Human rights defenders

Dear Mr. President, “You must be the change you want to see in the world” The Sri Lankan Lion roared at the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly reminding the global community that “…, in order to gain the confidence and goodwill of the international community as a whole, but one of the essential requirements was consistency of standards across […]

The fifth Congress of Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), held in Manila from 22-25 September and attended by participants from ten countries – Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jammu and Kashmir in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand and Timor-Leste renewed its commitment to fight against impunity and build a world without disappearances. AFAD […]

Ms. Phyu Hnin Htwe, a 23-year-old, member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) from Yadanabon University, Mandalay has been falsely implicated in the abduction of two Chinese workers from an army-backed copper mine project. On 20 September 2014, four months after the incident, she was arrested in her hometown under Penal Code […]

Conference Statement September 17-20, 2014, Manila, Philippines– We, the participants in the conference on “Sharing Best Practices in Advocating for Legislation Against Enforced Disappearances” coming from organizations fromArgentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and the United States of America are convened in Manila, Philippines, the […]

by Basil Fernando – Right Livelihood Award Laureate 2014 (This is an article issued on the occasion of receiving the Right Livelihood Award-2014) In 1989 when I learned that some people, due to malice or some other reason unknown to me, had entered my name into a list of persons to be disappeared, a stream […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to inform you that The Right Livelihood Foundation has announced the laureates for 2014. They are Mr. Edward Snowden, Mr. Alan Rusbridger, Ms. Asma Jahangir, Mr. Basil Fernando, and Mr. Bill McKibben. This award is also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” For further information about the award and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern about the arrest, interrogation, and harassment of four academics and three students during a public lecture on 17 September 2014 at Thammasat University in Bangkok. This is the latest in a series of actions by the authorities in the four months since the National Council […]

TEXTS ADOPTED Provisional edition P8_TA-PROV(2014)0024 Human rights violations in Bangladesh PE536.999 European Parliament resolution of 18 September 2014 on human rights violations in Bangladesh (2014/2834(RSP)) The European Parliament, –    having regard to its previous resolutions on Bangladesh, –    having regard to the EC-Bangladesh Cooperation Agreement of 2001, –    having regard to Articles 33 and 35 […]

A group of researchers associated with the Sydney University in Australia claim that they have found a more effective way than what has been tried so far, to prevent torture. The more effective way, as claimed, is to engage with the torturers themselves; which means to engage with officers of the security establishments. Quite an […]

by Professor Sunanda Mahendra Basil Fernando is a poet cum lawyer and bilingual writer who lives in Hong Kong. Apart form his day to day legal activities, he writes poems both in Sinhala and English. Several English poems have appeared in foreign learned journals. Quite recently one of his collections of English poems came to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the judicial harassment of Pornpen Khongkachonkiet and Somchai Homlaor, long-standing and prominent human rights defenders and director and chairperson, respectively, of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) in Thailand, is ongoing. They have been accused of defaming the army and face potential legal prosecution for […]

Tungkum Limited (TKL) must drop Defamation Case against two community based Human Right Defenders (HRDs) in Loei. Tungkum Limited (TKL) filed a defamation suit in Phuket provincial court against Mr. Surapan Rujichaiwat and Ms. Porntip Hongchai, two communities based Human Rights Defender (HRDs). Mr. Surapan Rujichaiwat and Ms. Porntip Hongchai received a court summons on Saturday […]

Two years ago on 11th September  2012 a third degree fire broke out at the Ali Enterprises, garment factory in the industrial area of Karachi, where  259 workers perished – burnt alive. It was one of the most devastating tragedies known in the history of the garment industry. The tragedy sparked a debate but on a […]

The Lawyers Collective strongly condemns death threats to two of it’s leading members, Attorneys-at-Law, Mr. Namal Rajapakshe and Mr. Manjula Pathiraja. Mr. Rajapaske  and Pathiraja have  been  leading human rights activists and lawyers with long experience in public interest litigation. They appeared in series of sensitive cases challenging arbitrary actions of all organs of the […]

by Nilantha Ilangamuwa “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried” ― Oscar A. Romero (1917 –1980) The earlier idea of the destruction of the social system and “establishment” of the social disorder was a systematic ideological option designed and driven by certain elite groups. It was merely an […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that an indigenous man, protesting against a palm oil company, was shot dead by one of their managers. The victim was killed a month after he and his colleagues had retaken control of 4,000 hectares of their land. The company had refused […]

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the killing of two activists in separate incidents in Davao province. The victims had been involved in campaigning against the impact of a coal-powered plant, a mining operation and banana plantations in their community. Prior to their killing, the military had accused […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from the Human Rights and Peace for Papua – the International Coalition for Papua (ICP) regarding harassment of a Papuan human rights lawyer by the authorities of Indonesia in Papua. For more information, please visit: http://humanrightspapua.org/ . Thank you.  Urgent Appeals Desk  Asian Human […]

Death threats still stand and are repeated against the Wang Saphung community We, the undersigned 18 organisations, are deeply concerned about the Wang Saphung community’s situation. The death threats against 10 community members are still standing. More worryingly, we have been told by community leader MrsVironRujichaiwat – mother of a one-month old baby – that […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned to have learned that Patiwat (last name withheld), a fifth-year student in the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Khon Kaen University and a human rights defender, is facing a criminal investigation in relation to a complaint under Article 112 of the Criminal Code in Thailand. […]