Statement

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, 2011 Torture in custody is a serious problem affecting the rule of law in Pakistan. It is used as the most common means by which to obtain confessional statements and also for […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, 2011 Due to the enormous changes in the popular consciousness of people throughout the Asian countries there is an increased demand for the elimination of the practice of torture. In the recent […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, 2011 Every year, 26 June marks the day to remember and renew our support to those who have been victims of torture worldwide. A day in support of victims of torture mandates […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum Following the adoption of the outcome report on the UPR of Nepal, Advocacy Forum (AF) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deplore the government of Nepal’s refusal to take strong and specific commitments related to the protection of human rights defenders. Human […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum During the interactive dialogue of the Universal Periodic Review, continuous impunity for grave human rights violations had appeared as the major concern of the international community. Peer countries have recalled that continuous impunity undermines respect for the rule of law and hampers the […]

The correspondents of international media houses have been warned not to attend meetings or gatherings at the premises of the different press clubs in the major cities of the country. A circular from a well known international news agency that wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons, was issued to its correspondents asking them to […]

We reproduce below the translation of the affidavit written by Rizana Nafeek on January 30, 2007 which was published by the Asian Tribune today. This affidavit gives, for the first time, her version of events relating to the death of a four-month-old infant who she was bottle feeding. She was later charged with murdering the […]

The abduction, detention, cruel and inhuman treatment and interrogation of human rights defender William Gomes  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has previously reported on the brutal attack of FMA Razzak and the abduction and cruel and inhuman treatment of Dipal Barua. Both of them are human rights defender. Today we are reporting the abduction, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from Faisalabad city of Punjab province, the second largest industrial and commercial city of the country that a plan has been chalked out to kill the owners and their family members of 36 commercial and industrial establishments belonging to Ahmadiyya community. The plan includes the people working […]

People of Pakistan were stunned when they watched the video showing Rangers personnel killing a young man in cold blood in a public place during the night of 8 June 2011. Passers-by gathered around the scene and made videos of the incident. The videos were then supplied to different television channels who broadcasted them immediately. […]

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), which is an official organisation to monitor electronic media, has issued notices to four television channels, Geo News, Dawn News, News One and Dunya News, for being irresponsible and provoking anti-national sentiments among viewers by ‘over sensitizing’ events unnecessarily. These notices were issued after the incident of the […]

The Indian judiciary is once again in the news and this time too it is for appalling reasons. The national and regional media have been reporting in the past two weeks regarding the disproportionate wealth between the declared and known incomes, of some of the close relatives of the former Chief Justice of India, Justice […]

In May 2011, the government of Thailand announced that the country would go to a national election on July 3. It might have been expected that this announcement would result in a lessening of the threats against, and arrests of, persons trying to exercise free speech. In fact, the opposite is the case. Since the […]

Mr. Hameed Haroon, the chief executive officer of the Dawn, a leading daily newspaper of Pakistan and the president of the All Pakistan Newspaper Society, an organization of owners of the print media, has confirmed that the slain journalist, Mr. Saleem Shahzad, had received threatening messages from Pakistan’s notorious intelligence agency, the ISI on at […]

A joint Statement by Advocacy Forum and the Asian Human Rights Commission On 25 January 2011, the state of human rights in Nepal was assessed for the first time under the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review. The UPR process was established by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 through resolution […]

Saleem Shahzad, who had earlier announced the danger to his life from the intelligence services (ISI) in Pakistan was abducted last Sunday, May 29, and his body was discovered on May 31. This is one more of the mysterious abductions and extrajudicial killings that have been taking place in Pakistan on a regular basis. He […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum On 25 January 2011, the state of human rights in Nepal was assessed for the first time under the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review. The UPR process was established by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 through resolution […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the brutal attack that injured at least 250 peaceful demonstrators yesterday, the 30th of May, at Katunayake. They were protesting against a proposed law which threatens the workers’ provident fund. At the same we congratulate the protesters, who were able to get the government to make an announcement stating […]

The government of Sri Lanka has announced the appointment of a one-man commission to inquire into the shooting at Katunayake on May 30, where, according to reports over 200 persons were injured when police opened fire against demonstrators using live ammunition. About 20 workers are reported to have been critically wounded and are being treated […]

States and state agents have historically used violence to stifle public debate, and silence their critics. In many countries around the world today, states no longer rely heavily upon overtly coercive methods and instead acknowledge the need for authentic debate. But in many others, states and state agents continue to resort primarily to coercive methods. […]