Democracy

When thinking of police officers in Pakistan, inept, corrupt and intimidating are some of the first thoughts that come to mind. Their attitude towards complainants and victims of crime are particularly devoid of civility. In fact, complainants are harassed for daring to report crimes and demanding justice. The country’s justice delivery mechanisms largely fail victims, […]

ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ අධිකරණ පද්ධතියේ ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැන් මතුවී තිබෙන විවාදය මේ පිළිබඳව පැවතී ඇති සාකච්චා වල වැදගත් අවධියක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. රන්ජන් රාමනායක මහතා හා ලංකාවේ නීතිඥ සංගමය අතර ඇතිවූ විවාදයක් සේ මෙය පටන් ගැනුනත් මේ වන විට එය පළල් ක්ෂේත්රකයක් කරා පළල් වී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳ මහජන අවධානයද ඉතා බලවත් ලෙසින් ඉස්මතු වී ඇත. සමස්ථ […]

Perhaps for the first time in the contemporary history of Sri Lanka, an important debate is now taking place on the need for judicial reforms. This debate has come about as a result of a statement made by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka with regard to a public statement made by Deputy Minister Ranjan […]

Jakarta, 2 September 2017 The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) condemns all violence against Rohingya civilians that has been escalated since Friday, 25 August 2017. The IOM has estimated that more than 18,500 Rohingya refugee fled Myanmar towards Bangladesh, and more than 100 persons died in the armed conflict. We urge the Government of both […]

Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic group belonging to Burma, are considered the most severely persecuted people in the world. The majority of Burma’s 800,000 strong, Muslim populace, identifies as Rohingya and have faced severe discrimination in this Buddhist-majority nation. Rohingyas are routinely denied basic rights to healthcare and livelihood. By the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law they […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the unlawful deprivation of liberty of Papuans which has occurred frequently of late. The AHRC has learned that the Indonesian Security Forces have been using excessive force and flaunting their authority to illegally arrest indigenous Papuans. They are simply exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Indonesian Authorities to ensure that cases of human rights violations that occurred in Papua must be investigated properly, under fair trial principles and the Rule of Law. In the last two months, the AHRC has documented and reported some three cases of serious human rights violations, as […]

Khaosod reporter Pravit Rojanaphruk charged with sedition and computer-related crime On 8 August 2017, Mr Pravit Rojanaphruk, senior reporter at Khaosod English, reported to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) to hear his charges in two separate cases. First, Pravit is accused of sedition offence under Section 116 of the Thai Criminal Code and computer-related […]

How exactly can one react to a republic that lets more than 60 of its children die in just 48 hours for the want of oxygen as the company supplying oxygen to the hospital had stopped it after repeated warnings for the same over non-payment of Rs. 68 Lakhs? How exactly one must feel after […]

A Report by the Asian Human Rights Commission/Asian Legal Resource Centre to the 113 session of United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) are concerned about the increase in cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. The state has utterly and […]

Salman Ali William Ewart Gladstone, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, once said, “Justice delayed is justice denied”. Moreover, the right to receive justice without delay was one of the promises made by King John of England in the Magna Carta 1215. Unfortunately, today’s Pakistan presents a typical example […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where police have arrested several persons involved in the rape and torture of a teenager, after pictures of the victim and her mother at hospital with shaved heads caused outrage. Tufan Sarkar, a unionist linked to the ruling Awami League party, has been charged with raping the 16-year-old at home on July […]

The darker side of Pakistan’s lawyers’ cartel has been exposed in the case of law student Khadija Siddiqui, who was stabbed 23 times by her class fellow, Shah Husain, the son of a senior Supreme Court lawyer. After this horrific attack, Khadija could not find a single lawyer to take up her case. Being the […]

This week, Just Asia begins with the resignation of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. The country’s Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif on July 28, and called for criminal charges to be filed against Sharif and his family. Under the constitution of Pakistan, the prime minister is elected for five years. Until today however, no elected […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from our local partner in Papua Province. It speaks about an alleged brutal shooting and violence committed by the Paniai Police Mobie Brigade. It was carried out against local indigenous Papuans in Oneibo, South Tigi District, Deiyai Regency, Papua. Without any proper warning, the […]

This week Just Asia begins with the case of Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan, who was detained by Malaysian immigration authorities for more than 12 hours at Kuala Lumpur airport last week. Without giving any reasons for the detention, the authorities finally deported him back to Dhaka. Just Asia speaks to […]

Justice M. Ilancheliyan is one of the greatest judges to be produced in Sri Lanka for the last many decades. He is still a High Court Judge, but he deserves to be raised to the Supreme Court. If that were to happen, he would be a great asset not only to the Supreme Court, but […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the recent spate of attacks on the Hazara community in Balochistan province. In the most recent incident, four family members belonging to the ethnic Hazara Shia community and their driver were shot dead on July 19, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle near Balochistan’s Mastung […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court passed a historic judgment last Friday, ordering the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe into the allegations of ‘fake encounters’ by uniformed personnel in the conflict ridden state of Manipur. To ensure an impartial investigation, the Court ordered that no member of the Manipur […]

A Statement from ODHIKAR on the detention of Detention of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan at KLIA, Malaysia forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission At approximately 11:00 pm (Bangladesh time), on 19 July 2017, Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Secretary of Odhikar, boarded a Malaysian Airlines flight, MH […]