Democracy

The draft resolution which is soon to be debated can be looked at within a wider perspective from the point of view of the chaos that resulted from insurgencies and counter-insurgencies in all parts of the country since 1971, and by looking more closely into the reestablishment of order within a framework of the rule […]

A girl commits suicide by self-immolation after her rapists bribed the police to release them. The state institutions remained as silent spectators The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that an 18 year old student died in hospital after setting herself on fire in the front of a hospital, in Muzzafargarh, Punjab province where […]

While the alleged fabrication and concealment of evidence by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) is gaining more weight in a case of Mr. Yu who is on trial, charged with violation of National Security Act (NSA), it is noticeable that few legislatures have started joining in support of the NIS. It is a normal practice of political […]

Press Note March 12, 2014 Stop the Bloodshed. Declare Immediate Ceasefire.  Sit for Talks to end violence. The PUBL condemns the killing of 16 security personnel, including 11 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, 4 policemen and a civilian. The incident occurred in a land mine blast followed by indiscriminate firing by Maoists at Tongpal […]

By Avinash Pandey At 218 in 2013 and 237 in 2012, one would expect a national outrage on the unusually high number of body bags returning to India from Qatar. One would think especially so, for the fact that these body bags belonged to Indian citizens. It must have incensed even the apologists of neoliberal […]

The Supreme Court of India has directed the Union Government to take adequate measures to guarantee the safety of the people from the northeast, in the rest of the country against alleged racial discrimination. The court issued the directive while hearing a public interest litigation filed in court, following a series of incidents, where people […]

An Announcement forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to forward the following announcement from the Truth Foundation, South Korea calling for nominations for their Human Rights Award in 2014. The announcement and proposal form can be downloaded here. For inquiries please contact Mr. Kim Jung-Min whose contact details are […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received update information about the case of Bantit (last name withheld), charged with violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code in Black Case No. 725/2548 (Red Case No. 1483/2549). Please refer to the urgent appeal case previously issued: AHRC-UAC-154-2013. On 17 February 2014, the Supreme Court verdict […]

In his remarkable writings, Orwell reminded us as to how the Ministry of War was represented as the Ministry of Peace. Such coinage of words to mean the opposite of reality is part of the mischief in introducing repression in place of freedom. We have occasion to remember Orwell’s words of warning when reading about […]

The Friday Forum 2, Greenlands Avenue, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka E-Mail; chandraj111@gmail.com Telephone; 0773634444   Fax; 2504181 PRESS RELEASE 27th January 2014. There has been, in recent times, public discussion in regard to whether our country is moving towards an authoritarianism that undermines democratic governance. The President, Ministers and government spokespersons have consistently denied this allegation. They refer in particular to the […]

For Freedom, Justice and Love – My Closing Statement to the Court Xu Zhiyong, 22 January 2014 This is Xu Zhiyong’s closing statement on January 22, 2014, at the end of his trial. According to his lawyer, he had only been able to read “about 10 minutes of it before the presiding judge stopped him, […]

We, the Cambodian and International Civil Society Organizations represented in this statement, condemn the use of armed force and escalating violence against the Cambodian people. At the start of 2014, following three weeks of peaceful demonstrations in Phnom Penh, tensions increased dramatically as authorities brutally cracked down on garment factory workers, who were demonstrating for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased to announce the release of the 12th episode of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup. We start this episode with a special AHRC report on the sham Bangladesh national elections which were boycotted by the main opposition party. The elections were marred by violence and the lack of legitimacy […]

Justice Priyantha R. P. Perera Chairman, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka No 165 Kynsey Road, Borella Colombo 08 Sri Lanka   FAX; +94 11 2 694924 / +94 112 696470/ +94 112 689558 Dear Justice Priyantha Perera, SRI LANKA: A request to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission to immediately call for a report from the Inspector General […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission expresses concern regarding the safety of the common candidate of the opposition Maithripala Sirisena, who has faced several attacks during the past several days. He has himself alerted the public to the threat to his life in a statement he made yesterday (4th January 2015). We urge the Government and the […]

The AHRC condoles the death of Mr. Khurshid Anwar, a writer and activist reputed for his life-long struggle for upholding the rights and dignity of the downtrodden, not only in India but the whole subcontinent. Unable to cope with the mental torture of relentless social media trial over a case of an alleged rape which […]

Following is an extract from the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka, entitled ‘Towards Reconciliation and Rebuilding of the Nation’. In this exercise the independence of the Judiciary should be preserved and defended at all cost. The Judiciary which has the sacred role of interpreting and applying the meaning of a […]

Democracy and human rights were taboo under the military regime until the movement of democratisation which took place in 1987 triggered the 9th Amendment to the Constitution in the country. This Amendment guaranteed at least ‘procedural’ democracy. Those terms were released from constraints that had been kept for decades by the military forces. After they […]

Over the course of 2013 the Asian Human Rights Commission has followed reports of a larger number of conflicts over land grabs and attempted grabs in Burma, or Myanmar. Some of the conflicts are over recently taken land, and others are reinitiating struggles begun many years ago. These land grabs include the well-known expansion of […]

The full report is available for download at: http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2013/AHRC-SPR-008-2013.pdf/view Human Rights Day is being observed in Bangladesh, amidst extreme forms of humiliation and denial of human dignity. Lives, livelihoods, and liberties are not only being undermined but being literally denied in the political quest of a few. The two major political camps of Bangladesh are in […]