Urgent Appeal General

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal that a corrupt policing system and an insensitive judiciary in India is promoting human rights violations against the poor. The two cases mentioned below were investigated by MASUM and it depicts the extent to which […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Pakistan authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Pakistan authorities are […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through international and national media as well a through local social and political groups of Pakistan that the Pakistan Army is conducting military operations in Balochistan, the southern province of Pakistan. Though this has been ongoing since 2001, since December 2005 the military government […]

Dear friends, Over the years some rich and powerful people have illegally cleared different portions of woodlands that belong to the public domain so as to own the land cleared of forests as their private property. Recently the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Wild Life and Fishery has said that over 200,000 hectares of such woodlands […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by a new bill that was illegally passed by the government in Pakistan in order to drag the country’s workers into conditions of slavery. The so-called Finance Bill is an unconstitutional law that severely undermines basic labour rights and flies against the basic principles […]

Dear friends, Please sign the online petition calling for the end to the extra-judicial killings of persons in the Philippines. Please also encourage that a functioning and effective policing and judicial system be established in the country so that extra-judicial killings are properly prosecuted and prevented. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has personally reported […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is greatly concerned about the apparent lack of progress in investigating over 400 unidentified bodies found in southern Thailand. Despite the months that have elapsed since news of the bodies became public, government authorities appear unwilling to allow for them to be properly exhumed and identified as […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by reports that the authorities in southern Thailand have proposed to give large cash rewards to people who have gunfights with alleged insurgents, where the highest reward is given for killing the person. The AHRC is urging widespread attention to be paid to these […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses our condolences to those who have lost loved ones and others who have been affected by the earthquake that struck the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 27 May 2006. It has been reported that nearly 5,000 people have been killed, while 20,000 are injured and 200,000 […]

Dear friends, The head of the army in Thailand is reported as having admitted that the security forces in the south of the country are using “blacklists” to hunt down alleged insurgents in the south. He has also admitted that there are names of persons on the lists who are not genuine suspects. The Asian […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has heard reports through shortwave radio broadcasts and other sources that police in at least two townships of Rangoon are arbitrarily arresting and detaining people at night, including children–then sometimes releasing them after demanding money–since bombs exploded in the city on April 20. According to the information […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the legal reforms proposed by the Australian Government to excise all of Australia from undocumented asylum seekers who arrive by boat. In January 2006, 43 West Papuan asylum seekers arrived in Australia by boat. The Australian government granted temporary protection visas to 42, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the continuous disappearances of political and human rights activists in Balochistan, the southern province in Pakistan. It is alleged that government’s security personnel are involved in these disappearances. The latest disappearance took place on 7 April 2006. Mr. Munir Mengal, the management director of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to voice our grave concern for the allegations of human rights violations in relation to the repression of demonstrations in Nepal’s deepening political, security and human rights crisis. On 19 January 2006, the AHRC issued a statement (AS-008-2006: NEPAL: Human Rights defenders targeted – over a […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to voice our contempt for the ‘systematic practice’ by the police, military and government officials in the Philippines in showing the faces of arrested suspects before the media and general public. Although Section 14 (2) of the 1987 Philippine Constitution recognises the principle of ‘presumption of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) daily reiterates that torture is one of the most abhorrent assaults on human dignity. In whatever form or manner torture is committed, it leaves a deep and lasting scar not just on the flesh and psyche of its victims and their families, but on the very foundations […]

Dear friends, You will be aware that Sri Lanka has a new Executive President who was elected on 17 November 2005.  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is issuing this urgent appeal because of the serious constitutional deadlock that has been affecting human rights in Sri Lanka for several months due to the non-appointment of […]

Dear friends, Further to its previous urgent appeals and statements regarding the appalling conditions of morgues and the consequent ill treatment of dead bodies, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to share information received from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal, about the Basirhat Hospital morgue in West Bengal, India. According to […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding the increasingly common practice of extra-judicial killings by law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh. Three hundred and seventy eight people have been killed by these agencies since June 2004, with 18 killed in a matter of only 13 days in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the burning of more than 300 houses and the mass rape and murder of innocent civilians by a mob backed by the state security force, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA). According to reports, the mob, believed to be trained and organised by the […]