Administration of justice

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 The second Constituent Assembly election, which was held on 19 November 2013, changed the political situation of Nepal. The Maoists, which got the highest number of votes in the first Constituent Assembly elections, clocked in third this time. The Nepali Congress (NC) […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 On Human Rights Day 2014, the Asian Human Rights Commission notes the persistent pattern of state perpetrated attacks, notably against human rights and political activists, which has continued for over a decade in the Philippines. It was in early 2000s that the […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 Fundamental human rights are not guaranteed in Bangladesh in the daily life of its people. The rights of freedom of expression and opinion are infringed. The freedom of press is severely curtailed. People are being imprisoned for expressing their opinion about powerful […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 In the absence of thorough justice institution reforms, human rights guarantees in India will remain a mirage. The transcendent principles of dignity, freedom, and equality to all enshrined in the Constitution and the interpretations that the courts and the Parliament have provided […]

by Basil Fernando All Indians owe a debt of gratitude to Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, a great man, who passed away on 4th December 2014, shortly after his hundredth birthday. He stood up against the might of the powers of the day with firm determination to save his country and its freedoms. When Justice Krishna […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) joins millions of Asians and others across the globe to mourn the sad demise of Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer. Aged 100, Justice Krishna Iyer passed away today at a hospital in Kerala, India. He was a member of AHRC’s advisory group and was an active participant in AHRC’s […]

Disappearances and extra judicial killings in the Sindh Province continues unabated; in many cases disappearances have occurred following arrest by the police and at times by plain clothed persons, presumably from intelligence agencies; thereafter being taken into custody, most often tortured and ultimately their bodies are found dumped on the streets. In the Sindh Province, […]

On 19 and 20 November, student and other activists carried out a series of peaceful, symbolic protests against the dictatorship in Thailand.  In response, the military and police acted to swiftly end the protests and arrest eight of the activists under the terms of martial law. The position of the National Council for Peace and […]

by Jamil Junejo Universal children’s day is being observed globally on 20th November every yearwhen theUN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This year, it is the 25th anniversary of UNCRC. A wider galaxy of international rights community has planned to mark this day in order to […]

by Avinash Pandey A doctor conducted sterilization surgeries on 83 women in 5 hours in an abandoned hospital with no infrastructure. The women were made to lay on floor for the surgery and there are allegations that the medicines came from a small, one room factory that is owned by close affiliates of the party […]

The Asian Human Rights is gravely concerned about the resurgence of military summons of activists and human rights defenders. According to information provided by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, 16 activists and human rights defenders (HRDs) in northeastern Thailand have been summoned to report to the local military authorities. The summons to report came after […]

Reprisals against lawyers defending the right of the accused are a historical reality of past military and authoritarian regime in South Korea. Those who received either disciplinary punishment or imprisonment, and provided legal advice at that time later earned the label “human rights lawyers”. As often witnessed in developing countries under military and authoritarian regimes, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned to have learned that on Sunday, 9 November 2014, the military detained Praphat Pintobtaeng, a lecturer from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, and three additional people in Chiang Mai who were participating in a walk rally to protest the policy of the National Council […]

The following interview was originally published in the latest issue ( Volume 3 Number 4 & 5)  of Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives ON 25th September 2014, Basil Fernando and the Asian Human Rights Commission was bestowed with the coveted Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternate Nobel Prize,” for “his tireless and outstanding […]

Recently the President of Burma has been granting amnesty to political prisoners across the country. However, these grants have not reached every case, and do not address some of the most recent issues involving politically motivated mass arrests. Specifically, the government’s newspaper, The Global New Light of Myanmar has published a list of political prisoners […]

“Matters can go to such a head that the SHO (station house officer) would have to bring him (the detainee) chapattis and chicken curry to satisfy him.” Indeed, this is not an obiter dictum by Justice T. S. Thakur. This comment that the Supreme Court judge has made while hearing a case concerning the installation […]

According to a letter written to the Bar Association by the Registrar ( click here to read  the letter ) of the Supreme Court, the President of Sri Lanka has, under Article 129(1) of the Constitution, referred two questions to the Supreme Court for its consideration. The Court has been asked to submit its opinion […]

by Avinash Pandey “Forceful sex on menopausal woman not rape-Delhi High Court” read a news item (title changed now though the URL remains the same) on one media group website. “Delhi High Court Says ‘Forceful Sex’ Wasn’t Rape”, cried another news outlet. Together, the media coverage on the case has opened the floodgates for the […]

A Statement from the Friday Forum  forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has recently been the target of much criticism and one can cite a litany of scandals and questionable departures from professionalism and our traditional Non-aligned stance. These are now overshadowed by the glaring lack of principle and consistency recently seen in the First […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the continuous persecution of human rights defenders in Gilgit and Baltistan, the occupied lands by Pakistan. Mr. Baba Jan and his associate Mr. Iftikhar Hussain were sentenced for the second time for life imprisonment by an Anti Terrorist Court (ATC) in Gilgit, […]