Statement

It is just over a year since the Peshawar Army Public School carnage of December 2014, where some 135 teens were killed by terrorists. The subsequent promulgation of Pakistan’s National Action Plan (NAP) to combat terrorism, as well as the lifting of the moratorium on death penalties, has shown no sign of decreasing terror attacks […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely monitoring incidents in Nepal’s Terai. The AHRC had been eagerly waiting for the government and the agitating forces to strike a deal. However, today, even after 6 months of standstill, there is no progression. The government has not discarded its killing attitude; protests and killings are […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the suicide bombing and explosion that took place in Sarinah shopping center, Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 January 2016. We express our deep condolences to the victims and the families of those who died as a result of the terrorist attack. Approximately 23 people were victims of the explosion, […]

“AFSPA was imposed after declaring the state a disturbed area. You mean to say that in 35 years of Army presence in the state, the situation has not improved to remove the disturbed area tag from the state? Has nothing changed on the law and order front for the last three decades?” The Supreme Court […]

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) held a side event on enforced disappearances and extra judicial killing in Pakistan and also had long discussion with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). On June 20, the delegation of ALRC submitted a 160-page report on enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings in Pakistan, […]

People in Bundelkhand are being forced to eat grass for survival. This dire situation is being aired in reports after report of news channels. Grass and weeds are traditional diet in the area, counter officials of the Uttar Pradesh government. Neither is entirely wrong. What villagers are being forced to eat is not exactly grass, […]

Children with sunken eyes and protruding bones, struggling to breathe; mothers watching haplessly as their children die in front of their eyes; this sad reality was not happening in Somalia or Ethiopia, but in a country that is the seventh atomic power of the world. The ongoing drought in Pakistan’s Tharparkar district, Sindh province has […]

Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has made a rare public statement; he has said the Executive is usurping all the powers of the Judiciary. He called upon all the judges and lawyers to come forward and fight against the Executive’s attempt to control the entire State and its institutions and thereby usurp all the […]

We are producing today a submission made by the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Constitutional Reforms Committee. In our submission among other things , we have made the following argument. That the state of the law enforcement agencies, particularly the policing service, and other branches of the administration of justice, the Attorney General’s Department, […]

Hong Kong enjoys a unique position in Asia, being a jurisdiction where the presence of the rule of law is a felt experience among the general public. In this Special Administrative Region of China, though not a democracy in the true sense of the word, everyone enjoys equal protection under the law. Unfortunately, recent events […]

We are publishing today a statement by JayakumarThangavelu ,a retired senior police officer, who held the rank of DIG in charge of legal division about his experiences as an investigator into political crimes and in witness protection. He writes, “In addressing this subject, I put down my experience of forty years in the Sri Lankan […]

Being a Christian in Sri Lanka is a book with a striking cover, showing the view from theSigiriya Rock Fortress (built 477 – 495 AD, a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Leonard Pinto, an ecologist and an author of works on ethics and social justice, has taught and researched at universities andindustry in Australia, the Philippines and […]

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court verdict of not guilty in relation to the five police officers accused in relation to the disappearance of Mr. Neelapaijit 11 years ago. The Supreme Court further held that the family could not be co-plaintiff as there was no conclusive evidence that Mr. Neelapaijit was dead […]

2015 Review: Seriously defective, policing, prosecution and justice systems obstructed progress towards “yahapalanaya” (Good Governance) Despite a welcome change of government, which started on 8th January 2015, the overall performance of the Government on the issue of its most important promise of ensuring “yahapalanaya” (Good Governance), by the end of the year, people have not witnessed […]

The smallest coffins can be the heaviest to bear. On 16 December 2014, exactly one year ago, many Pakistani parents had to bear the pain of seeing their children die in a terrible manner. As many as 134 school children of the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar were massacred on that day, in a […]

Few experiences can bring more pain to families than having their homes demolished. For the urban poor in India, and across the world, this is unfortunately a recurrent event in their lives. Demolitions of their houses and communities are so routine they hardly make news, and remain confined to the inside pages even if they […]

Please Send the following petition by fax & email to all addresses Mr. Ban Ki Moon Secretary General of the United Nations Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General  United Nations S-378, New York, NY 10017  USA Tel: +1 212 963 5012 Fax: +1 212 963 7055 or 2155 E-mail: ecu@un.org, inquiries@un.org Tel. +1 212 963 7162 […]

The Philippines sees routine investigations on targeted killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, all of which end up without enough evidence to prosecute the perpetrators. When prosecutions are initiated, those with the most guilt and evidence for prosecution are routinely excluded from criminal complaint. Court trials, time consuming and costly for victims, largely end with […]

The world is commemorating International Human Rights Day today, 10 December 2015. However, the mood differs in Burma; the situation in the country is absolutely grim. This is despite the fact that just four weeks ago the Burmese people have finally been permitted, by the ruling military junta, to elect a popular government. The Asian […]

Human Rights violations remain widespread due to the failings of, and lack of reforms to, the country’s institutional framework, in particular, key institutions of the rule of law – the police, the prosecution, and the judiciary. This is compounded by persisting impunity enjoyed by law enforcement agencies particularly by the Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies. […]