Human rights defenders

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. In all countries of Asia, this Christmas and new year will be celebrated in very difficult conditions. We extend our wishes to all families who are struggling in the midst of these difficulties to fight for their rights. We particularly […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that prosecutors have pleaded with the court to imposed four to five years of imprisonment on two human rights activists for organising an assembly. The assembly was to commemorate those who lost their family members in the January 20, 2009 Yongsan incident where five protestors and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of a human rights defender and Homeopathic doctor by profession from his private clinic by some plain clothed persons. They were accompanied by a police vehicle and the abductors were traveling in a black Toyota car. The lawyer of the disappeared […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) appreciates the effort taken by the Home Minister of India in undertaking a visit to Manipur. Manipur is one of the states in India with a poor human rights record. During the past three years the number of encounter killings reported from the state has steadily increased, until the […]

Over six-and-a-half years after police abducted and presumably killed human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, no one has yet been punished. The one police officer among five accused who was found guilty of a relatively minor criminal charge and sentenced to three years in jail appealed the conviction and while out of prison on bail himself […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes with reservations President Benigno Aquino III’s order to withdraw the charges against 43 health workers, collectively known as ‘Morong 43′, as reported today. We strongly believe, based on the documents and information that we have also obtained, that they should have not been arrested, detained, and forced to […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission offers its warmest and sincere congratulations to Ms. Asma Jahangir on the announcement that Pakistan’s leading human rights defender has been named as this year’s winner of a United Nations award that recognizes outstanding individual contribution to promoting a culture of human rights around the world. The Director-General of the […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from investigative journalist Allan Nairn regarding a secret Indonesian military report planning intelligence operations against civilians in Papua. The military has responded by justifying this approach. For more information please visit www.allannairn.com. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- (Jakarta, November 9, 2010) Secret […]

Yesterday, 11 November 2010, the Supreme Court of Burma rejected a special appeal against the continued detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, following the trespassing onto her premises of an American citizen in 2009. The Asian Human Rights Commission, among other groups, previously pointed to the contradictory, […]

(Hong Kong, November 5, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday launched a new campaign webpage on the case of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the director of the independent online news service Prachatai, who is facing multiple criminal charges over material that readers posted onto her website. The webpage, which is mostly in English but also […]

Since October 28, 2010, the Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) website has been subjected to a concerted “cyber-attack” in which computers with hidden locations and identities have been used to flood the website’s servers with fake requests, in order to overload it. This has resulted in visitors not being able to access the website’s content […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Burmese migrant workers in the city of Khon Kaen in north east Thailand, holding a peaceful protest against their employer for illegally keeping their legal documents, had allegedly been fired upon by gunmen. To frighten them, the gunmen fired shots into the community […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from LICADHO The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from LICADHO the Cambodia League for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission “A good […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)  regrets to inform you that Ms. Pushpa Karki, a teacher who was fired in 2008 after having spoken against discriminatory practices which persisted in her school, has still not received any justice. For sixteen months, she has not received any relief or help. The persistence of caste-based […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned over questionable complaints of murder laid against eleven human rights and political activists in Camarines Sur province. They had already been subpoenaed to respond to the complaint by the military that they were responsible for attacking a military camp, which killed two persons and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to share with you the interview it has conducted with Bernardino Patigas, one of the two human rights defenders whom we earlier reported to have been receiving threats on his life. In this interview, Patigas explained the nature of his human rights work which he […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from Reporters Without Borders. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from Reporters Without Borders forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (Hong Kong, August 11, 2010) Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontières English: http://en.rsf.org/sri-lanka-where-is-prageeth-10-08-2010,38113.html Français: http://fr.rsf.org/sri-lanka-ou-est-prageeth-10-08-2010,38112.html […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw your attention on the necessity to continue and increase pressure to see that the perpetrators of Arjun Bahadur Lama’s abduction and murder are held accountable for their actions. Arjun Bahadur Lama was abducted on 29 April 2005 by cadres of the Communist Party of […]

(Hong Kong, July 23, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission announces the presentation of the Asian Human Rights Award for Creative Media to Ms. Josefina Bergsten as the producer and the director of the documentary UNJUST. The Presentation of the award will take place at Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, on the 27th July, 2010.  […]

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the continuing threats to two human rights defenders. Both of them have received letters containing messages threatening to kill them in separate incidents. They are being told that their days are numbered and a hireling has been paid to kill them. These […]