Statement

The scope for the right to privacy and freedom of expression is being narrowed further in Pakistan, according to a report published by Privacy International. The report claims that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are closer than ever to removing internet privacy and increasing surveillance of the private data of average citizens, an exercise which […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned about the use of excessive force by the police in different districts of the Terai during public’s feedback collection on the first draft of the constitution. The Madhes based parties, Mohan Baidhya and Netra Bikram Chand led Maoist parties, and some other outfits, had decided to […]

Post the December 16 Peshawar carnage, wherein more than 150 school children and staff were massacred by the Taliban, the government of Pakistan went into a damage control mode and drafted a 20 point “National Action Plan (NAP) to counter terrorism and insurgency in Pakistan. Six months since its promulgation the NAP has had been […]

A total of 180,657 rural households continue to engage in manual scavenging in India, despite the inhuman practice being repeatedly outlawed by the Parliament and Judiciary. This is the state a year after the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), a flagship scheme of the incumbent government, covering 4,041 statutory towns, aiming to […]

Gender jurisprudence is unheard of in the realm of Pakistan’s criminal justice system. In fact, it is continuously at discord with social norms that are enforced by the biases of the criminal justice system. While there is a preconceived notion that the criminal justice system primarily revolves around men, as men are predisposed to violence, […]

On 12 June 2015, international NGO Save the Children, with over three decades of presence in Pakistan, was given a 15-days ultimatum to wind up its operations in the country. Following immense international pressure, the Pakistani government subsequently backtracked from the order. The ban came in the wake of accusations linking the aid agency to […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the actions of the police of the Republic of Indonesia, which has been actively working towards fabricating charges in numerous recent cases. Last month, the AHRC issued an urgent appeal AHRC-UAC-070-2015 in such a case, wherein a senior Corruption Eradication Commission investigator has been arrested and charged. Since President Joko […]

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) mengecam tindakan dari Kepolisian Republik Indonesia, yang telah secara aktif melakukan rekayasa kasus dalam beragam kasus baru-baru ini. Bulan lalu, AHRC juga mengeluarkan surat desakan dengan nomor AHRC-UAC-070-2015 tentang rekayasa kasus, dimana seorang investigator senior dari Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) ditangkap dan dipidanakan. Sejak Presiden Joko Widodo akhirnya membatalkan pencalonan Komisaris Jenderal Pol […]

The criminal justice system in Pakistan is known to be faulty, exploitive, and inequitable. Compound this with a low conviction rate, between three and seven percent, at best, and what one has is a recipe for chaos, as is being witnessed in the country today. The investigators are poorly trained and lack access to basic […]

Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS, and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) express grave concern over the unabated incursions on fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms in Bangladesh amid the on-going political violence in the country. A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre and the Global Civil Society Alliance (CIVICUS) Global civil society […]

The anecdote of the boiling frog springs to mind. The story goes that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out. However, if it is placed in water that is heated slowly, it will not perceive danger until it is boiled alive. Citizens of Pakistan suffer from this predicament today. Rather […]

A Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre Further to our comments on the Government’s periodic report to the UN Committee against Torture, herein we will look into the case of RahmanTotoh.  In its communications (UN Doc. CAT/C/PHL/Q/3, para. 5), the Committee requested the Government to comment on “no investigations” into Totoh’s claim of torture, […]

H. E. Hun Sen Prime Minister Royal Government of Cambodia Phnom Penh, Cambodia 6 July 2015 Re: Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations Dear Prime Minister Hun Sen, We, the undersigned international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and membership organizations call on the government of Cambodia to immediately withdraw the draft Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission reproduces below the full text of a circular issued on 3rd July 2015 by the Director General of Police of our neighbouring Indian state of Kerala. It announces a historically important initiative to modernise the police, so that the institution will become able to perform its functions within a modern democracy. […]

These are crucial days for the selection and submission of party candidates for the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections to be held on 17th August 2015. This is a moment at which the nation has the right to expect from leaders of all the political parties the exercise of utmost responsibility in making these selections. A simple criteria […]

In the past few months, the Nepal Police has made its presence conspicuous in the vicinity of the residence of Dr. CK Raut in Rajbiraj, Saptari District. The number of personnel ranges from 2 to well over a dozen, rising when they think Dr. Raut has reason to leave his home. They have placed Dr. […]

In a rare case of successful intervention by the Pakistan police, a Christian couple has been saved from being lynched by an angry mob in a Makki Village, Sheikhapura District, in Punjab, Pakistan. Unlike previous cases, where charged up mobs have burnt and beaten to death innocent Christians, accusing them of blasphemy, the timely intervention […]

The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was marked on 26 June 2015, with events planned in Karachi, Lahore, Haripur, and in many other districts of Pakistan. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), with the support of local and international rights-based organizations, has been striving to create awareness and mobilize the masses against […]

Pakistan has long been fighting a battle of identity. The objective resolution inserted into the Constitution made Pakistan an Islamic Republic, leaving religious minorities lesser citizens. At the time of its formation, its founding fathers had envisaged a free State where each minority group would have the right to profess their faith without fear of […]

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest metropolis and port city and home to 20 million people, continues to suffer mass heat stroke deaths. Adding to the deaths being caused by bullets and bombs, nature has unleashed its fury upon the citizens of Karachi, with temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius. Within the past four days, 1,200 people are […]