dinghy has been occupied by forensic professionals, divers […]

While the incident of two Supreme Court judges resigning on the basis of matters of conscience is still very much a part of the public debate, the Auditor General of Sri Lanka has now also come under attack by the government.  The attacks have come in response to several critical reports published by the Auditor […]