Impunity

SRI LANKA: failure to control murder, rape, robbery, torture and ill-treatment, and other crimes

Independence Day Message As the country thinks back on the 66 years since its independence, there is unanimous agreement that the nation has failed to achieve any of the aspirations of independence. What is most glaringly horrendous is the vast numbers of crimes that are taking place. As a consequence, people are living in fear […]

ASIA: AHRC TV – Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup, Episode 15

The AHRC releases today the 15th Episode, of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundupwith special reports from Cambodia. In this week’s programme we bring you the following stories from across Asia; In Cambodia four persons were killed and many others wounded after police opened fire at protestors demanding an increase of the minimum wage. The AHRC […]

PAKISTAN: The lives of the long marchers are in danger

The long marchers are threatened by the ISI to stop their march or they would be severely dealt with The participants of the long march from Karachi to Islamabad for the recovery of Baloch missing persons are facing threats from the notorious intelligence agency, the ISI. The marchers have been threatened not to enter Punjab […]

NEPAL: Mother and a daughter severely tortured by police officers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Forum for Protection of People’s Rights, Nepal (PPR Nepal) regarding the torture inflicted on a 13-year-old girl and her mother by Nepal police officers at the Area Police Office, Anarmani Jhapa district, the eastern region of Nepal. The police tortured the two […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Police, soldiers still getting away with murder

Despite the political and social changes in Burma (Myanmar) of the last two years, police and soldiers continue to enjoy impunity for the murder and torture of civilians. Despite the constant efforts of the families of victims to obtain justice, the military and police institutions are resistant to efforts to have perpetrators in their ranks […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Court finds torture victim was killed, but no action taken

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the updated information that courts and police did not take any action even though they found that U Than Htun’s death, which occurred while detained in police custody in Burma, was not natural. In the post mortem inquiry, the lower courts decided that the death […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Police tortured and arrested two villagers without any warrant

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the police in Pegu Region, central Burma (Myanmar) tortured and arrested two villagers without any warrant. According to the information, the two men were detained for 17 days illegally in Nattalin Township. After that the township court imposed a restriction order of six […]

PAKISTAN: The AHRC salutes a 16 year old boy who sacrificed life to save 2000 students

The AHRC also pays tribute to a police officer SSP Choudhry Aslam who was killed in a suicide attack by Taliban A 16 year old boy has saved the lives of 2000 fellow students and school staff by sacrificing himself by stopping a suicide bomber who came to blow the school and kill all the […]

THAILAND: The Failure of Justice for Somchai Neelaphaijit

In late December, just days after the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) claimed that the file for the case of the disappearance of Somchai Neelaphaijit had been lost, Niran Adulayasak, Director of the DSI Special Criminal Case Office 1 announced in a news report on Thai PBS that the file had been found (see AHRC-STM-242-2013 for analysis […]

BANGLADESH: Authoritarian obstinacy wins, democracy loses

The Bangladesh Government and Election Commission have jointly staged their tragicomic ‘general election’ on January 5, 2014. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reflected pre-election realities and portended election day and post-election horrors in itslast statement. January 5 fulfilled its promise of violence, rigging, and farce; now it remains to be seen how low Bangladesh […]

AHRC TV – Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup, Episode 12

The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased to announce the release of the 12th episode of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup. We start this episode with a special AHRC report on the sham Bangladesh national elections which were boycotted by the main opposition party. The elections were marred by violence and the lack of legitimacy […]

INDIA: Innocent children forced to live in prison with convicts

Statement | India | 07-01-2014

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the National NGO Child Rights Coalition and local journalists about children housed in prison in Kokrajhar, Assam. The AHRC is concerned, as such an arrangement is denying children their basic rights. The children are being housed in prison not for any delinquency on their part […]

INDIA: Absence of compassion & justice must not be the norm on Punjab

Statement | India | 06-01-2014

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Punjab concerning the protest by fasting held by Mr. Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, who ended his fast after 43 days, on 29 December 2013. Khalsa had commenced his protest at the Amb Singh Gurdwara on 14 November to secure the release of all Sikh prisoners that […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Judge convicts two villagers accused of theft, knowing police tortured them

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a judge in Burma (Myanmar) who convicted two villagers for having stolen a box of gold jewelry, even though he knew police tortured them. According to the information received, police in Pakokku tortured 67-year-old U Kyaw Nyunt and a companion in 2012 to […]

BANGLADESH: Fake election will cause further bloodshed

Bangladesh’s incumbent regime is forcing the nation to witness a fake ‘general election’, scheduled tomorrow, 5 January 2014. All the opposition parties, except the allies of the ruling regime, have boycotted this election. The government is accused of extreme politicisation of the country’s civil administration, along with the police, paramilitary agencies, and all key institutions, […]

PAKISTAN: The families of 720 Christian and Hindu sanitary workers are displaced with the connivance of the police and Rangers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a century old settlement of sanitary workers from the Christian and Hindu communities were forced to vacate after the rape, abduction and attacks on the houses by drug peddlers with the connivance of police and Pakistan Rangers. The community known as ‘Slaughter House […]

INDONESIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Indonesia interferes in the investigation in the death of a West Papuan activist

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the death of Danny Kogoya, regional commander of the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM), in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea. The cause of death was reported to be liver failure due to the presence of unusual chemical substances in his body. A […]

INDIA: Middlemen chop the hands of two bonded labourers in Odisha

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information from  local media KBK Samachar and CGNET Swara regarding two bonded labourers in Kalahandi district of Odisha who have had their hands chopped by middlemen. The AHRC has learnt that the middlemen illegally confined the labourers for almost a week before the incident. […]

INDIA: Two children executed and one critically injured in Assam

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from North East Dialogue Forum, a coalition of human rights organisations, and North East Research & Social Work Networking, a civil society organisation based in Kokrajhar, Assam, regarding the extrajudicial execution of two school children and the injuring of another by a joint team […]

PAKISTAN: A lawyer working for missing persons and a student were abducted and there are reports about military operations in two districts of Balochistan

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a lawyer who was contesting cases of missing persons in the Balochistan High Court and a Baloch child were abducted by security forces and people in pain clothed. There are reports from different websites that the persons in military uniforms and plain clothes […]