Freedom of expression

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where investigations are ongoing into the abduction and murder of two businessmen from Rathgama. Until now, two police officers have already been arrested. Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has revealed that the two businessmen, Manjula Asela and Rashin Chinthaka were abducted and murdered, and their bodies were […]

The state of Arunachal Pradesh is seeing protests for the second time this year. The first wave of protests and violence had come with the government’s ill thought out Citizenship Amendment Bill (2016), which promised to give Indian citizenship to some minority communities fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, with much-relaxed rules. The move […]

The Internet broadcasted the long interview with Arun Siddhartha by Hiru on TV and separately on the YouTube channel, Vishwa Karma. One perspective that comes out of Arun Siddhartha’s reflections can be enormously positive. It can be used in trying to understand ways to resolve the present prolonged crises which have dragged the country into […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where a fast-moving fire in the historic district of Chawkbazar in the country’s capital city of Dhaka has killed 78 persons and injured 55. The death toll and the number of victims is expected to increase as more bodies are found from the wreckage. The 400-year-old Chawkbazar district […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where President Maithripala Sirisena told parliament last week that he was ready to bring back the death penalty for drug offenders within one or two months. The last hanging in Sri Lanka took place in 1976, since when there has been a moratorium on capital punishment. President […]

In an unprecedented move, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena attacked the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) for carrying out its duty to vet soldiers to participate in United Nations Peacekeeping Missions. While the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations requires the HRCSL to vet the human rights record of persons proposed for participation in peacekeeping […]

A Press Release from Press Legal Aid (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Pers) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Dalam 1 bulan terakhir telah terjadi dua kali penyitaan buku-buku yang diduga mengandung ajaran komunis oleh aparat gabungan TNI dan Kejaksaan. Penyitaan pertama dilakukan di sebuah toko buku di Kediri, Jawa Timur pada tanggal 26 Desember […]

Saya sebagai Pemerhati Ham Papua, sangat perihatin dengan situasi pelanggaran Ham di papua di akhir-akhir ini, masyarakat sipil orang asli Papua dan Non Papua hidup dengan penuh rasa takut dan trauma di tanah ini, pembunuhan terjadi di mana-mana terhadap masyarakat sipil. Tindakan (Organisasi Papua Merdeka) OPM juga sangat meresahkan bagi warga pendatang yang ada di […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where the Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the acquittal of Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges. After repealing her conviction and death sentence last October, the Court was petitioned by Islamists to review the acquittal. That petition was dismissed on Tuesday, and Asia Bibi is finally free. […]

Perhaps one thing that was forgotten when Lord Dunmore gave Adult Franchise for all, and also when Sri Lanka became an independent nation, is the stability of the social structure of a country. This is what provides for the establishment of the government, which will ensure security and stability to all. When these matters are […]

This week Just Asia begins with the Philippines, where rights groups and opposition lawmakers have condemned a bill lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9 years old. The bill was passed with a 9-1 vote on Monday. According to rights groups, the bill is “not in the best interest” of children, […]

After two world wars, the first world elite realized the necessity of a global human rights movement, and cooperated with each other to bring that about. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a product of this imagination and determination not to allow past rights violations to recur. Subsequent UN conventions all followed from this […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Youth’s Forum for Protection of Human Rights (YFPHR) regarding the indiscriminate firing upon civilians by the security forces in Tripura. The citizens were participating in a peaceful assembly against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 on 8 January 2019, when police opened fire without […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly objects to the lack of medical care given to Dr. C.K. Raut in custody. Dr. C. K. Raut was arrested by police on 7 October 2018 along with his four-year-old daughter from the premises of the District Court in Rautahat, while appearing in court in the case of […]

On December 11 to 14, 2018, human rights defenders from South East-Asia and the laureates of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights participated in an international workshop on the ‘Asian Human Rights Charter” organized by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the May 18 Memorial Foundation, (Gwangju, South Korea) in Jakarta, Indonesia. During the workshop, human rights […]

An article from the Kathmandu Post forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Through the promulgation of the 2015 constitution, Nepal emerged as a federal country. While power at the executive and legislative level was divulged in the local, provincial and federal tiers, one significant arm of the government continues to remain non federalised in ‘federal Nepal’: the judiciary. […]

Nepal saw a year of poor human rights protection in 2018. The government was instead seen to further restrict people’s rights by introducing harsh laws to control the functioning of human rights NGOs and INGOs with its National Integrity Policy (NIP). The NIP places tighter controls over non-governmental space and is currently under discussion, while […]

Despite repeated DENIAL by the authorities and their attempts to pass on such deaths as deaths by illness, 2 more hunger deaths in Jharkhand have been reported over the last month. This takes the total to 17 since September 2017. The report stated that Kaleshwar Soren (45), a resident of Dumka district and Seeta Devi (75) of […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where the government has intensified crackdowns on civil society prior to December’s general elections. Most recently, prominent freedom-fighter and civil society actor Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury and his institutions have come under terrorist attacks, while the pro-government media has been maligning Dr. Badul Alam Majumdar, head of the Hunger […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where police arrested a prominent government critic on Monday. Police said Moinul Hosein, a top lawyer and publisher of an English daily, was detained after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina slammed him for his comments against a pro-government female journalist. His arrest comes in the wake of a recent government […]