Extrajudicial killings

The tenure of office of Chandra Fernando as the IGP ended last week.  Throughout his tenure the Asian Human Rights Commission has pointed out the failure of leadership on his part to lift up the police service from its legacy of the use of torture as the primary means of criminal investigation, the use of […]

Statement of European Church and Civil Society Organisations We are concerned about the upsurge of politically motivated killings and the constant deterioration of the human rights situation in the Philippines in recent years. Amnesty International informs that at least 51 political killings took place in the first half of 2006, compared to the 66 killings […]

The Indonesia Supreme Court quashed a judgment by the Court of Appeal which affirmed the 14 year jail sentence pronounced by the Central Jakarta District Court last December against Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the murder of the well known human rights campaigner Munir. The Supreme Court in a two-to-one judgment reduced the charge against the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by a killing of a prominent human rights defender Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), or Philippine Independent Church, by unidentified men at his convent in Tarlac City, 105 kilometres north of Manila, on 3 October 2006. The true circumstances are […]

A prominent critic of the wave of extrajudicial killings that have swept the Philippines under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has himself become a victim of these killings. Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), or Philippine Independent Church, was awakened and killed in his room at about 4:00 a.m. on October […]

[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 Philippine authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Philippine authorities are […]

Maina Sunawar was 15 years old when members of the Nepalese armed forces arbitrarily arrested her. Since this date – February 17, 2004 – she has disappeared. All the evidence indicates that she was tortured to death by members of the military, who have since sought to deny her arrest and cover up her death. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you having learnt of your letter to the editor published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 22 July 2006, entitled “Baseless complaint vs. graft-buster”. In the last paragraph of that letter you quote the 2005 Ombdusman’s annual report in order to assert that the part of […]

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has announced the proposal for the appointment of a high level commission to investigate allegations of extrajudicial killings, as well as to supervise the actual investigations carried out by Task Force Usig.  This announcement comes as there is mounting pressure from within the Philippines as well as internationally against the government […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw your attention to the fact that personnel from Bangladesh being deployed for United Nations peacekeeping missions abroad may be responsible for systemic and grave abuses of human rights in their own country, and to request that you review their role in these missions with a view […]

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 […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 15, 2006 AHRC-OL-047-2006 An Open Letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions by the Asian Human Rights Commission Philip Alston Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Attn: Lydie Ventre Room 3-016 c/o OHCHR-UNOG 1211 Geneva 10 SWITZERLAND Fax: + 41 22 917 9006  Dear Professor Alston BANGLADESH: […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that two persons were killed in the name of “crossfire” by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Jessore district, Khulna division on 16 July 2006, after being arbitrarily arrested in Dhaka on July 14. Their families allege that the two men were killed after […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received updated information that two constables of the Border Security Forces (BSF) of Khayertala BOP No. 1 Point were simply dismissed without facing any legal action for the alleged killing of one young man and a teenager (See further: UA-244-2006). Meanwhile, the family of the victims has been […]

This is the third of five open letters that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) feels compelled to write to the UN Human Rights Council about the horrible human rights situation in Bangladesh, and its causes. We are doing this as we are deeply concerned for the integrity and credibility of the Council if Bangladesh […]

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns the continuing killings, attacks, harassment and threats on members of the .  Since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001, twenty-five lawyers, including ten judges, have been killed.  This extreme and outrageous violence against members of the legal profession has especially targeted those lawyers serving the poor […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following statement: Privilege speech on political killings in the Philippines, which was received from Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Forwarded Statement by the Asian […]

This is the second of five open letters that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) feels compelled to write to the UN Human Rights Council concerning the horrible human rights situation in Bangladesh, and its causes. We are doing this as we are deeply concerned for the integrity and credibility of the Council if Bangladesh […]

PHILIPPINES: Extra-judicial executions; violence against activists and their families; absence of protection for activists facing threats; inadequate police investigation; complete collapse of rule of law ————————————- PETITION – PETITION – PETITION – PETITION STOP EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES http://www.pinoyhr.net/ ———————————————————————- Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that […]

The following story about Fr. Terry, a Pastor in Pangasinan, shows how extrajudicial killings and other forms of violence and harm are planned and, more often than not, carried out in the Philippines against individuals who try to engage in community activities for the benefit of the people.   It is this type of planning […]