Administration of justice

PAKISTAN: Supreme Court makes landmark judgment

Aftab Alexander Mughal In a landmark judgment on 7 October the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) upheld the death sentence of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, 30, who murdered the former Governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, a liberal Muslim, on 4 January 2011. Qadri, one of Taseer’s official bodyguards from the Elite Force, shot him 27 times with […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Imminent elections causes spike in politically motivated arrests

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the state of freedom of expression in Burma, at a time when Burma is awash in election campaigns. Rather than allow for the people to air their opinions as befits a democratizing nation, the government has chosen to suppress freedom of expression and Internet freedom and […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 94

This week AHRC TV continues its coverage of the 4th annual Asian Alliance Against Torture and Ill-Treatment and for Fair Trial Meeting, which saw parliamentarians, senior policemen, and senior activists gather in Hong Kong last to deliberate on the transformations required in the justice institutions of Asia. The programme includes talks by Sri Lankan Deputy […]

INDIA: Fanatic fringe the new mainstream

Article | India | 15-10-2015

Avinash Pandey “Incidents like Dadri and Ghulam Ali are really sad but what is the role of the Centre in them?” These are the words of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, who finally appears to have broken his silence in this statement made to the Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika on the increasing instances of […]

INDONESIA: Indigenous Papuan youth brutally shot by police

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the brutal shooting of two indigenous Papuan high school students in Petra, Timika, Papua province, Indonesia. Kalep Zera Bagau (18) was shot to death, while Efrando I.S. Sabarofek (17) was seriously injured and is presently hospitalized in Timika. CASE NARRATIVE: On 28 September […]

INDIA: Dalit women stripped naked is the fact that matters

Article | India | 09-10-2015

Avinash Pandey It is the Republic and not a Dalit family that stands naked in front of Dankaur Police Station in Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, located not more than 50 kilometres from the national capital. There are “conflicting” reports, as well as pictures and videos, which have gone viral on social media about what […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 93

Earlier this week, Asian Parliamentarians gathered in Hong Kong for the 4th conference of the Asian Alliance Against Torture and Ill-Treatment and for Fair Trial. Three days of discussions on the rule of law, democracy, fair trial, and police reform ensued. AHRC TV documented the event. This episode features snippets from the conference. Don’t miss […]

PAKISTAN: Patriarchal culture amongst the lawyers reaches alarming level

Javeria Younes Women in Pakistan are treated as second class citizens. Denied their fundamental rights, the they are often viewed as property, to be dealt with as their owners deems fit. The chauvinism and patriarchy prevalent in Pakistan ensures systematic gender subordination, which perpetuates violence. In a society where the male ego is inflated at […]

PAKISTAN: Sindh Police stop medical treatment of a half fried victim as punishment for contacting media

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information of another case of police brutality. A psychiatrist has been half fried by police officers, who mistook him for a wanted criminal. Dr. Deepak Raj, a psychiatrist, lost his leg, which received 12 bullets, while his other leg and arm also damaged badly. Dr. Raj was […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 92

This week’s Roundup will reveal the 2015 Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award, which were announced 1 Octoberduring a press conference at the Swedish Foreign Office in Stockholm by Executive Director Ole von Uexkull and Chair of the Board, Dr. Monika Griefahn. This year’s Honorary Award goes to TONY DE BRUM and THE PEOPLE OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS “in […]

SRI LANKA: Sense and nonsense on judicial matters

A comment on the approved UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka Basil Fernando Now that the UN Resolution on promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka has been approved by the Human Rights Council, a new page opens up with possibilities of looking into and dealing with grave problems that havecrippled […]

INDIA: Nutrition and TB: An Essential but Ignored relationship

Article | India | 30-09-2015

Prashant Kumar Dubey Nutrition and TB are two entities which need to be considered together, not separately. It is unfortunate that our country has not taken any initiative in this area resulting in a disregard for this relationship. If we really want to overcome TB, we need to talk through a package system similar to […]

Sri Lanka: ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂන් සභාවේ, දුෂණ, අක‍්‍රමිකතා, වංචා, පිළිබඳ සොයා බැලීම සදහා ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාවක් පත් කරන ලෙසට හා හිටපු සහ දැනට සිටින අය නිලතල සඳහා පත් නොකරන ලෙසට කරණු ලබන ඉල්ලීම.

