Freedom of expression

By Madhavi Gopalakrishnan* In August this year, proceedings were initiated to discharge Sabi Giri, a sailor with the Indian Navy, on grounds that she had undergone sex reassignment surgery in the previous year. Sabi, who had joined the Navy as an 18-year-old, had felt uncomfortable with her gender identity for some time; in October 2016, she […]

On 8 October 2017, the Kerala State Public Service Commission (PSC) announced the list of candidates who have been recommended by the PSC to be appointed as priests in Hindu temples in the state. Out of the 62 persons named in the list 36 are non-Brahmins. Out of this, 6 persons are from the Dalit […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information. It regards the hate speech against a religious minority group, the Ahmadi Muslims. It was delivered by a member of the ruling political party, the PML-N. He is the son-in-law of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Shareef. The speech resulted in dangerous […]

An article from The Wire by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is home to many archaic provisions, provisions that hold India back and permit it to take refuge in the dusty annals of ancient law books. It is preposterous and embarrassing that Section 375, Exception 2, has been allowed to remain […]

by Raksha Ram Harijan The government has announced the date for elections in the Federal and Provincial levels, with the Election Commission (EC) deciding to conduct the polls in two phases: the Member of House of Representatives (Federal Legislative) elections will be held on 26 November 2017, and the Member of State Assembly elections will […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where a distressing case of caste discrimination saw a 14-year-old Dalit girl paraded in Belbari Municipality-2 of Morang district with shoes around her neck, soot smeared on her face, and the tag of ‘thief’ stuck on her body. She was also beaten with nettle greens, causing her body […]

Dr. Govinda KC, a senior orthopedic surgeon at Nepal’s Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), and professor at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), was compelled to start his 13th hunger strike on 5 October 2017, after the government failed to meet its agreements from the previous 12 hunger strikes. Dr. KC has been staging hunger strikes […]

ඉහතකී කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් සිදුකරණු ලබන කරුනු දැක්වීමකි. ඉහත සඳහන් කෙටුම්පතේ රීතීන්ට අනුව ඕනෑම අගතියටපත් පුද්ගලයෙකුට හෝ එම පුද්ගලයෙකු විසින් බලය පැවරූ තැනැත්තෙකුට පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු හෝ පොලිස් සේවය විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ නිල කටයුතු වලදී සිදුවු කිරaනියාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් පොදු පැමිණිලි පරීක්ෂේණ අංශය වෙත පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඒ ස`දහා සහන ඉල්ලා සිටිය හැකිය. මෙම අංශය පී සී අයි ඞී […]

On 10 October 2017, the 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty aims at raising awareness about the reasons why people living in poverty are at a greater risk of being sentenced to death and executed.  Pakistan is one of the states in Asia that continues to carryout capital punishment. It is also a country […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you about the case of excessive police force against a peaceful public protest at Hambantota Town on 6 October 2017. The protest was attended by thousands of people, including religious leaders, political party leaders, members of parliament, provincial council members, local government body […]

By Dr.Rakhshinda Perveen In an inequitable world Women have greater (19%) prevalence rate of disability rate in comparison to men who have 12% of this share. Large-scale researches have established that every minute, more than 30 women are seriously injured or disabled during labor and those 15 – 50 million women generally go unnoticed. Women […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received information about Mr. Susantha Bandara Karunarathna, a journalist working for the ‘Sunday Apple’ newspaper. He was tortured by the Assistant Superintendent of Police of Tangalle, I. T. Daluwath. Susantha was engaged in his duties as a journalist, covering a peaceful protest at Hambantota Town on 6 […]

रक्षाराम हरिजन नेपालको सार्वभौम संसदले देशलाई छुवाछुत मुक्त राष्ट्र घोषणा गरेको एक दशक पूरा भइसकेको छ । वि. सं. २०६३ जेठ २१ गते संसदले नेपाललाई छुवाछुत मुक्त घोषणा गरेको थियो । तर छुवाछुत मुक्त घोषणा कागजमा मात्रै सिमित रहेको देखिन्छ किनभने जात, वंश, समुदाय वा पेशाका आधारमा हुने छुवाछुत तथा जातीय भेदभावको घटनामा खासै कमी […]

This week Just Asia begins with two shocking judgments in India, in two different cases of sexual assault. In the first, the Punjab and Haryana High Court suspended the sentences of three law students convicted of raping and blackmailing their female classmate, on the basis of unrelated and irrelevant aspects of the survivor’s lifestyle. In […]

Twenty years ago, when the Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) Urgent Appeals Programme started, we embarked on a new venture to demonstrate the potential of the Urgent Appeals in creating a culture that respects the sufferings of the victims, and to create a counter culture of concern and protest. It is time now to assess […]

Asian Human Rights Commission is proud to announce that it is today celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its Urgent Appeals Programme. The first urgent appeal was issued on 17 September 1997. Ever since Asian Human Rights Commission’s Urgent Appeal Programme has continuously issued urgent appeals relating to human rights violations, reported from many countries of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the attacks against the right to freedom of expression, opinion and peaceful assembly that have occurred frequently over the past year in Indonesia. These have occurred despite constitutional and legal guarantees to protect such rights: Article 28 of the Indonesian Constitution states, “Every person shall have the right […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the forced dissolution of a Discussion on truth-seeking and settlement of past abuses. The meeting was held in the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) building. On the first day of the Discussion, Police blocked the main entry. As a result, some participants from […]

A Statement from Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Darker and more dangerous: High Commissioner updates the Human Rights Council on human rights issues in 40 countries Human Rights Council 36th session Opening Statement by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High […]

‘In India, Another Government Critic Is Silenced by Bullets’, is how the New York Times reported the murder of Gauri Lankesh, a gutsy journalist known for her fierce opposition of the religious right wing regime currently in power in India. The heading that the New York Times chose says it all. Yes, Lankesh is ‘another’ victim of […]