Human rights defenders

An Open Letter from Rights Coalition forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) To, Karmenu Vella EU Commissioner for fisheries, maritime affairs and environment European Commission  1049 Brussels Belgium Respected Commissioner Vella, As the European Commission assesses whether Thailand has taken sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU), […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that the high prosecutor (Kejaksaan Tinggi) in East Java province, Indonesia has announced 35 suspects in the brutal attack of two land rights activists. Although the ARHC appreciates this achievement, the investigation should be continued to uncover any alleged involvement of the state […]

In a conservative society like Pakistan, being a trans-person is deemed a crime. The transgender community is treated as outcastes having no identity or rights. Like other marginalized factions of the society, the transgender suffer discrimination and injustice at the hands of the influential. According to Front Line Defender, the International Foundation for the Protection […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you that 12 human rights defenders and conflict victims – Charan Prasai, Sabitri Shrestha, Janak Raut, Ram Bhandari, Ashok Joshi, Rasna Dhakal, Bikash Basnet, Kanak Mani Dixit, Ishwor Acharya, Bikram Chaudhary, Bikram Dhukuchu, and Surya Adhikari – have been arrested at around 8:30 […]

A Press Releasefrom the SAPPROS-Nepal forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) काठमाडौं, फागुन ७ । वैकल्पिक नोवल पुरस्कारको रुपमा प्रतिष्ठित “राइट लाइभलीहुड अवार्ड”द्वारा सम्मानित चीन, जापान र भारतका विज्ञहरु “हरियो नेपाल, बलियो नेपाल”अभियानका लागि सहयोग तथा आफ्ना अनुभवहरु आदान–प्रदान गर्नका लागि यही फागुन १० र ११ गते काठमाडौंमा जम्मा हुँदैछन् । यस अवसरमा उनीहरुले सप्रोस नेपालका […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the police brutally attacked members of a peaceful protest conducted by labor unions in front of the Presidential Palace on 30 October 2015. As a result of the attack, two of the Jakarta Legal Aid (LBH) Lawyers, 24 laborers and one university student were […]

Torture, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial killings have become endemic in the country marred by internal conflict. Rule of law and justice have become a distant dream for the victims and families of missing persons. And, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture in custody and arbitrary detentions, have been given legal and constitutional coverage by the government. Through […]

The trouble fomenting in Indian varsities ever since the new government came to power has now reached one of the most prestigious universities of the country, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The stir ostensibly started after a group of students organized an event commemorating the death anniversary of Afzal Guru and called his hanging a […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt that the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Police Headquarters (Bareskrim Mabes Polri) has summoned human rights defender Mr. Erwin Natosmal Oemar for questioning regarding his statement on a TV talk show on 25 August 2015. Mr. Erwin works at the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR), an […]

An Open Letterfrom 22 Right Livelihood Award Laureatesforwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) To, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Respected King, The poet, art curator and Palestinian refugee Ashraf Fayadh, was sentenced to death by beheading, on November 17, 2015, by decision of the government of Saudi […]

Do you know someone ordinary achieving the extraordinary? Less than one month left to nominate candidates for the 2016 Right Livelihood Award. March 1 is the deadline for proposals for this year’s Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. Presented in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, the Right Livelihood Awards honour and […]

On 11 February 2016 the Thai army threatened human rights defenders for documenting the military’s continued use of torture on detainees in the country’s south. Major General Banpot Poonpien, the spokesperson for a specialist counterinsurgency agency, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), accused the human rights groups of fabricating accounts of torture to obtain funding […]

Since inception, Pakistan has been at war with its own citizens; time and again the State has indulged in gross human rights violation to muzzle voices of dissent. Ethnic Balochis have especially suffered discrimination and stigmatization, by successive military and civil governments. Due to State negligence, Baluchistan remains the least developed province even though its […]

Hong Kong, 03 February 2016 Geneva-Paris-Hong Kong, February 3, 2016. The authorities of Bangladesh should immediately release journalist Mahmudur Rahman, who completed 1,000 days in custody without trial on January 6, 2016 as part of the Government’s efforts to stifle critical voices in the country, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a […]

An article published in the Sunday Leader, on 24th January 2016, which is an English translation of the same, published in the ‘Irudina’ newspaper on 17th January 2016, by WimalanathWeeraratne, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by WimalanathWeeraratne It seems that Sri Lanka Police never learns a lesson. Although it has the Dharmachakra (Wheel of the […]

After keeping prominent Pakistan fisher folk leader and front line activist Saeed Baloch incommunicado in illegal and arbitrary detention for eight days, the Pakistan Rangers dramatically produced him in court on January 26. Earlier, the Rangers had denied that Saeed was in their custody. On 16 January 2016, Saeed Baloch was called by phone to […]

A Statement from Roshni helpline Research and Development Organization forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The missing children’s search and recovery organization Roshni Helpline has published its annual report for 2015 on missing children in Karachi Pakistan, one of the largest industrial cities. A total of 2160 children have been reported missing in the […]

The suicide of a young Dalit scholar, Mr. Rohith Vemula, in the University of Hyderabad is not merely the death of an individual. The sordid saga behind what made Rohith take this extreme step exposes all the pretensions of the Indian state and its institutions. It shows how six decades after independence, elitist Brahminical domination […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of  a fisher folk leader after his arrest by the Pakistan Rangers. He was the general secretary of Pakistan Fisher Folk, and an employee of the Fishermen Cooperative Society. Senior Rangers officials at the zonal office called Saeed Baloch to their […]

In this episode of Just Asia, AHRC TV continues its coverage of the saga of the missing Hong Kong book publishers. One of the five abducted men, Gui Minhai, has turned up on Chinese State television making a “confession” for a years-old alleged drink driving offence. Gui vanished three months ago from holiday in Thailand […]