Administration of justice

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly objects to Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s summons to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chair Anup Raj Sharma, Commissioner Mohna Ansari and other members on 3 April 2016, where he sought clarification on Ansari’s statement during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held in Geneva in March. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the forced dispersal of peaceful protesters and their illegal arrest in Kampung Bhintuka-SP13 field in Mimika, Timika district, Papua on Tuesday, 5 April 2016. We have been informed that 12 protesters were taken into police custody in Kuala Kencana for further investigation and questioning. Prior to the protest, […]

This week Just Asia covers the deadly dispersal of protesting farmers in Kidapawan city, Philippines. Suffering from hunger and unable to plant their crops due to the El Nino drought, the farmers organized a protest blockading the main highway connecting North Cotabato and Davao City on March 29. On April 1, police and military personnel […]

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2013, 55-60% of all trafficking victims are women. Pakistan is both a country of origin and destination, as far as trafficking of women is concerned. Women in Pakistan are most vulnerable to trafficking due to poverty, gender discrimination, lack of […]

by Basil Fernando The existence of a mass grave may come to the notice of the public by many different ways; a statement by a witness made during a court hearing – as in the case of Chemmani Mass Graves: discoveries of some scattered remains of bones by workers when digging a site for constructions […]

A Statement from Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The starving and unarmed farmers of Kidapawan cried for rice. They were given bullets. Photo credit to HKCHRPP The Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders [a joint programme of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)], and Odhikar The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the Asian Human Rights Commission, and Odhikar urge the global human rights community to […]

Interview Part 2 Interview Part 1 On behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission, we are sharing with you the second part of the interview, with Basil Fernando, on the origins of the present political crisis, in Sri Lanka which is being traced to the manner in which the developments that took place in 1931 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 14-year-old girl was gang raped by influential persons from a political party, and the matter was settled with compensation of 1200 kilograms of wheat through the illegal jirga system. The girl’s father says he had no choice but to accept the compensation, […]

In medical science a placebo effect means a remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo–or a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution, can sometimes improve a patient’s condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. These days many people question as to whether the electoral […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the disappearance of 24-year-old journalist and activist Ms. Zeenat Shahzadi. After disappearing on her way to work in August 2015, all attempts to learn of her whereabouts have failed. Losing hope, her younger brother committed suicide on 24 March 2016. Prior to […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins in Pakistan, where Easter Sunday was marked with a suicide bomb blast killing 78 persons, mostly Christian women and children, and injuring more than 350 others, including Muslims. The blast occurred in a park, devastating families who had come to enjoy their holiday. A local organization with links […]

Twelve years after the disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls upon the Thai authorities to begin a new investigation into Somchai’s case, and to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Somchai Neelaphaijit was a noted a lawyer and human rights defender in Thailand. […]

An article from International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) has published a Primer on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance for NGOs. Prof. Emmanuel Decaux,President of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)has written the Preface of […]

The civilian government of Pakistan has once again surrendered before the most powerful institution, the Military, and allowed former Military Dictator General Pervez Musharraf to leave the country for medical treatment, in spite of the cases he is facing on charges of sedition, abrogation of the Constitution, and the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan […]

This week’s episode begins with Indonesia, where the trial of 26 human rights defenders began on March 21. The criminal charges against them are believed to be part of the government’s effort to end demands for labour welfare and for the cancellation of Government Regulation No. 78, which supports cheap labor in Indonesia. Just Asia […]

A Statement from Human Rights Lawyer Association (HRLA) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) by Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisat, Deputy Chief of Staff of the NCPO, acting on behalf of the Chief of Staff, issued a most urgent letter dated 16 March 2016 addressed to the director […]

An article by Basil Fernando published in the Colombo Telegraph on 21st March 2016 and translated by “Good Governance Lanka” forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission An Article by Basil Fernando, translated by Good Governance Lanka.

We wish to share with you a discourse by Basil Fernando, on YouTube, titled “The crisis in Sri Lanka, was it in 1931” By Basil Fernando

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the disappearance of a Baloch student leader, who was arrested two years ago, on 18 March 2014, by persons from the nation’s military intelligence agency, the ISI. Since then his whereabouts are unknown, and he was not presented in any court of […]