Corruption

SRI LANKA:Kondaya, Raised to the Status of Mysterious Criminal

The name Kondaya is now a household name, following the tragic Sadewmi case, the abduction, rape and murder of a little girl of around 4 years. Discovery of the dead body led to an uproar not only in her village and the neighbouring villages but throughoutthecountry. There was a demand for immediate inquiries and for prosecution and […]

PAKISTAN: Demanding land rights is not terrorism

An article from Kissan Committee forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission By Farooq Tariq A massive repression of the peaceful peasant movement, the Anjuman Mozareen Punjab (AMP), is underway. Most of its leadership has been arrested under false anti-terrorist laws. Dozens of members are missing, while over 50 remain behind bars. All have been […]

PAKISTAN: Military farms in the 21st century, Orwellian

That the Pakistan Military has been extending its tentacles to envelop the State apparatus is no secret. However, a lesser-known aspect is the economic hegemony it is perpetuating over peasants in the shape of Military Farms Okara. Illegal land grabbing is now being used as a most profitable business for the force, which has anyway […]

AHRC TV: JUST ASIA, Episode 119

This week Just Asia begins with nine mothers cementing their feet in front of the Indonesian Presidential Palace on April 12. The mothers are calling on President Widodo to stop the development of a cement factory in Rembang, Central Java, which will damage a resource rich environment. Just Asia speaks to Mr. Ki Bagus Hadi […]

INDIA: Negligent about negligence: Mass disasters and the Indian State

On 9 April 2016, a massive explosion at the Putingal Temple near Paravur in Kollam, Kerala, resulted in the death of more than a hundred people and injured more than 350 others. A fireworks display had been in operation for the Temple festival, and initial reports suggest that a firecracker fell into a stockpile, causing […]

SRI LANKA: Where are the policies for change? – A documentary

We are sharing with you a discussion conducted between Dr. U C P Perera, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, and Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, who has also been involved in the investigations into the Chemmanimass grave, and Mr. Basil Fernando, Director Policy and Programmes, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong […]

AHRC TV: JUST ASIA, Episode 118

This episode of Just Asia begins with Indonesia, where a public protest called for the dissolution of Indonesia’s Anti-Terror Police Unit. The protest followed the death of Mr. Siyono, one day after being arrested by the Police Unit on March 10. Although the police claimed Siyono died from fighting police personnel, an independent autopsy revealed […]

NEPAL: Fight the power

An oped from the Kathmandu Post forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Despite Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s attempt to bully the National Human Rights Commission for its report at the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Commission – represented by its chair Justice Anup Raj Sharma […]

INDIA: MNREGA budget cut in the times of drought

Statement | India | 11-04-2016

The rural distress plaguing large tracts of the Indian countryside is no secret. This distress has heightened in the wake of the devastating drought that is affecting more than half of India’s 676 districts. Forget the reports coming in from grass root organizations that showcase the severity of the crisis, data from the government’s own […]

PAKISTAN: Government non-compliance with minimum standards against human trafficking

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 […]

INDIA: Man tortured and detained for more than nine hours in Kerala

Dear Friends, The AHRC has received information from its partner organization Nervazhi, that one man, aged 52, was tortured and harassed at a police station in Kerala. He was riding his motorbike when the Aayiroor police stopped him. The police tortured him and injured him severely, resulting in him fainting. He has been charged under […]

INDIA: Maharashtra Cabinet on Disaster tour to curb farmer suicides

Article | India | 05-03-2016

The government of Maharashtra has finally woken up to the agrarian crisis that has, according to official statistics, already ensnared the lives of 124 farmers in the state in the first 45 days of the year. Awoken, the government has decided to take action. And, the action that the government has decided to take is […]

NEPAL: Nepal’s police in Madhesi-hunting spree

Statement | Nepal | 24-02-2016

The Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) partner organization the Terai Human Rights Defenders (THRD) Alliance have secured information that the Nepal police have started arresting Madhesi protesters in different cases, mostly related toevents that occurred during the 5 month long protests and blockade in the southern plains. This is a systematic trend of charging with […]

PAKISTAN: Transgender community continues to suffer for being different

In a conservative society like Pakistan, being a trans-person is deemed a crime. The transgender community is treated as outcastes having no identity or rights. Like other marginalized factions of the society, the transgender suffer discrimination and injustice at the hands of the influential. According to Front Line Defender, the International Foundation for the Protection […]

INDIA: Police officer murdered for not submitting to corruption

Dear Friends, The AHRC has received information about the cold blooded murder of a police officer, Mr. P.J. Marbaniang, in Ri Bhoi District of Meghalaya. The murder took place on the same day Mr. Marbaniang detained 32 trucks that were illegally transporting coal. The coal was being illegally transported despite the orders against such transportation […]

INDIA: From Khairlanji to Hyderabad: what post-outrage?

Article | India | 03-02-2016

RohithVemula’s suicide will not be just another suicide in the statistical records of the National Crime Records Bureau. It will not be so in the same way the 2006 massacre in Khairlanjiwas not. These two cases separated by almost a decade,are far more than a statistic of ordinary crime, such as that committed in a […]

NEPAL: Corrupt Cops

An oped from the Kathmandu Post forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Corruption in the Armed Police Force (APF) was exposed after four of its inspector generals including a sitting chief were probed by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) over charges of pocketing millions of rupees illegally during their […]

AHRC TV: JUST ASIA, Episode 107

In this episode of Just Asia, AHRC TV continues its coverage of the saga of the missing Hong Kong book publishers. One of the five abducted men, Gui Minhai, has turned up on Chinese State television making a “confession” for a years-old alleged drink driving offence. Gui vanished three months ago from holiday in Thailand […]

INDIA: AFSPA should not be enforced in Manipur to support organised lawlessness benefiting illegal drug and weapon smuggling cartels

Statement | India | 15-01-2016

“AFSPA was imposed after declaring the state a disturbed area. You mean to say that in 35 years of Army presence in the state, the situation has not improved to remove the disturbed area tag from the state? Has nothing changed on the law and order front for the last three decades?” The Supreme Court […]

AHRC TV: JUST ASIA, Episode 102

Yesterday, December 10 was Human Rights Day. This is the day in 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To mark this day, JUST ASIA brings you a review of the state of human rights in specific Asian countries, with several interviews with relevant experts. In Nepal, adoption of a […]