Administration of justice

Children are conceived, some born, others grow, and many die in Indian prisons. There is nothing particular about this, since such incidents happen in prisons across the world. However, what is unique to India is that custodial violence, of which many resulting in deaths, is no more news. Yet, the assault upon Mr. Sanaullah Ranjay, […]

Insanity is defined as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein said this. Applying this definition, to the predicament and expectation of the Supreme Court of India, one may argue that judges in India are at the threshold of being termed ‘insane.’ (File Photo: Supreme court of India) In […]

News reports from Bangladesh allege that a series of attacks on demonstrators have taken place, at around 3am today, May 6, 2013. The extent of the injuries and death is difficult to be ascertained at the moment. The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, gave the figure of deaths as 5. However, several internet reports have mentioned that the […]

(Hong Kong, May 06, 2013) The Asian Human Rights Commission endorses the following Press Note issued by the Right to Food Campaign. The AHRC urges the government of India to amend the food security bill and accommodate the changes if it is serious about tackling large-scale hunger and malnutrition plaguing the country. Following is the […]

Reconciliation has not been treated as an attractive word in Sri Lanka. The government’s view is that forgetting is the best course available. It argues that reconciliation attempts could reopen the wounds and will do more harm than good. Officially therefore, the government policy is to encourage forgetting. This policy does not come under serous […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding chronic water shortage plaguing the lives of Dalit residents of Duma village in Mugu district of Nepal during a field visit undertaken together with colleagues from FIAN Nepal. In absence of tapper water supply to their village, they have to fetch their water […]

Basil Fernando A seven-year-old child, Pushpakumara Wijekoon from Kegalle, went to school as usual and left around 1 pm. He walked to the junction where his father usually picked him up on his cycle to bring him home. As the child did not see his father, he started walking back home. The distance was about […]

On 18 April 2013, the Attorney General for Bangladesh Mr. Mahbubey Alam participated in the hearing of a writ petition before a High Court Division Bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court. The writ was filed by Mrs. Firoza Mahmud, wife of Daily Amardesh‘s Interim Editor Mahmudur Rahman. Mrs. Mahmud had challenged the order of the Chief […]

The following is a statement issued by a group of Asian jurists, who met from 9-11 April in Bangkok, to discuss about threats to professional freedom of lawyers and the independence of the judiciary in Asia. Jurists from Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong attended […]

Amir Murtaza The International Day for Street Children is celebrated every year on 12th April. The Street Children Day was launched in 2011 by the Consortium for Street Children (CSC) to create a broader awareness about the issue of street children all around the world. The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) is the leading international […]

The most popular slogan during the movement for the creation of Pakistan was, “Haath main lota munh main paan — laiker rahain gay Pakistan”, believe it that this was the ideology of Pakistan It was on March 25, 1969, when General Yahya Khan imposed another period of Martial Law by sending General Ayub Khan home […]

The present case appears to be one where two persons along with some others were just seized from a hut, taken to a long distance away in a truck and shot there. This type of activity cannot certainly be countenanced by the courts even in the case of disturbed areas. If the police had information […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing with deep concern that the investigation conducted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) after our appeals concerning the fabrication of charges on two urban poor leaders was ineffective. It appears that CHR investigators did not investigate adequately and thoroughly. Rather than conducting a serious […]

We reproduce below the inauguration address of Upul Jayasuriya, president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, delivered on 30th March 2013. Ven. Maha sangha, Your Lordships Judges of the Supreme Court Hon. Attorney General, Your Lordship President of the Court of Appeal and judges of the Court of Appeal, other judges Your Excellencies of […]

An article from The Sunday Times forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Kishali Pinto Jayawardena With a foreign policy in tatters, the judiciary and the legal system in deep crisis and the state of the economy looking more perilous with each monumentally wasteful government extravaganza, the seasonal call of the koha heralding the Sinhala […]

Dear friends,  We wish to share with you the full text of the speech of former Supreme Court Judge C. V. Wigneswaran at the 39th Annual Convocation of BASL. Asian Human Rights Commission  Hong Kong ————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-FST-017-2013 March 31, 2013 A Statement from the United Nations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights […]

A Statement from the United Nations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission GENEVA (29 March 2013) – A group of United Nations independent human rights experts today called on all parties in Bangladesh “to cease violence immediately and return to peaceful demonstrations,” after worrying levels of violence have been reported following large-scale protests across […]

Dear friends,             The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an indefinite hunger strike (fast unto death) undertaken by the people affected by the steep hike in user fee in the Sanjeevani Hospital run in Shaktinagar by the National Thermal Power Corporation. The AHRC has learnt that […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the workers who were illegally dismissed whom the Department of Labour and Employment (DoLE) allowed to return to work are now being subjected to repressive and inhumane policies by the employing company. The policies are a clear violation of the DoLE order; however, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case concerning the congregation of Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Filadelfia in Bekasi. The leader of the congregation, Reverend Palti Panjaitan, has been named as a suspect by the police after he previously defended himself from an attack by local residents of […]