Statement

Public pressure and the courageous stand taken by Sri Lanka’s Commissioner of Elections have made certain that the next presidential elections will be held this year; President Kumaratunga’s claim to a further year in power has been rejected. This achievement is of enormous importance for both social and political morale. Had this occurred during the […]

The recent assault and detention of the Maldives’ opposition party leader is indicative of the disturbing use of authoritarian powers by the government to suppress calls for democratic reform. Mohammed Nasheed was detained on August 12, 2005 in Male, together with Ahmed Abbas and some other persons. The two activists had been holding a silent […]

The latest in a growing number of open threats and attacks directed at human rights defenders and social activists in Thailand occurred in the early hours of last Thursday, August 18, when a grenade was lobbed at Wiwat Thamee’s parked car in Mae Fah Luang district of Chiang Rai province. Although nobody was in the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the call by the President of India, Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam to the nation that the country should be self-sustaining within a period of 25 years in regards to its energy requirements. The President however, does not speak about achieving self sustenance for all citizens in […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses shock and condemns the killing of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar on 12 August 2005. In direct and indirect terms the Government and many other sources have accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) for the murder. The LTTE has denied this allegation. Though a […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission joins with others in condemning the seven-years’ imprisonment handed without fair and credible trial to Cambodian opposition member of parliament Cheam Channy on fictitious charges of forming an illegal armed group. Another member of parliament, Khom Piseth, was also sentenced to five years in absentia. With this verdict, the level […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned of the abduction of a newborn baby at Negombo Base Hospital during the last week. This hospital has over recent months been plagued by a series of medical negligence scandals, resulting in the deaths of patients as well as the unnecessary amputation of a patient’s leg. Despite […]

According to the latest media reports, the Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chandra Fernando, has said that the police will apply to the Attorney General’s department to have a trial at bar in order to speed up the sensational Royal Park murder trial. The IGP says this will “send a clear message” to […]

Farmers in parts of Mindanao, southern Philippines, have for the last three years suffered terrible crop losses due to drought and rats. Deep poverty, severe hunger and starvation have followed. Although there are many avenues available for the authorities to intervene and assist the farmers, it was not until this year that they began to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 22, 2005 AS-84-2005 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) What is the point of Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation? For at least the third time, Thailand’s Ministry of Justice has announced that its Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will take over the inquiry into disappeared human rights lawyer […]

In responding to the current dysfunctional status of the Constitutional Council, the Government of Sri Lanka has stated–by way of a communique published in the media–that this is a result of the opposition leader failing to make his nomination, as required constitutionally. With the Council having ceased to function over a year ago, public administration […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 19, 2005 AS-82-2005 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Extrajudicial killings reflect absence of command responsibility within Sri Lanka’s policing system The increasing violence and extrajudicial killings in Sri Lankan police stations reflect the absence of command responsibility within the police department. Daily reports of serious police torture, […]

It should come as no surprise to anyone that has followed the saga of missing Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit to hear that his wife Angkhana has now taken his case directly to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in Geneva. The Committee is considering Thailand’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political […]

This next week of July 2005 is an historic one for Thailand. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) it will go before the U.N. Human Rights Committee for the first time to answer questions about how well the rights guaranteed under the Covenant are protected in Thailand. These […]

Just as the trial into the murder of High Court Judge Sarath Ambipitiya has concluded, another judge, former Magistrate of Wellawaya Magistrate’s Court, Janaka Bandara has received death threats. The threats, which came by way of telephone call, demanded that the magistrate resign from the Judicial Service and refrain from attending an inquiry to be […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses serious concern about the visible loss of interest in torture cases by the Attorney General’s Department. While the government and its officials may have lost interest in the issue of torture, this apathy is not apparent in the people of the country who will begin a series of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is reproducing below the translation of a statement made by a tuberculosis patient to Sri Lanka’s Special Investigation Unit. The statement reveals how a police officer from the Welipenna Police, knowing that the tuberculosis patient was an escaped prisoner, implicated him groundlessly on other charges. As the man had […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the strike reported to be taking place at the Negombo Government Hospital as baseless, unjust, unprofessional and amounting to holding sick people to ransom in order to avoid their responsibilities and to prevent the operation of the due process of law.  The Asian Human Rights Commission further states that […]

A High Court judge, Sarath Ambipitiya, was assassinated on the 21st November 2004.  Within seven months the criminal investigations and the trial were completed with a three member trial at bar finding the suspects guilty and sentencing them to death.  According to reports the trial took 25 days for completion.   Perhaps this, the speediest […]

It is becoming increasingly obvious that getting away with murder in the Philippines is made easy by the absence of any functioning witness protection scheme. The lack of witnesses also becomes a convenient excuse for investigators to say that they have done their jobs but have no further avenues for action.   In a May […]