Statement

The Asian Human Right Commission and Asian Legal Resource Centre has developed  a handbook on torture titled “Let’s Stop torture together” the book is first of its kind in South Asia to have reached out the victims directly and to help them cope with the aftermaths of torture and how to seek legal redress. Our […]

In recent weeks, the Bangladesh government has intensified its crackdown on the media and the opposition. The country’s media is being forced to censor the news and plight of opposition parties, amidst the spree of arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition supporters. The police raided the office premises of New Age, a national English daily, on […]

The AHRC has started collecting the comments from jurists on the amendment to the constitution to establish military courts and the following is the first interview in the series. This is a war of religious ideology that cannot be won using force. It is time the government does some soul searching and bury the political […]

ENGLISH ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය සහ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය සඳහා ශ‍්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේ කැපවීම දැඩි ලෙස තහවුරු කරන ජනතා තීරණයේ ප‍්‍රතිඵලක් ලෙස ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන දිවියේ තීරණාත්මක නව අදියරක් උදා වී ඇත. නව ජනාධිපති මෛති‍්‍රපාල සිරිසේන සහ නව ප‍්‍රජාතාන්ති‍්‍රක සන්ධානයේ ජයග‍්‍රහණය පොරොන්දු වූ ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාමය සහ සෙසු ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සිදුකිරීම සඳහා ජනතාව විසින් ලබාදුන් වරමකි. සියල්ලටම පෙර මේ වරම,  ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ […]

A decisive new stage in the political life of Sri Lanka has arisen as a result of the people’s verdict, which overwhelmingly affirms the commitment of Sri Lankans to democracy and the rule of law. Victory to the new President Maithripala Sirisena and the New Democratic Alliance is a mandate given by the people to […]

Today, on 7th January 2015, three human rights activists have received death threats over telephone from sources that have refused to identify themselves, but have appeared to be connected with security authorities. The human rights activists who received these death threats are Mr. Brito Fernando, Mr. Phillip Dissanayake and Mr. Prasanga Fernando – all of […]

Yesterday, 6th January 2015, the National Assembly of Pakistan passed an amendment to the Constitution allowing the formation of military courts. The Pakistan Senate adopted the same amendment with a limiting clause that the amendment will be valid only for a period of two years. In responding to the 16th December 2014 massacre of 148 […]

Three days ago, two human rights activists campaigning for one of the candidates contesting the national election received a message sent by an opposing candidate. The message arrived in the form of the heads of two freshly slaughtered dogs. This message is symbolic in more ways than one. It represents what has gone radically wrong […]

Two heads of dogs, freshly severed, have been strewn in front of the houses of two well-known human rights defenders as the race in the presidential election is intensifying in Sri Lanka. Mr. Brito Fernando and Prasanga Fernando are two well-known human rights activists who have a long history of fighting for the protection of […]

Everyone knows that Pakistan’s government and military have failed to deal with the widespread terrorism in the country. All Pakistanis would agree that this problem needs to be addressed and that it should be addressed urgently and thoroughly. However, the government’s suggestion of enabling the military to try terror suspects in military courts is no […]

Lifting of moratorium from Capital punishment: punishing death with death The immediate reaction of the government to the killing of the children in Peshawar on December 16 has been to lift the moratorium on death sentences of prisoners on death row. It is most likely that the popular anger that has developed as a result […]

On Monday, 29 December 2014, at 9 am in the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkhong will appear before the court for the first time since being formally charged on 25 October 2014. They have been charged with violating Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code in relation to […]

Almost a week has passedsince the brutal terrorist attack on the army administered public school, in Peshawar, which killed 132 students and nine staff members including the principal – all of whom were shot dead, one after the other, by Taliban gunmen.  The government of Pakistan instead of holding an investigation into the massive lapseof […]

The Pakistan Government should take the military to establishment to task, for failing to protect the 141 innocent children and staff killed by the Taliban The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) unequivocally condemns the attack by the Taliban on 16th December in a school in Peshawar, killing 132 children and nine staff members. The world […]

Whatever be the outcome of the presidential election to be held on the 8th of January 2015, Sri Lanka has already entered into the deepest political crisis it has ever faced since the adoption of the Executive Presidential system through the 1978 Constitution. Within the period of a few weeks, all the manifestations of strength […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 Speaking about the rule of law in Pakistan is fatuous. This is a state where “might is right” and anarchy, in its worst connotations, rule supreme. Corruption, nepotism, red tape, and a dishonest bureaucracy pollute the “land of the pure”. In terms […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 The more things change, the more they remain the same goes an adage. It holds true for hunger in Asia. Most Asian countries appear to have made momentous gains in addressing absolute hunger, as evidenced by the Global Hunger Report 2014 of […]

17-year-old Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work promoting young people’s rights. Here she is, accepting that honour. In the name of God, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful. Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, Respected President General Assembly Vuk Jeremic Honourable UN envoy for Global education Mr Gordon […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 The second Constituent Assembly election, which was held on 19 November 2013, changed the political situation of Nepal. The Maoists, which got the highest number of votes in the first Constituent Assembly elections, clocked in third this time. The Nepali Congress (NC) […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 On Human Rights Day 2014, the Asian Human Rights Commission notes the persistent pattern of state perpetrated attacks, notably against human rights and political activists, which has continued for over a decade in the Philippines. It was in early 2000s that the […]