Statement

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. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission this morning issued two urgent statements of extreme concern for the situation of human rights defenders in Bangladesh, and in particular over the disappearance of a young human rights activist, Dipal Barua, yesterday, May 24. Dipal has been working for the last few weeks on the efforts for the life […]

We reproduce below a letter written to the Chairperson of the NHRC by the Asian Human Rights Commission complaining about their failure to investigate the complaint relating to the attack on FMA Razzak which took place on April 29, 2011. Prof. Mizanur Rahman Chairman National Human Rights Commission 10th Floor, Gulfeshan Plaza 8, Journalist Selina […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the Home Minister’s statement on Friday that his office is planning to withdraw cases filed against Maoist cadres from the time of the conflict. According to news report, the cases filed at the district level likely to be withdrawn may amount to 300 and may […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from the family of Mr. Dipal Barua, a human rights activist that he has been missing since yesterday morning, May 24, 2011. He was last seen near his house at around 10:30 in the morning. His family has looked around all the places where he normally visits […]

The activists of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and members of civil society was brutally baton charged and manhandled by the police in front of the Provincial Assembly building. Twelve protestors were injured including four women and eight men. The Forum had already informed the authorities some four days before that they would hold a sit-in […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the 21 April introduction of the Truth and Commission Bill for consideration at the Legislature-Parliament in a long-awaited move to develop strong and effective transitional justice mechanisms. The introduction of the Bill comes after a five-year long wait for families of conflict victims who have seen the possibility of […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Center for Victims of Torture-Nepal As the case regarding the torture of Hom Bahadur Bagale will be heard in the Supreme Court of Nepal on 16 May, 2011, the Center for Victims of Torture-Nepal (CVICT) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expect that […]