Statement

“Arresting, assaulting and killing have become fun activities for the police”.  Tiran Kumara Bangala Arrachi–Ravaya The most recent case to be reported is from the Kottawa Police Station is of a young man named Lalaka Peiris. He was arrested on May 23rd by a group of people claiming to be from the Homagama Police Station […]

Late in the evening of Tuesday, June 1, 2010, the government of Bangladesh closed a Bangla-speaking national daily newspaper, the Daily Amar Desh. They arrested the acting editor Mr. Mahmudur Rahman in his office in the early morning hours of June 2. The authorities cancelled the declaration of the newspaper, sealing off its newsroom and printing […]

In many countries, people talk about trial by media. This type of non-legal trial occurs when an intense amount of media speculation on a case results in the public having certain foregone conclusions about the guilt or innocence of the accused person before he or she has heard the verdict of a judge. In Burma, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the agreement over the extension of the term of the Constituent Assembly in Nepal, though it was arrived at the last moment. It renews the hope to establish strong and long-lasting democratic institutions that could reach out to the people of Nepal. These institutions are expected to form […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has repeatedly drawn the attention of the world’s community to the blatant abuse of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan. This ongoing abuse is neither investigated properly nor remedied by the government who are effectively depriving them of their fundamental freedoms and Human Rights. The Ahmadi Muslims do not have the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission will work to draw the attention of civil society and governments to the endemic torture that is prevalent in almost all Asian countries. Despite many declarations by governments, torture is carried out every day in almost all police stations throughout Asia. The routine practice of torture in normal criminal investigations, […]

The stoning to death of 22-year-old Swapna and her husband 28-year-old Sunkari Sriniwas on 23 May by Swapna’s family near Krishnajiwadi village, Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh state is one more proof to the stark reality of the continuing practice of caste based discrimination and caste prejudices in India. Swapna belongs to a Hindu upper caste family. […]

The government must prosecute the Frontier Corp for running torture cells Mr. Murad Khan Marri was missing for eight months before the Frontier Corp (FC) announced that he had been arrested in March 2010 while crossing the Afghan border into Pakistan. He was produced before the chief justice of the High Court of Balochistan province […]

Two incidents of child abductions were reported in the past two weeks. One was of a two and a half year old boy from Kelaniya. The other case is of a one and a half year old little boy from Hendala Palliyawatte, who is still missing. The recovery of the little boy revealed a story […]

Three weeks after the Home Secretary Mr. G. K. Pillai’s discussion with the Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr. Okram Ibobi Singh, the state and its people continue to suffer from the unilateral economic blockade imposed by the Naga nationalist and political organisations including Naga student political groups. After the meeting held in the first week […]

Following a competition in which cartoons and drawings were submitted, the government of Pakistan blocked many websites over what it referred to as blasphemous caricatures. Amongst the websites blocked are Facebook and the popular video-sharing YouTube. This has apparently been done in a bid to stop the flow of blasphemous materials amid countrywide protests. Before […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has strongly and repeatedly drawn the attention of the government of Pakistan to its self-contradicting franchise system which denies the Ahmadis, a Muslim minority sect, the fundamental right to vote. Pakistan takes great pride in claiming to be a democracy. But so far it has failed to ensure that […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission shares in the worldwide concern over the recent violence in Bangkok, and especially deplores the loss of life, irrespective of all other factors. It calls upon the government of Thailand to do all that it can to restore peace and ensure public security without further bloodshed. Although the situation is […]

The failure to prosecute the army personnel who shot dead two women and a child in Bardiya National Park in March 2010 proves once again that impunity is more the rule than an exception concerning human rights violations in Nepal. In a previous urgent appeal, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) had called for a thorough […]

As co-petitioners in a Public Interest Litigation before the Supreme Court (WP 250/2007) urging the end of civil strife in Chattisgarh, we write to express our shock and horror at the detonation of a bus in Dantewada district by Maoists on 17th May, killing around 50 innocent civilians. We condemn such senseless and inhuman violence […]

These days, there is a great deal of discussion about what is autochthonous, what is indigenous and what is homegrown. Contemporary discussion on the proposed commission for reconciliations and lessons learned according to the Minister for the Media will be an indigenous one. During the last three to four decades, Sri Lanka has experimented with […]

On May 18th, 2010 South Korea celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Gwangju uprising against the military dictatorship of the then President, Mr. Chun Do-Whan. The manner in which the people of Gwangju city, consisting of around 730,000 people at that time, rose up against the military take-over by the President of South Korea in […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from The News International about a revolting story of a 13 year-old girl, who was continuously gang-raped, mentally, and physically tortured by police officials during 21 days of illegal detention. After finding that she was pregnant, the policemen produced her before a Session court under false charges. […]

The BBC Sinhala Service reported today of a press conference held by the Minister of Media, Keheliya Rambukwella. At this press conference he was questioned on the announcement by the government about a commission for reconciliation and lessons learned. He was questioned as to whether the commission will be something like the Truth and Reconciliation […]

We have cautiously welcomed the announcement by the Presidential Media Unit about the appointment of a commission of inquiry into the recent conflict from the perspective of restorative justice. In our second statement we have also indicated other experiences where credible attempts have been made into the study of past wrongdoings with the idea of […]