Enforced disappearances and abductions

INDONESIA: Key perpetrator of student crackdown and riots in 1997/98 promoted to vice minister of defense

A Joint Statement by the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) and the Asian Human Rights Commission The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly oppose the appointment of Lieutenant General TNI Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as vice minister of defense by the President. […]

UN: Statement by United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission UN: Statement by United Nations Working […]

THAILAND: WGJP call for seminar “Thai society and the Right to Know the Truth about Forced Disappearances”

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the Justice and Peace Foundation (WGJP) calling for a seminar on the International Day of the Disappearance on August 30, 2010 at 8.30am – 12.30am. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from the […]

SRI LANKA: State accepts that it is unwilling and unable to prosecute the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in closing the abduction case of Poddala Jayantha

The police spokesman announced that the Magistrate’s Court of Gangodavila has halted the proceedings of the case of abduction of Poddala Jayantha, the senior journalist, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) and a key activist of the Free media movement (FMM) of Sri Lanka, due to lack of evidence. It […]

SRI LANKA: Right to truth – the Prageeth Eknaligoda case

As Prageeth Eknaligoda remains a matter of concern the principles of international law relating to the right to truth is a relevant issue. we reproduce below the General Comment on the Right to the Truth in Relation to Enforced Disappearances of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Preamble   The right to the truth — sometimes […]

SRI LANKA: Where is Prageeth?

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from Reporters Without Borders. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from Reporters Without Borders forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (Hong Kong, August 11, 2010) Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontières English: http://en.rsf.org/sri-lanka-where-is-prageeth-10-08-2010,38113.html Français: http://fr.rsf.org/sri-lanka-ou-est-prageeth-10-08-2010,38112.html […]

NEPAL: The Nepal Army has given absolution to one of Maina Sunuwar’s murderers

Statement | Nepal | 10-08-2010

The Nepal Army announced on 14 July that an internal inquiry had found Major Basnet ‘innocent’ of the torturing to death of Maina Sunuwar. The details of the enforced disappearance, torture and killing of this 15-year-old girl while in army custody triggered the indignation of the Nepalese civil society and the international community. The continuous […]

UPDATE (Nepal): Progress stalled in the investigation of Arjun Lama’s disappearance

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw your attention on the necessity to continue and increase pressure to see that the perpetrators of Arjun Bahadur Lama’s abduction and murder are held accountable for their actions. Arjun Bahadur Lama was abducted on 29 April 2005 by cadres of the Communist Party of […]

INDIA: A man’s life is at risk and his fate is unknown after his illegal arrest by the army in Manipur

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information regarding the illegal arrest and abduction of a man by army personnel at a check point in Imphal. The man was seen being driven into an infantry camp, in the same complex as a police station, yet all personnel have denied his arrest. […]

HONG KONG: The Asian Human Rights Award for Creative Media to Ms. Josefina Bergsten, director and producer of UNJUST

(Hong Kong, July 23, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission announces the presentation of the Asian Human Rights Award for Creative Media to Ms. Josefina Bergsten as the producer and the director of the documentary UNJUST. The Presentation of the award will take place at Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, on the 27th July, 2010.  […]

PAKISTAN: Relatives of missing persons organised demonstration outside the Balochistan High Court

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from Voice for Baloch Missing Persons. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from Voice for Baloch Missing Persons forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) PAKISTAN: Relatives of missing persons organised demonstration outside […]

PAKISTAN: The brother of a rape victim has been found murdered three months after his arrest

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that the body of a young man has been found three months after his arrest in the midst of a campaign for legal redress for his sister, who was gang raped in 2007. Sabir Soomro supported his teenage sister throughout a badly and unprofessionally tried […]

ASIA: UNJUST—A thought provoking documentary

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Sri Lanka Guardian Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from the Sri Lanka Guardian forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission ASIA: UNJUST—A thought provoking documentary UNJUST- A thought provoking documentary The story of these three women is not […]

NEPAL: A man remains missing after his abduction by the Young Communist League

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was abducted by members of the Young Communist League (YCL) on 7 May after he allegedly refused to give money to a Maoist activist, during the Maoists’ indefinite strike. His whereabouts remain unknown. The Maoist groups have denied any involvement in […]

PHILIPPINES: Three mining activists in Zambales have been forcibly disappeared

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that three mining activists are still missing, months after being seen in the custody of soldiers, after their forcible abduction in March 2010. The victims’ families have been unable to secure their release or pursue effective legal action against the soldiers, due to […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Government and police officials did not comply with the High Court’s order requiring them to explain and produce the disappeared victim

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the disappearance of a man who had gone missing after a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) team illegally arrested and detained him along with several others in February 2010 (Please see our previous appeal for details: AHRC-UAC-043-2010). We have learned that the government has […]

PAKISTAN: 2,582 children were reported missing and cases were registered in over 100 police stations last year

Parents of these children say that apart from the trauma of losing their loved ones, equally painful is the lack of interest shown by the police in recovering them. The police say that since children’s going missing is not a cognisable offence on its own, it is difficult to follow up in the manner that […]

INDIA: Assam soldiers beat a family and illegally arrest a young man after accepting bribes

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is extremely concerned for the welfare of a young man who was badly beaten along with his family, then abducted illegally by soldiers. A former employer who owes him money was seen directing his abduction. Although police were able to find him, intervene and provide medical treatment, […]

INDIA: Another civilian is abducted and murdered in Manipur; police claim ‘encounter’

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning yet another case of abduction and extrajudicial execution in Manipur. After unidentified persons were seen abducting a man in April, the local police reported having killed him in an armed encounter later that evening. Given the widespread pattern of extrajudicial executions in the […]

PAKISTAN: The High Court is unable to recover a man from illegal military detention after 15 months

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a man is still missing fifteen months after his arrest by plain clothed intelligence agents, and despite admissions by officials that he is in custody. Although the Supreme Court has made strong efforts to address the issue of disappearances in Pakistan it remains unable […]