Indigenous people

INDIA: Sacrificing tribal people at the altar of development

Statement | India | 20-03-2015

Development means different things to different people; for tribal people, however, it means just one thing: getting displaced. Those designated as scheduled tribes under the Indian Constitution have suffered the curse for way too long to think otherwise. They constitute just eight percent of country’s population but almost 50 percent of the total number of […]

INDONESIA: West Papua 2014 Year in Review

A Statement from the Australia West Papua Association (Sydney) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission This report details incidents of human rights abuses and events that occurred in West Papua during 2014. It is by no means exhaustive. In the report AWPA uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the […]

INDONESIA: Exploitation of mineral resources in Papua

A Statement from the Executive Director of the LP3BH forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission   In the middle of the 1930s, a group of experts, Dr Jean Jaques Dozy, Dr A.H. Colijn and Ir F. Wissel who were employees of the Dutch company called NNGPM, went on an expedition to climb  the Cartensz […]

INDIA: Government discriminating against tribals affected by cyclone Hudhud

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information about systemic discrimination against tribals and other marginalised communities affected by cyclone Hudhud. The discrimination, also witnessed in relief work in the wake of other recent disasters in India, includes tribals not being disbursed relief material earmarked for them, and the losses suffered not being […]

INDIA: Denial won’t wish away “Indian” racism against North Easterners

Article | India | 16-10-2014

by Avinash Pandey They did not speak Kannada, the language of the state they live in. They, therefore, were “legitimate” targets of violence in a city that has benefitted the most from India’s shift from Nehruvian Socialism to free market economy. The fact that they contribute to the city, and the province’s income, meant nothing. […]

INDIA: 11 villagers jump in Narmada Canal after 22 year fight over land rights.

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from the Narmada Asargrast Sangharsh Samiti that 11 villagers jumped into the Narmada main canal in Boreli while 3 of them were arrested just before attempting that. The villagers were protesting the lack of compensation for families 25 years after being evicted from their village, […]

INDIA: Halt demolition of Dalit and Tribal Hamlets in Chhipiya and Khairaha Nala

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from the Samaj Chetna Manch Dabhaura about the demolition drive against Dalit and tribal settlements in Chhipiya and Khaiaha Nala, In Java block of Rewa District, Madhya Pradesh. The AHRC has been informed that the administration has threatened them with eviction against its own repeated […]

INDONESIA: Police initiate investigation against prominent Papuan human rights lawyer

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 […]

INDONESIA: French journalists and indigenous leader at risk of prosecution in Papua

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 risks of persecution by the authorities of Indonesia against a French journalist and Papuan indigenous leader in Papua. For more information, please visit: http://humanrightspapua.org/  Thank you.  […]

NEPAL: Drunken police demand bribe and shoot Tamang dead

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Forum for Protection of People’s Rights Nepal (PPR Nepal) that police officers from the Vacchek Police Station, Gorkha District, under the command of ASI Govinda Acharya, threatened villagers from Simjung Village Development Committee and demanded a bribe, failing to secure which the […]

PHILIPPINES: Indigenous community deprived of food by the military

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern. A community of Aeta, a northern indigenous tribe, is being oppressed by military and paramilitary forces, depriving them of food. They are prohibited from hunting wild birds and animals. Food bought in the market is confiscated. CASE DETAILS: (Based on the documentation by the […]

NEPAL: Police torture a Tamang family in Dhading district

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 police having tortured a Tamang family living in Jivanpur Village Development Committee (VDC)-6, Dhading district. The police took two children, Ruben and Prabesh, in custody on 7 February 2014 and tortured […]

NEPAL: Police brutality results in Dolpo deaths in Dolpa district

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a brutal police crackdown on 3rd June 2014 in Dho village, located in the upper regions of Nepal’s Dolpa district, which has left 2 persons dead and more than 50 critically injured. Most victims belong to Dho and the neighboring Tsarka villages, where […]

INDIA: Two more sanitation workers die cleaning sewer

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt about the death of two sanitation workers in Hyderabad. They have died while cleaning a gutter, a practice outlawed by the Supreme Court of India. These deaths follow others – one sanitation worker in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and three in Gujarat – that have taken […]

INDIA : An open letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following open letter from Irom Sharmila Chanu. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ——- AHRC-FOL-005-2014 May 29, 2014 An Open Letter from Irom Sharmila Chanu forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji,  South Block, […]

PHILIPPINES: Solidarity for the Manobo people’s struggle for the protection of land rights, self-determination, and the environment

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Karapatan Alliance for Advancement for People’s Rights and the Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas regarding the two decade long struggle by the Manobo people who are facing worse attacks against their right to […]

INDIA: Four dalit girls raped in Haryana, state and privileged communities try to silence the victims

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning the kidnapping and rape of four dalit girls in the north Indian state of Haryana. The crime was committed to force dalits from exercising their legitimate right to equal treatment with dignity, and the local village headman is alleged to be one of […]

PHILIPPINES: An indigenous activist described as ‘target persons’ in a leaked military document was killed

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that an indigenous human rights advocate has been killed. In October 2012, his name was found among those of the 28 individuals described allegedly by military in a leaked document as ‘target persons’. CASE DETAILS: (Based on the documentation by Alliance for the […]

PHILIPPINES: Three indigenous miners were found buried in a shallow grave

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that after being missing for several days, three people were found buried in a shallow grave near their hut. The three victims were last seen by their family on 2 March. The continuing presence of the military has heightened the threats and […]

PAKISTAN: Government must hold judicial inquiry in the case of burning alive of two nationalist leaders

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two nationalists from Sindh province, Mr. Maqsood Quereshi and Mr. Salman Wadho, were shot and injured from close range and then burnt alive. Their charred bodies were found in the car when they were going to organize a freedom march rally in Karachi […]