Statement

Civil society must join the peaceful long march in solidarity with the relatives of disappeared persons and provide all possible assistance to the marchers The relatives of missing persons from Balochistan started a 730 kilometre peaceful long march for the recovery of disappeared persons. The participants assembled and started their march from the Quetta Press […]

It is alleged that the ‘No-Union Policy’ has been the management principle of the Samsung group since it was established 75 years ago. This policy has allegedly been perpetrated and has subsequently become public knowledge. According to the information received, a lawmaker disclosed a document (called, “2012 S group’s labour and management strategy” in Korean, personal information in […]

September turned out to be the deadliest month so far this year. The total number of casualties during September touched amounted to 1048 persons with 493 being killed and 555 injured; an increase of 35% over the 744 casualties in August. More than 50% of all the total casualties were killed or injured during the […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission ASIA: Watershed legislation criminalising torture & custodial violence enacted in Bangladesh The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates the people of Bangladesh for the enactment of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Act, 2013. The Jatiyo Shangsad (National Parliament) enacted the draft law, the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Bill, […]

It should not have taken a Supreme Court order for the Indian government to know that it cannot turn its citizenry into guinea pigs for private companies. This is one of the very basic duties, the raison d’être in fact, of a government bound to protect the lives and dignity of its citizens. Sadly, the […]

The government of Pakistan has – within a short period of less than two weeks – promulgated two draconian laws, ostensibly, to combat terrorism. The first ordinance was promulgated on October 11. It has amended the Anti-Terrorist Act, 1997, and curtailed fundamental rights of citizens. Now the government has gone ahead and promulgated another ordinance […]

The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), the largest bar association of the country, in a general body meeting has passed a resolution against the conduct of three judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan including the Chief Justice, Iftekhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The resolution has demanded that a reference be filed against them before the […]

The Minority Rights Group International has published a report entitled, ‘Living with insecurity: Marginalization and sexual violence against women in north and east Sri Lanka’. The executive summary of the report is as follows: Four years since the end of the armed conflict, the situation of minority women in the north and east of Sri Lanka […]

The case of Ganeshan Nimalaruban, a Tamil prisoner whose death in prison evoked local and international expressions of concern last year was taken up on October 14 before the Supreme Court and the de facto Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, refused to grant leave to proceed in the fundamental rights case. The de facto CJ refused […]

The situation in Miryang is deeply alarming and appears to be deteriorating. The police are carrying out arbitrary arrests and detention, threat and harassment towards villagers and human rights defenders including violence and indiscriminate photo-taking and videotaping without warrants with concealment of the police identity. These actions have been taking place since the Korea Electronic […]

In his message for the world peace day, the Secretary-General of the United Nations said: “On this International Day of Peace, let us pledge to teach our children the value of tolerance and mutual respect. Let us invest in schools and teachers that will build a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity. Let us […]

Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, globally known to have critiqued the incumbent government of Bangladesh against its human rights abuses, has been released from prison today, October 11, 2013, after 62 days of prolonged arbitrary detention. It was back in August 10 that officers from the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrived at Adilur’s Dhaka […]

The CHOGM meeting is scheduled to begin on November 15. The government of Sri Lanka has banned protests in the city of Colombo in the month of November. The government has taken this action under the Public Security Regulations and directed that protests, marches and any display of banners and black flags is banned during […]

On October 3, the Government of Pakistan made a move towards respecting human rights and announced its decision to renew the moratorium on the death penalty. This decision came in response to a great deal of international pressure from NGOs and media outlets calling on Pakistan to respect the right to life. The moratorium had […]

In this age where women and girl children do not receive the protection promised to them by the constitutions of so many countries the challenge for the human rights community in this century is to uplift their rights and lives. The struggle must include equality for women and justice for the violence perpetrated against them. […]

Bangladesh’s authorities are trying to block the process of releasing the human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan, today, October 9, 2013. A Division Bench of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh granted six months interim bail to Adilur Rahman Khan yesterday, 8 October 2013. Nearly after two months since the detention […]

It is unavoidable that dissent, regardless of its severity, arises between the authorities and the people affected from national plans such as construction and redevelopment. It is reported that a nuclear plant has been being built in Busan in order to supply electricity to Seoul and for this reason, 69 transmission towers for the 765 […]

Cases of sexual assault on minors have increased in the country during the recent months. During the month of September alone, a number of such cases were registered, however, there are many cases which were not reported because of the fear of a backlash from powerful persons and the police, also some of the cases […]

During the last eight months of this year, from January to August 31, in different target killings, militant attacks, incidents of terrorism (including suicide bombs by the Pakistani Taliban and different sectarian groups) and security operations by the armed forces and intelligence agencies 4,286 persons were killed and 4,066 injured. The statistics for this period […]

A Vatican news agency, Agenzia Fides, reported a horrific crime taking place in Pakistan where, not only hundreds of Christians were killed in a church bombing in Peshawar city, KPK, but now it is reported that the dead were stripped off their organs by paramedics which were then sold the illegal organ trade black market. […]