Democracy

On 8 October 2002, Singaporean Court sentenced Chee Soon Juan, Singaporean opposition leader, and Ghandhi Ambalam for five and four weeks jail for breaking Singapore’s Public Entertainment and Meeting Act by holding a public event without a permit, after they refused to pay a S$4,500 (USA$2,540) and S$3000 fine, respectively. Ambalam has since been released, as his family paid the fine, but Chee continues to be imprisoned.

Dear Friends,  “This as that I will be here between Myanmar Independent Monument and Yangon city hall until either the government agrees to my petitions or simply kills me. I am here offering my life for the cause of the rights of Myanmar citizens.”  You might remember the above old Burmese professor’s appeal for democracy […]

PAKISTAN: The Referendum to Complete Pakistan’s Journey to the Dark Ages – PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO RESIST Today, Pakistan’s military leader General Pervez Musharraf mocked the nation and the international community by holding a referendum as to whether he could remain as the Head of State for another five years. This is an absolute abuse of […]

Richard Cook, Director of UNRWA operations in the West Bank: 
“The reports we are getting are of wholesale destruction of a kind more normally associated with natural disasters such as earthquakes…. We implore the Israeli authorities to open up the camp to allow our relief teams to help its desperate population.” 

(RE: UA-11-2002: Attacks on human rights defenders, destruction of property, public use of weapons with impunity)  UPDATE (INDONESIA): Further attacks on human rights defenders, public threats made with impunity  ———————————————————————-  Dear Friends  We are including here a joint statement by 48 Indonesian NGOs in response to another attack by the FBR (Betawi Brotherhood Forum) on […]

This appeal is for an international response to the arrest and detention of 74 year-old Dr Salai Tan Thun, a retired Burmese university rector who has publicly petitioned the military government to return power to civilian rule. 

SRI LANKA: Denial of right to vote resulted in mass deaths ———————————————————– Consequent to the dissolution of the Parliament the previous month, the elections were held on the December 5, 2001 to elect the peoples’ representatives of the parliament in Sri Lanka. While the elections were marred by unprecedented violence, intimidation, reports of vote rigging […]

INDONESIA: book burning, arson, ‘sweeping’, banning of books and writings, threats to organisations regarded as ‘leftist’ ———————————————————— \”This is the New, New Order\” That’s the view of Indonesia’s most celebrated author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 76, who survived 10 years of incarceration on infamous Buru Island and almost 20 years of house/city arrest years under Suharto, […]

Indonesia’s new democracy is facing its greatest threat to date.  While the world’s attention is on whether President Wahid will stay in office or not some organisations have taken the opportunity to wipe out the main progressive, democracy-building organisations, openly calling it an \”anti-communist\” purge (even though the organisations may be completely unrelated to communism).  […]

Dear Friends, We’re sending you following appeal made by Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) in South Korea. We urge you to draw your attention and to send protest letter to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency. Thank you. Urgent Appeals Desk Asian Human Rights Commission ================================================ […]

Will the perpetrators of violence be brought to justice? An AHRC Statement on Recent General Election, 2000, in Sri Lanka The violence during the election this time has been acknowledged, and even the final results from 23 polling centres have been annulled by the commissioner of elections. In addition, the judgement of overall fairness has […]

On September 29 a military intelligence officer used his gun to threaten the life of an opposition parliament openly in a busy street in Phnom Penh. As yet no action has been taken against this officer. Details are provided below in a Human Rights Watch press release. Following the press relese is a sample letter and the contact details for the Prime Minister of Cambodia and the chair of the Senate’s Human Rights Commission. Please write to them to try to keep democracy alive in Cambodia. 

Further to UA 32/00 \”Early Warning of likely escalation of election violence\”, as of 25th September, 13 had died from election-related violence since the campaign began. As of the 28th, the Centre for Monitoring of Election Violence (CMEV) had recorded 850 incidents of violence (or almost 35 per day), with indications that this level is rising even further (61 cases were recorded on September 27). Kindly see the CMEV website for further info: 
http://cpalanka.org/cmev.html 

AHRC UA Index: 001003 3 October 2000  UA 35/00: Call for police to provide peace and security for elections  SRI LANKA: Escalating violence affects freedom of election  Further to UA 32/00 \”Early Warning of likely escalation of election violence\”, as of 25th September, 13 had died from election-related violence since the campaign began. As of […]

Two young men have been killed in election-related violence in Sri Lanka in the first 5 days following the announcement of the National Elections to be held on October 10. Here is the sequence of events: 

The loss during the Easter weekend of the strategic Elephant Pass stronghold by the Sri Lankan government to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) shows the futility of continuing this war which has been going on for two decades and has incurred the loss of well over 55,000 lives and two entire years’ worth […]

  It is reported that several arrests are taking place in Malaysia, which the human rights activists and observers describe as a crack down on the opposition. The most significant among them is the arrest of Karpal Singh who heads the legal team defending the former deputy Prime-Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He is charged with sedition […]

The ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION urge you to continue your support for justice and human rights in Malaysia. Five persons are still detained under the Malaysian Internal Security Act [ISA]. Anwar detained under ISA, which was later lifted, is still remanded in jailed. Meanwhile, 178 persons were charged with illegal assembly, disobeying police orders and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding to you an appeal that five student activists advocating human rights have disappeared from their dormitory on 15 August 2008 in southern Thailand. Two of whom had previously been arrested in January of this year. The disappeared victims, all are students of the Yala Rajabhat […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding updates related to the recent Nepal crisis issued on 10 February 2005 by the International Nepal Solidarity Network (INSN), a network of concerned individuals working for peace, justice, and self-determination for the people of Nepal. To see current developments in Nepal, please also see our […]