Human rights defenders

A leading figure of the human rights movement in Russia today, Svetlana Gannushkina, has been announced as a Laureate of the 2016 Right Livelihood Award. Gannushkina receives this award ‘for her decades-long commitment promoting human rights and justice for refugees, forced migrants, and different ethnic groups’. Through the organisation that she founded and heads – the Civic […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned as human rights organizations, including Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) and Advocacy Forum (AF), as well as human rights defenders and lawyers have been barred from monitoring detention centers and from meeting those detained in custody. The Nepal Police have stopped giving permission to lawyers […]

An article titled “The OMP – A Flawed Attempt to Deal with Complaints of Disappearances and/or Missing Persons in Sri Lanka” published in the Colombo Telegraph, by M.C.M Iqbal, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by M.C.M. Iqbal You May Read the Sinhala translation HERE To say that the Office of Missing Persons (OMP)) is a […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the President of Pakistan His Excellency, Mr. Mamnoon Hussain¨ President of Pakistan President’s Secretariat Islamabad  Pakistan Fax: +92 51 9207458 Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk Dear Mr President, The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the case of Imdad Ali, a mentally ill, death row inmate in […]

On 12 September 2016, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) issued the NCPO Order No. 55/2016under Article 44 of the Interim Constitution; it states that all cases involving offences of the Announcement of the NCPO Order No. 37/2557 (2014), No. 38/2557 (2014), and No. 50/2557 (2014), will no longer be tried in Military […]

Joint Press Release Bangkok-Dhaka-Geneva-Madurai-Paris-Quezon City, September 16, 2016 – Our organisations strongly condemn today’s arbitrary arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Mr. Khurram Parvez, and call for his immediate and unconditional release. On September 16 at 12:30 am, police officers came to Khurram Parvez’s home in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, arrested him without presenting a warrant, […]

Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Human Rights Defenders Alert – India (HRDA) International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) Odhikar The Observatory Joint Press Release Bangkok-Dhaka-Geneva-Madurai-Paris-Quezon City, September 15, 2016 – Our organisations condemn the arbitrary travel ban imposed on Kashmiri human […]

This week Just Asia begins with Thailand, where the Administrative Court ruled in favor of the National Park officers who forcibly evicted and burned about 100 houses and rice barns of ethnic Karen villagers in Phetchaburi province. According to the September 7 verdict, since the Karen villagers illegally encroached into protected areas, the park officers […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw the attention of the interested persons to follow the judicial harassment of three human rights defenders in Thailand. According to the AHRC Urgent Appeals case (AHRC-UAC-065-2016) which was released on 13 June, 2016. The Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) is an organization that monitors and documents cases of torture […]

Written Statement on the OMP Act by Amnesty International as well as two important Reflections on Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: We reproduce below the three important interventions relating to the OMP Act and Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka. Written Statement by Amnesty International, 33rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council ( 13-30 September 2016) […]

We reproduce below the content of the letter written to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice by the AHRC. 13th September 2016 Objection to the designation of Mr. Yasantha Kodagoda, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) as the Chairperson of the Government’s Steering Committee on ‘Torture Prevention and the Law’ of the National Human Rights Action […]

The latest statistics put out by the National Crime Record Bureau gives the Haryana state of India a dubious distinction. It stands second in the number of complaints lodged with the police, second only to Uttar Pradesh. That the population, in general, views police as the last resort in cases of injustice, puts the statistics […]

By Basil Fernando For a week, the media reported that a boy who was last seen at a police station had ‘disappeared’. Everyone knows that this word is a euphemism for murder. Somehow, it is less disturbing to talk about a disappearance. No police dogs have been sent to look for the boy or at […]

12th September 2016 Mr. Pujith Jayasundara  Inspector General of Police  New Secretariat  Colombo 1, Sri Lanka Dear Mr Jayasundara, The disappearance of Gayashan requires an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) The disappearance of Gayashan, a 20 year old youth from Ambalangoda while in the custody of the Hambanthota Police for the last 06 […]

아시아 인권헌장, 또는 민중헌장은 1998년 5월 17일 광주에서 공포되었다. 헌장은 수백여 단체들과 개인들의 지지를 받으며 아시아인권위원회가 전적으로 추진하였다. 헌장을 지지한 모든 단체이름은 헌장의 뒤 표지에 기재되어 있다. 아시아 인권헌장을 공포하는 일은 중대한 노력이었고 분명한 목적이 있었다. 헌장의 주요 목적은 개발도상국내 인권증진의 장애물을 다루는 과정을 착수하는 것이었다. 아시아 대부분의 국가들이 개도국에 포함되어 있는 상황에서, 개도국들의 특수한 […]

Just Asia begins this week with Sri Lanka; on the eve of the Sri Lanka Police celebrating 150 years of service, a TV programme was held discussing Sri Lanka’s policing service, its history and present status, and the country’s much needed criminal justice reforms. The discussion was attended by Mr Basil Fernando, Director of Policy […]

By Md. Ashrafuzzaman INTRODUCTION: There is an urgent and unavoidable need to protect people from torture. And, towards this end, there have been few notable legislative developments in Asia. However, despite the promulgation of select legislation in certain Asian jurisdictions, which now criminalize torture, the crime remains entrenched in the fabric of daily life. The […]

After much anticipation, the day we have been waiting for has finally arrived! The Asian Human Rights Commission is very pleased to present to you “Case Cracked”, the very first video of our brand new satire program RULE O’FLAW. The video, now available on our dedicated RULE O’FLAW Facebook page, depicts the life cycle of a case […]

There is something deeply negative and nihilist imbedded into the Sri Lanka consciousness. By ‘Sri Lankan consciousness’ I mean the consciousness of all Sri Lankans, whether they are from the majority Sinhala community or the Tamil or other minority communities. What is common to all is a deep negativity inherited from the far distant past. […]

On 2 September 2016, a team of police was seen in the vicinity of the home of the human rights defender Dr. Rubina Feroze Bhatti, and questioned her house maid of her whereabouts. The previous day, the NGO of the human rights defender, Taangh Wasaib Organization (TWO) was shut down by police and 8 of […]