Statement

Violence is escalating in Sri Lanka, with an attack by a suicide bomber in Colombo on the army headquarters that has seriously injured the army commander and killed many others. In retaliation, the Government of Sri Lanka has ordered air and naval attacks on LTTE strongholds. The international media is announcing a “return to war” […]

On April 17, 2006 the Indonesian Supreme Court announced that a five-member panel of judges would review the case of three men on death row in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Although the men–Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Da Silva and Don Marinus Riwu–were sentenced for inciting communal conflict in Poso in 2000, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-080-2006  April 25, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) SRI LANKA: Civil society in Sri Lanka must learn lessons from the people’s movement in Nepal As a major victory is being won by the Nepalese people in reclaiming democracy and the Constitution from the grip of the country’s […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) joins hands with the hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the streets of Nepal who have successfully defeated a coup started on February 1, 2005 by the despicable monarch, Gyanendra. All persons detained arbitrarily in the country must now be released. The people have forced the king to […]

Under sustained international pressure, the government of Cambodia on April 21 decided to remove the custodial sentence of eight days to one year for defamation under article 63 of the 1992 criminal law, commonly known as the UNTAC Law.  This is a positive development and should be welcomed, especially after a year of widely-condemned repression […]

Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) again appears to have lost interest in the case of abducted human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. After local human rights defenders obtained the cooperation of the Central Institute of Forensic Science to search an area of the Mae Klong River in Ratchaburi Province during late March, the DSI director-general, […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 25, 2006 AS-076-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PHILIPPINES: UN General Assembly must reject the Philippines’ Human Rights Council bid On April 19, the government of the Philippines joined other Asian countries applying to be members of the new UN Human Rights Council. It also issued a pledge […]

After years of unbearable horrors, the people of Nepal are once more in the streets as they were in 1990, demanding democracy and human rights. The recent offer by coup leader Gyanendra to allow for a new prime minister to be appointed is merely an attempt to save his own skin. It is too little, […]

Today, April 24, Thailand’s daily newspapers reported that members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy were attacked in the northeastern city of Udon Thani. According to the news, hundreds of people stormed a meeting organised to discuss the current political situation and criticise the outgoing prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and his Thai Rak Thai Party. […]

The issues of the non appointment of the Constitutional Council (CC) members and the resultant collapse of all the relevant independent commissions remain unresolved despite unprecedented public protests arising from all sectors of Sri Lankan society and also from international sources. The government remains stubborn in its refusal to appoint the nine members who have […]

Demonstrations totalling hundreds of thousands of Nepalese citizens have continued unabated since April 6th, 2006, defying curfews and shoot-to-kill orders given to the security forces. The movement to rid Nepal of its autocratic monarch has become more and more determined throughout this time. At least 14 persons have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested […]

On April 12 an unusual story appeared in Burma’s state-run daily newspapers. It said that a man identified as Wai Phyo Naung killed himself in a police lock up in Mandalay after being arrested for loitering in the early morning of March 25. According to the report, he had twisted his sarong into a rope […]

The human rights, humanitarian and political crisis in Nepal has hit a new low and demands an immediate solution. On the eve of the third week of widespread, legitimate popular protests against the direct rule of King Gyanendra, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls for immediate and credible steps to be taken in order […]

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 […]