Human rights defenders

International Day in support of Torture victims Rights-based organizations, HR defenders vow to synergies efforts to combat Torture LAHORE:(26th June 2013):“The large scale instances of torture in custody is a common practice in Pakistan and there is no law in the country to stop this menace. The Parliament of Pakistan should enact law for criminalization of torture. Govt. […]

A Christian lawyer has been threatened with dire consequences if he continues to provide legal assistance to three Christian women who were stripped naked and paraded on the street by the henchmen of ruling party.  Mr. Mushtaq Gill, the director of LEAD (Legal Evangelical Association Development) organization, is getting death threats from militants. He is […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Cambodia (TPO) and the Dignity-Danish Institute Against Torture on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (Click here for Khmer version) As part of their concerted attempt to combat […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the International day in support of victims of torture. On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to express its solidarity with the survivors who are still dealing with the consequences of the torture […]

During the first four months of the year 2013 no restraint was observed on the part of the military in their actions. Abductions by unknown persons, disappearances and extrajudicial killings continue unabated in the war torn zone of Balochistan province. During the months from January to April, according to the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons […]

On 8 June 2013 the Myanmar Journalists Network hosted a press conference in Rangoon about the imprisonment without right to defence of at least seven persons who have been actively opposing the Letpadaung Hills copper mine project, in Monywa District, Sagaing Region, where police on the night of 29 November 2012 broke up encamped protestors […]

State media (newspaper, TV and radio) in Sri Lanka has been used often to attack Human Rights Defenders HRDs in Sri Lanka in the last few years. The ITN had started a fresh round of attacks in May this year. Those targeted have included prominent heads of NGOs, lawyers, journalists, clergy, academics and activists in […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the President of the Republic of Indonesia Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President of the Republic of Indonesia Jl. Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat INDONESIA Fax: +62 21 348 34759 Dear Mr. President, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to remind you of your […]

(Hong Kong, May 29, 2013) Twenty-three year old Nicolette ‘Nikki” Gamara, whose parents have been laid with fabricated charges, will speak at a public forum tomorrow, May 30 from 7–9pm (please see below for the details of the venue), about the ongoing and systematic practice of fabricating charges against human rights and political activists in […]

Dear friends, Further to our earlier appeal, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that two of the co-accused in a fabricated charge of robbery which included 31 human rights and political activists will be arraigned tomorrow, May 28, 2013. UPDATED INFORMATION: In our previous appeal (AHRC-UAC-152-2012), we mentioned that 31 human rights […]

On the Vesak Celebration for this year, the Asian Human Rights Commission offers the following greetings.

The days I spent at the RFK Centre, with those who desired personal liberty and freedom Change cannot be achieved by forcing others to accept the world that you have conceptualized as per your will, desire and imagination, it happens through the attitudes that you improved throughout the work in which you engaged in and […]

The twenty first of May 1998 is celebrated by the Indonesians as the birth of reform in their country. It marks the resignation of the then President Soeharto who, at that time had been leading Indonesia for over 30 years. The road to this birth, however, was a bloody one. In May 1998 two gross […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a human rights defender and writer from the Pakistani part of Kashmir, Sardar Arif Shahid, was gunned down in front of his house in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Before his murder he has been arrested and then released at his native town […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Badwani, Madhya Pradesh state regarding the continuing witch-hunt against human rights defender Ms. Madhuri Krishnaswamy of the Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS). Having braved an externment notice, followed by attacks from the locally elected Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and then a vilification […]

We, the representatives of the indigenous people’s organizations of India’s North East concerned over the issue of water and adverse impacts of mega development processes, such as mega dam constructions, mining in the region, coming together on 17 – 18 May 2013 at Dimapur, Nagaland unanimously resolved to: Affirm that water is life and inherent […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received very disturbing information regarding the assault on five women human rights defenders working with Sahjani Shiksha Kendra (SSK) in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. The women, belonging to the Dalit and backward communities, were physically and verbally assaulted while inaugurating an adult literacy centre for Dalit women. […]

It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that Abdul Waheed Khan projects are continued so that his death will not be in vain On May 13 a well known human rights defender, social activist and educationist was assassinated, allegedly by religious extremists suspected to be members of the Taliban. Mr. Abdul Waheed Khan […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding chronic water shortage plaguing the lives of Dalit residents of Duma village in Mugu district of Nepal during a field visit undertaken together with colleagues from FIAN Nepal. In absence of tapper water supply to their village, they have to fetch their water […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns in the strongest terms the announcement of the commander of the Sagaing Region Police Force, Myanmar, that the police will arrest and charge eight human rights defenders whom it blames for inciting protests against the army-backed copper mine project at the Letpadaung Hills, in Monywa. The commission also condemns […]