An Open Letter from Janasansadaya to the President,Prime Minister, the Speaker and all Members of the Constitutional Council, Sri Lanka, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 2015.09.15 1. මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ගරු ජනාධිපති ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය කොළඹ 2. රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ගරු අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍යය අරලියගහ මැදුර කොළඹ 03 3. කරූ ජයසූරිය මහතා ගරු කථානායක පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ශ‍්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර කෝට්ටේ සහ […]

INDONESIA: Environmental and health damages caused by business remain unpunished

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a national NGO, regarding the environmental and health damages caused by the QL Group Inc in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia. QL Group is a foreign investment company in collaboration between QL Malaysia and Trimitra […]

SRI LANKA: නීතිපති දෙපාර්ථමේන්තුව පිළිබද ප‍්‍රශ්නය හා ලංකාවේ යුක්තිය පසිදලීමේ අනාගතය

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්තුමාගේ කාර්යාලය මගින් 2015 සැප්තැම්බර් 16 වන දින ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව පිළිබදව පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්කරන ලදි. ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් කඩවීම් හා යුද්ධ අපරාධ පිළිබදව ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුවේ එකගතාවය ඇතිව මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලයේදී ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති යෝජනවාට පදනම වන්නේ එම වාර්තාවයි. ලංකාව තුළ විශේෂයෙන් 2002 සිට 2009 අතර කාලය […]

SRI LANKA: OHCHR Investigation contributes to reconciliation and justice development in Sri Lanka

The Investigation Report issued by the Office of the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) dated 16th September 2015, is the most comprehensive report on human rights issued by any international or national agency to date. It is comprehensive and balanced. If implemented it could lead to considerable positive developments in Sri Lanka. […]

Sri Lanka: එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ වටිනා වාර්තාවෙන් සාධනීය ප‍්‍රථිපල ලබාගැනීම

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් මහ කොමසාරිස්තුමාගේ කාර්යාලය මගින් 2015 සැප්තැම්බර් 16 වන දින නිකුත්කරන ලද ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාව පිළිබ`දව පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව මේ දක්වා ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් පිළිබ`දව ජාතික හෝ ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් නිකුත්කර ඇති පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තා වලින් ඉතාමත් අංග සම්පූර්ණවූත්, තුලනාත්මකවූත් පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව බව නොපැකිල ප‍්‍රකාශකල හැකිය. පිටු 261 කින් සමන්විත වන මෙම වාර්තාව […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 91

This week, AHRC TV reports from Geneva, where Sanjida Islam from Bangladesh has met with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to try to gather international support for her struggle to find her disappeared brother who was abducted in December 2013 by the notorious Rapid Action Battalion. Also in Geneva, the Right Livelihood […]

INDIA: Let them eat rasgullas

Death of children under its care is nothing novel for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics located in Cuttack, Odisha. It took 58 of them to die in less than 10 days for it to become scandalous. Over the years, the Institute, popularly known as Shishu Bhawan, has recorded an alarming number […]

NEPAL: मधेशी दलितमाथि मधेशी विष्टहरुको दलन

-शिवहरि ज्ञवाली यो लेख मधेश केन्द्रित राजनीतिक दल र नागरिक समाजको मधेशी दलित समुदायमाथिको विभेदपूर्ण व्यवहारमा केन्द्रितछ । मधेशी समुदाय विगतदेखि विशेषगरी पहाडे खस राज्य व्यवस्थाका कारण नियोजित रुपमा पछाडि पारिएको र लुटिएकोसमुदाय हो । विशेषगरी मधेशी समुदायले विगतदेखि अनागरिक भएर बाँच्नुपरेको यथार्थ छ भने तिनै मधेशी उच्च जातीयसमुदायको विभेदपूर्ण व्यवहारका कारण मधेशी दलित समुदाय मान्छे भएर जिउन नपाएको तितो यथार्थ पनि हाम्रा सामु छ ।यो लेखको मुख्य सरोकार मधेश केन्द्रित राजनीति र मधेशी नागरिकसमाजको दायित्व काठमाडौंलाई औला ठड्याउनेमात्र हो कि मधेशी दलितका समस्या रसवालहरुमा आफ्नो दायित्व पनि हुन्छ भन्ने प्रश्नमा केन्द्रित छ । मधेशी दलितमाथि मधेशी विष्ट सोच “दीपक मलिकलाई अहिले पनि इनारबाट पानी खान दिएका छैनन् । कुटपिट पनि गरे । मधेस आन्दोलन भन्दै उनीहरु झन् ठूलो स्वरले कराउँदै छन् । उनीहरुको मनोबल झन् बढेको छ । दलितलाई कुट्दा प्रशासनले पनि केही गरेन ।“ बीबीसी नेपाली सेवामा कार्यरत मेघराज रसाइलीले आफ्नो फेसबुकमा सिराहा धनगढी—३, नैनपुरका प्रेम रामको भनाइ उल्लेख […]