Democracy

INDIA: WOMEN’S DAY — Rhetoric guarantees no equality

Statement | India | 07-03-2012

Today, the world’s largest democracy along with the rest of the world would celebrate international women’s day. The media will reproduce public statements and the promises made. Institutions like the National Commission for Women would reiterate its mandate to protect, promote and guarantee women’s rights and thus ensure gender equality in the country. The President […]

বাংলাদেশ: এএইচআরসির বিবৃতি রাষ্ট্রপতির সাজা মওকুফ রাজনৈতিক খেলা হতে পারে না

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following report published in Prothom Alo, a national Bangla language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 1 March 2012. The original story can be read at: http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2012-03-01/news/228930 . Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the Prothom Alo, a national Bangla language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, […]

BANGLADESH: Presidential clemency must not be political game:

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following report published in New Age, a national English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 1 March 2012. The original story can be read at: http://newagebd.com/newspaper/detail.php?date=2012-03-01&nid=2466. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the New Age, a national English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, […]

BANGLADESH: Presidential clemency political. Says Asian HR Commission

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following report published in The Daily Star, a national English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 1 March 2012. The original story can be read at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=224539 . Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the Daily Star, a national English language daily newspaper of […]

INDIA: A corpse of rights without justice at its soul

Article | India | 29-02-2012

One of the sad truths that we have to live with today is that the people’s struggles for human rights are highly fragmented in India. Equally disheartening is the fact that whenever or wherever human rights comes up for discussion, it is addressed in piecemeal, ignoring and leaving far behind a comprehensive approach to rights […]

PAKISTAN: The killing of Shias –it is hard to refute the accusation that the military was involved

In a cold blooded attack by men in uniforms of the Pakistan Army, 18 persons from the Shiite community of Islam were targeted and killed. The incident occurred in the Khyber Pakhtunkha province close to the border of Gilgit and Baltistan area where Shias reside almost in good numbers to the Sunni population. On February […]

SOUTH KOREA: National Election Commission must ensure security of data in order to guarantee free and fair elections

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned with the introduction of the new online service for national elections by the National Election Commission (NEC). The failure of the previous system in October last year during the Seoul Mayor election has raised serious concerns about allegations of election fraud. The National Assembly decided to […]

SRI LANKA: Abductors threaten the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Honourable Attorney General of Sri Lanka The Honourable Shanthi Eva Wanasundara Attorney General Attorney General’s Department Colombo 12 SRI LANKA Fax: +94 11 2 436421 E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk Dear Ms. Wanasundara, SRI LANKA: Abductors threaten the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka We wish to bring […]

PAKISTAN: Supreme Court failed to indict the military in contempt of court in the case of missing persons

In the case of the eleven missing persons, among them four have died in military custody due to systematic torture. The Supreme Court had ordered the military and its intelligence agencies, the ISI and military intelligence agency (MI) on February 2 to produce the remaining seven detainees before the court on February 10. However, this […]

SRI LANKA: The agony of political lies

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” – Viktor E. Frankl1 High level military officials were […]

PAKISTAN: The courts and the government bear responsibility for extrajudicial killings in military torture cells

By Baseer Naveed The disappearances, killings in military detention centers and dumping of bullet-riddled bodies including torture marks on the bodies of the victims, by the spy agencies particularly by ISI and military intelligence are no longer a secret. This was exposed during the case of Abdul Saboor (29), which was taken in custody illegally […]

NEPAL: Delays in the implementation of UPR recommendations highlight the absence of a functioning democratic State

Statement | Nepal | 01-02-2012

On January 25, 2011, Nepal’s human rights record was reviewed for the first time under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism. That mechanism was established by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 through resolution 60/251 to “review the fulfilment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments.” On that occasion, peer countries […]

BANGLADESH: HR violations are evident

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following editorial published by the Daily Star, an English-speaking national daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 17 January 2012. The original editorial can be available for the readers at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=218604. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An Editorial from the Daily Star forwarded by the Asian Human […]

PHILIPPINES: Anti-democratic constitutionalism

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, written by University of the Philippines (UP) Professor Raul C. Pangalangan. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission We need to respond to the fear […]

SRI LANKA: The New Year Wish List- 2012

All Sri Lankans will wish that the coming year will not be like the last one and, in fact, that it be different from previous years also, years in which deep insecurity has been prevailing due to the failure of the political system, resulting in serious problems in the legal system. People reduced to powerlessness […]

PAKISTAN: The head of the ISI must be prosecuted for hatching conspiracy against democracy

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence Agency, the country’s foremost intelligence agency, has hatched a conspiracy to overthrow the democratically elected government and parliament by taking help from some Arab monarchies who have strong influence in the affairs of the country. […]

PAKISTAN: Brother of a teenage pregnant rape victim was murdered in the court premises-a complete failure of rule of law

The brother of a rape victim, Alamzeb Khattak, 25, a was shot dead on Friday, December 9, in the court premises of Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkha province allegedly by relatives of police officials who were involved in the rape of a teenage girl. Uzma Ayub was repeatedly raped whilst being held captive by an […]

PHILIPPINES: Inability to protect has created a ‘parallel system’

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today published its 25-page report containing its analyses on what it has observed as the irreparable ‘social and systemic impact’ of the ongoing violations of human rights in the […]

SRI LANKA: International human rights agencies failed to notice the collapse of the Sri Lanka’s public institutions of justice

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The international community, including leading human rights agencies and organisations, has failed to understand the depth of collapse of rule of law in Sri Lanka and have failed to make any effective intervention in this […]

BURMA: Abuses remain “systemic, entrenched”, AHRC warns

(Hong Kong, December 9, 2011) Despite signs of political change and the easing of restrictions on freedom of expression in Burma, rights abuses remain “systemic, deeply entrenched and vast in scale”, the Asian Human Rights Commission said today in its annual State of Human Rights in Asia report.   The 17-page Burma report, entitled “From blinkered […]