Enforced disappearances and abductions

Dear friends, Further to our recent update on the list of extrajudicial killings, another list of disappearances of 53 persons for the month of October 2007 has been reported in Sri Lanka. Despite reported cases of killings and disappearances, the government has failed to take genuine action to stop them. Due to a lack of […]

Dear friends, The hearings in the trial of five police officers in connection with the disappearance of prominent Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit at the Criminal Court in Bangkok are drawing to a close: the second-last confirmed dates, for the hearing of defence witnesses, will run from tomorrow, November 15, to Friday, November 18. In […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received reliable information regarding the extrajudicial killing of five youths at Thavasikkulam near Vavuniya town on 4 November 2007 in Sri Lanka.  According to witness accounts, the youths had been taken into custody by Army personnel from the Veppankulam Army Camp. The bullet-riddled corpses were found […]

Dear friends, In this general update on events in Burma, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) concentrates on the following topics: – Details emerging of more deaths during September  – Denial of medical treatment for injured persons – Family members of wanted persons taken as hostages – Special concerns over women prisoners For all statements, […]

On the 27th October the day for the disappeared will be commemorated by the Families of the Disappeared and Right to Life together with the Asian Human Rights Commission. The monument for the disappeared was established at Raddoluwa Seeduwa, near Negombo in the year 2000 as a symbol of the disappearances which have become a […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources in Nepal that a journalist Mr. Birendra Shah was abducted by the members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) on October 5, 2007 from Pipra Bazaar, Kalaiya, in Bara district. It is reported that he was abducted for writing news […]

Dear friends, Further to our previous recent updates on the situation in Burma, this is the first appeal by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) since last week on specific cases of disappearance in Rangoon: it includes details about the disappearance of a 30-year-old mother of two and three teenage sisters, as well as news […]

Dear friends, As the dramatic events in Burma of the last few days are being reported throughout the entire world, in this latest update the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), gives additional information not being widely covered in the mainstream media, as follows: – Protests have continued in Rangoon, Mandalay and other towns  – Killings […]

Dear friends, Further to our previous appeal, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by a reliable source regarding the killing of six more persons, including a Hindu priest, disappearance of sixteen persons, and threats on persons – women, the elderly and children in Jaffna, Northern Sri Lanka. These incidents occurred from September […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that the whereabouts of a labour leader, Jaime Rosios (a.k.a. Jimmy), remains unknown following his abduction and subsequent disappearance on 11 August 2007. His abduction took place after he was falsely charged by the police for the August 3 bombing of their […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you of the continuing occurrence of extrajudicial killings and disappearance in the northern part of Sri Lanka. In August 2007, fifty persons were either found dead or killed; while 38 others have been forcibly disappeared following arrests or abductions. Some of the perpetrators […]

We would like to bring to the notice of the Council the trend of attacks on religious leaders and places of worship in Sri Lanka, due to their involvement in protecting and assisting victims of ongoing hostilities between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE). This violence is part […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that 57 humanitarian workers have either been killed or subjected to forced disappearance since last year in Sri Lanka. The AHRC has earlier reported the list of 81 and 22 disappeared persons respectively (See further: UP-061-2007). This detailed information, recently received from a reliable […]

Recently Mahanama Tilakaratne, the Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Killings, Disappearances, Abductions and Unidentified Dead Bodies (the one-man commission) was quoted in the press as saying that 1,425 out of the 1,992 people thought to have disappeared since September 2006 to June 2007 had returned.  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has earlier commented […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 4, 2007 AL-021-2007 A Joint Written Statement submitted by the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), a non-governmental organization on the roster, Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation in general consultative status and Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, a NGO […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AS-214-2007 September 4, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Government treats disappearances as ‘normal occurrences’ Several Sri Lankan newspapers reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had disclosed in their bulletin that a further 34 persons had been abducted over the past three weeks. […]

(Hong Kong, August 30, 2007) The families of “disappeared” persons, human rights defenders and others are on Thursday gathering in Bangkok to plant a tree in remembrance of the missing. The “Tree of Life” event is being held in front of the Grand Auditorium at Thammasat University to mark the international day of the disappeared. […]

A group of 25 human rights activists and defenders from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand who gathered for the Human Rights School Session of the Asian Human Rights Commission for 2007 wish to express their deepest solidarity with the victims and families of forced disappearances and wish to add […]

It is customary for the older generation to tell the younger generation a living memory of what the nation has been. For the survival of a nation and its own identity, a closely guarded national conscience is of paramount importance. It is such jealously guarded conscience that provides the foundation of a nation. Without such […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a local human rights organisation based in West Bengal, India regarding the illegal detention, alleged custodial torture, severe ill-treatment and subsequent disappearance of a woman and her husband. It is alleged that the lady was taken into custody, detained for 10 days, […]