Freedom of expression

Emarine Kharbhih The Ministry of Home Affairs stated in the parliament that India is not ready for a marital rape law since it will “break the institution of marriage”. According to a study done by the International Centre for Women and the United Nations Population Fund, 57.5 per cent of men agree that a wife […]

This week marks the 100th episode of AHRC TV’s weekly human rights news programme, newly renamed as Just Asia. For this centennial anniversary, AHRC TV presents a new look to the programme, which will itself be further upgraded over the next few weeks and months. The theme for this week’s programme is violence against women […]

Courtessy from daily Pakistan Freedom of religion is a fundamental right that exists only on paper in Pakistan. Each year thousands of Christians, forming 13% of the total population, suffer at the hands of religious bigots who use blasphemy as an excuse to ruin their life. Christian girls are increasingly being forced to convert to Islam. According […]

Avinash Pandey With two cases of sedition, one police complaint filed against him in three Indian states, and mobs picketing in front of his house in another, Aamir Khan must be a worried man. More so for the fact that the first of these cases is listed for hearing on 1 December 2015 in Kanpur, […]

Telangana, yesterday, finally acknowledged that 231 out of 443 of its rural mandals (sub-districts) are hit by drought. This was not a sudden realization by the state, the 9th Indian state to get hit by drought this year. Their agricultural department knew that a ‘drought like’ situation was prevailing in Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received updated information on a man arrested over a Facebook post allegedly defaming the military. He is suffering from a serious health condition in Insein Prison. He has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the prison hospital since 27 October 2015. His advocate has […]

An article from Hong Kong Free Press forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The people of Myanmar have once again spoken, and spoken very loudly, of their wish to return to democracy for the first time since 1962. One of Asia’s longest-lived military dictatorships has again been told by the people to leave, so they can […]

The weekly Times column, Focus on Rights, titled‘The Loss of Sri Lanka’s ‘Truth-Telling’ Monk’ by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, in the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, on 08 November 2015, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Kishali Pinto Jayawardena George Orwell once reminded us that ‘in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.’ […]

AHRC TV opens with the historic national elections that have just concluded in Burma. Despite some serious flaws, observers have declared the elections “reasonably free and fair”. Aung San SuuKyi and her NLD party have won a stunning outright majority of the votes. This comes 25 years after Burma’s last democratic election which SuuKyi’s NLD […]

In a shameful assent to military rule, on 11 November 2015, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the Pakistan Army Act (PAA), 1952. This amendment provides legal cover to arrests already made by law-enforcement agencies, including the Army. According to media reports, the Bill amends Section 2 of the PAA, allowing military courts to […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned about the health situation of student protesters who are currently carrying out hunger strikes in the prisons. There are incidences of solitary confinement, force-feeding, denial of water to some students besides inadequate hospital care. There was a police crackdown after which they arrested the non-violent student protesters […]

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු අනුරාධපුරයේ සුප‍්‍රසිද්ධ කරාටේ ශූරයෙකු මරාදැමීම පිළිබද කථාව පසුගිය සති වලදී සාකච්චාවට භාජනය විය. ඊට එක් හේතුවක් වූයේ එම අපරාධයේ දී කලා යැයි කියා ඒ වාර්තා වුන සමහර සිද්ධින්ය. 28 දෙනෙකුගේ පමණ කණ්ඩායමක් තමන් අදුනාගත නොහැකි ආකාරයෙන් එක සමාන ඇදුම් කට්ටල වලින් සැරසී එක සමාන ආයුධ ඇතිව කටයුතු කල බවත්, එම සිද්ධීන් ‘සීසීටීවී’ […]

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has once again been deprived of their fundamental religious freedoms and universal civic rights. For the ongoing local body elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has made an addition to their guidelines, instructing registration officers and other staff to enter Ahmadi votes separately in the Initial Electoral List. Through instruction […]

October 2015 marked one year of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s administration, since being sworn into office on 20 October 2014. On the occasion of this milestone, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and its local partner the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) reviews the government’s […]

The Roundupthis week opens with a report of yet another targeted assassination in Bangladesh, which pushes the country further into lawlessness and terror. Faisal ArefinDipan, owner of a publishing house, is the latest victim. AHRC TV interviews Md.Ashrafuzzamanabout the killing spree and what is behind it. Next in this programme, BablooLoitongbam, of Human Rights Alert […]

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු නොබෝදා පත්කරන ලද ජාතික පොලිස් කොමිසම විසින් ඔක්තෝබර් මස 29 වන දින විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාව ඉදිරිපිටදී ශිෂ්‍යයන් කණ්ඩායමකට පොලිසියේ කැරලි මර්ධන ඒකකය විසින් පහර දීමේ සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පරීක්‍ෂණයක් පැවැත්වීම ආරම්භ කිරීම සතුටට කරුණකි. එම පරීක්‍ෂණ කොමිටුවේ වාර්තාව සති දෙකක් ඇතුළත නිකුත් කරනු ලබන බවට ජාතික පොලිස් කොමිසමේ ප‍්‍රකාශකයෙකු විසින් නිවේදනය […]

A Press Releasefrom the Nepal Dalit National Social Welfare Organisation (NNDSWO), Dalit NGO Federation (DNF), The Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO), and the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) on behalf of the Dalit Civil Society Organisations Coalition and by the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN)forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) UN Nepal UPR Review calls […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the situation of two Burmese student leaders who have recently been arrested after being fugitives for nearly 7 months. Kyaw Ko Ko and Lin Htet Naing both played a leading role during the student protest earlier this year, against a controversial national education law passed by […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding the arrest of Patrick Kum Jaa Lee for sharing a photo on Facebook. Husband of a human rights activist, Patrick has been charged with defaming the military by his photo sharing, and faces up to three years imprisonment. During Burma’s election campaign period, Patrick […]

A Joint Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre and Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO Nepal) The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO Nepal) have prepared this report in relation to the upcoming second cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to be held on 4 November 2015. It presents the […]