Child rights

INDIA: Rights are a mandate, not a concession

Statement | India | 04-09-2012

The ongoing protest by village communities acting against the increase of water level in the Omkareshwar Dam is unique in several aspects. The protest, which has completed 11 days today, is directed against the Madhya Pradesh state government that has failed to adequately rehabilitate those who have lost their land and livelihood to this ‘development’ […]

PAKISTAN: No justice for Rimsha – judge disrespects the orders of President Zadari

In the capital of Pakistan where there are many government and non-governmental institutions working for the protection of child rights, special children rights, human rights and the rights of women, only one of them have come out calling for the release of Ms. Rimsha, the 14-year-old Christian girl who has been charged with blasphemy. It […]

INDIA: District administration helps detain girls in brothels

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received a report from Guria – a human rights organization based in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, working against human trafficking – that details how the apathy of the Meerut district administration, and the corruption and ineptitude of district police officers, has prevented the rescue of many children […]

SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: To protect the life of Rizana Nafeek is an obligation of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka

The Asian Human Rights Commission’s reply to a letter from the Secretary to the Honourable President of Sri Lanka For the full dossier on Rizana Nafeek’s case please see here. We reproduce below a letter from Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President regarding a background report on Ms. Rizana Nafeek and the AHRC’s reply to […]

PAKISTAN: A mentally retarded minor is arrested on the charges of blasphemy; her mother and sister remain missing after their arrest

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a minor Christian girl, Miss Ramsha, 11, was arrested on the charges of blasphemy when she burned some copies of newspapers which were collected from the garbage. The Muslim population of the slum area attacked her house and beat her mother and sister […]

PAKISTAN: Forced conversions and religious intolerance forcing Hindus to abandon the country

By Altaf Hussain The mass exodus of minority Hindus from Pakistan particularly from Sindh, has stirred the lethargic and ignorant government authorities who otherwise had kept mum over the security concerns of the Hindu community. Significant number of families of Pakistan’s Hindu community particularly from Sindh, reportedly have started migrating to neighboring country, India, because […]

SRI LANKA: Doctor’s negligence results in the death of a young girl in Hambantota

Dear friends, Ms. K K Neesha Chaturangi (17) of Ambalantota, Baragama, Arawanamulla in Hambantota District was a student of a Ambalantota Kuda Bolana Pajjaseeha Maha Vidyalaya. On 2 June 2012 she ate some cashew nuts after school before taking her lunch. Then she complained of stomach pain. When she was brought to Hambantota General Hospital […]

INDIA: True value of independence

Statement | India | 14-08-2012

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates India and the people of this great country on the eve of the 65th anniversary of independence. Occasions like this are opportunity for the country and its people to reflect and introspect on the promises they made, both 65 years ago, when celebrating newfound freedom, and subsequently. The […]

PAKISTAN: Government turns a blind eye to the murder of Ahmadiyya Muslims

It is devastating for human rights activists the world over and those who stand for religious freedom, practise and tolerance, that the Government of Pakistan is not only stone deaf and dumb but also blind to the continuous murders of the followers of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. We have received the dreadful news that on […]

INDIA: Stop exporting gender based violence

Statement | India | 23-07-2012

After the sexual assault upon a woman in Guwahati, in Assam state early this month, a shocking event the national media in India competed in telecasting, and the despicable ‘culture’ discussion that followed, the country has scored again, internationally, for similar criminal conduct by Indian men. Impelled by sexual lust and contempt to women, the […]

INDIA: An ode to ‘lesser’ people’s death

Article | India | 10-07-2012

Avinash Pandey Come June, and Indian media has a welcome break from the dearth of positive news. They do not need to repeat telecast the same scams, neither they are forced to fill their ‘news programs’ with this soap opera or that comedy show running on countless entertainment channels. They get their OB vans chasing […]

INDIA: Lesson on lawlessness: of child trafficking, and a father’s lonely, long-drawn struggle against criminal cops and authoritative apathy

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning the kidnap and trafficking of the then 16-year-old Sajida Khatun (name changed to protect identity) on 25 March 2011 and the refusal of personnel at Haroa Police Station to render assistance for her recovery. Efforts by Sajida’s father to register a case with […]

SRI LANKA: A 17-year old boy is physically and sexually assaulted by intoxicated police officers at Pallama Police Station for a crime that he did not commit

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 17-year old boy was physically and sexually assaulted by intoxicated police officers at Pallama Police Station for a crime that he did not commit. Mr. Chamara (name changed for privacy and security purposes) was accused of stealing jewelry from a neighbour. Despite […]

PAKISTAN: A Hindu girl was forced to convert to Islam and is now missing – the judge and police have sided with the perpetrators

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 14-year-old girl, from the Hindu religious minority community was abducted by gangsters and forcibly converted to Islam. When a police case was filed against the abductors the girl was produced before a Magistrate’s Court by the gangsters to record a statement that […]

SRI LANKA: A 14-years-old student is tortured by a Buddhist monk for refusing to learn Buddhism

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that PG Amila Tharanga Thilakaratne (14) a Year 9 student of Mahanama College Geatambe in the Kandy District was severely tortured by his teacher, a Buddhist monk. Amila was persecuted on a religious basis and is thus a victim of religious intolerance. Amila has […]

PAKISTAN: Child labour is an issue of human and social development and has to be tackled in its actual context

On 12th June 2002, the International Labour Organization (ILO) initiated the World Day against Child Labour. The day is celebrated with a view to focus on efforts to minimize and eventually eliminate the abhorrent practice of child labor, prevailed all around the world in all imaginable forms. The estimates of International Labor Organization (ILO) informed […]

SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: The AHRC writes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II seeking intervention to save the life of Rizana Nafeek facing the death sentence in Saudi Arabia

(Hong Kong, June 5, 2012) On the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the Asian Human Rights Commission has sought Her Majesty’s kind intervention to save the life of the Sri Lankan housemaid languishing in Dawadami Prison in Saudi Arabia and facing the death sent for a crime she did […]

SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Royal intervention needed to save Rizana Nafeek from imminent beheading

Dear friends, Rizana Nafeek of Muthur, Trincomalee in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka left to Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper when she was 17 years old. She became a victim of a recruitment agent who altered her date of birth in her passport, making her as 23-years old and was sent to Saudi […]

SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Open letter to President Rajapakse on the need of diplomatic effort to save Rizana Nafeek

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to His Excellency, the President of the Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka His Excellency the Hon. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa President Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka C/- Office of the President Temple Trees, 150 Galle Road, Colombo 3 SRI LANKA Tel: +94 112473873, +9411235435, +94112326309 […]

PAKISTAN: International Children’s Day- Risk reduction strategies are required to minimize violence against children

A cursory look of Pakistani newspapers and television channels clearly tells that violence against children is increasing very rapidly in our society.  Within a last couple of week, the print and electronic media have reported a number of murder and rape cases against children, both boys and girls.  Additionally, some innocent children, even as young […]