Democracy

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a 14-year-old boy who was recovering from typhus, has died after having been punished by his teacher for failing to do his homework. The boy and other pupils were forced to do continuous squats. The victim had just returned to school from hospital […]

Concerning the forthcoming eighth general election in Pakistan two questions remain unanswered — whether the election will be held on February 18, 2008 and whether it will be free and fair? The elections were scheduled to be held on January 08, but were postponed due to the assassination of Ms. Benazir Bhutto, the Chairperson of […]

Since General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and dismissed the Supreme Court of Pakistan on November 3, appointing a mock bench in its place, over 3000 lawyers have been held in remand and many of the best known lawyers in the country are in hiding. Outspoken political leaders are under detention, while others, […]

movement On 30 October 2007, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia read out its verdict on the constitutional review of the Narcotics Law that provides for the death penalty in several articles. The court ruled that capital punishment in cases of drug trafficking is not unconstitutional and does not violate the constitutional right to life. The […]

On the night of October 18, 2007, two blasts occurred at the welcoming procession of thousands of people, arranged for arrival of Benazir Bhutto, the Chairperson of the Pakistan People Party, after her self exile of eight years. More than 130 people were killed and about 550 injured. The government of Pakistan claims that the […]

Indonesia, which received the second highest number of votes in elections to the United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this year, will celebrate its sixty second Independence Day on August 17, 2007. Given these election results, we could imagine that Indonesia is considered as being a moderate nation which consistently promotes and protects human rights. […]

(Note: We are reproducing the report published on June 14 2007 by the International Crisis Group. The Executive Summary and Recommendations follow below). ____________ *INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP – NEW REPORT* Colombo/Brussels, 14 June 2007: The international community must press the warring sides for urgent action to address wide-spread human rights abuses in Sri Lanka as […]

With the conclusion of the legislative and local elections in the Philippines on May 14, the extent of deaths, violence and corrupt practices that have occurred during this electoral exercise is extremely appalling. This violent exhibition of democracy has cast serious questions upon the capability of the government, in particular the Philippine National Police (PNP), […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by the brutal attack and threats of rape against female opposition council members of the Karachi city government by the council members of the Muttehda Qoumi Movement (MQM), a member of the ruling alliance in President General Musharraf’s government and the ruling party of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that Mr. Hak Sok (51), a candidate of the Norodom Ranariddh party running for the communal election scheduled for April 1, was killed by unidentified men in front of his house on 26 March 2007. He was living in Sangkat number 4, Khan Mitapheap, […]

Not only is democracy being subverted in the Philippines, but its meaning is also misunderstood. While the country may have made economic gains in recent times, to declare them as proof of a “strong democracy” belies democracy’s true meaning, for the strength of democracy is measured, not by economic gains, but by the strength of […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the prolonged detention of two farmers in Davao Oriental province, the Philippines. Both of them have been detained for almost three years without any progress in their case because the prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court on six occasions. One of […]

The AHRC produces below the full text of this historic agreement: The full text of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement held between Government of Nepal and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) dated November 22, 2006 Preamble Respecting popular mandate of Nepali people expressed in favor of democracy, peace and progression through the historical struggles and people’s […]

[RE: UG-018-2006: THAILAND: UN rights bodies must act urgently to address junta; UP-189-2006: THAILAND: Illegal detention of former government ministers; UP-190-2006: THAILAND: Websites and radio stations shut down by military junta] ———————————————————————- THAILAND: Military rule; martial law; threats to human rights defenders; restrictions on freedom of assembly & expression ——————————————————————— Dear friends, As the Asian […]

Dear friends, Since the army launched its coup in Thailand on September 19, it has moved fast to curtail civil liberties and detain members of the former caretaker government. There is growing resistance to the coup inside Thailand, but vocal opponents–especially journalists and human rights defenders–face very serious risks. Although the UN secretary general has […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission reiterates its condemnation of the military coup in Thailand and calls for immediate restoration of the constitution and civilian government. Since this morning, September 20, the coup group headed by army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin has made a series of pronouncements under martial law. These include that: 1. The democratic […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the military coup in Thailand and calls for immediate restoration of civilian government. At approximately 10pm on September 19 a group of officers headed by army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin took power while Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was attending the UN General Assembly in New York. The group, […]

While the call for a peaceful resolution of the Sri Lankan conflict has arisen from high level sources such as the Secretary General of the United Nations and even the Pope, these make hardly any difference to the dismal situation of complete neglect of the suffering caused to the people by all parties to the […]

The Amnesty International report on the political killings, human rights violations and peace process in the Philippines published in August 2006 points to the need for the political will to investigate and stop political killings and the legacy of impunity in the country:   “Unearthing the evidence establishing responsibility for the current pattern of political […]