Inhuman & degrading treatment

AHRC TV: Mass destruction in Burma and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 149

Article | Asia | 25-11-2016

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where satellite evidence shows mass destruction in Rakhine state, home to the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority. The latest images from Human Rights Watch indicate that some 820 structures were burnt in five villages between November 10-18. The rights watchdog is calling for an urgent UN investigation into the […]

BANGLADESH: Bushra case encapsulates this injustice system

The Police, Prosecution, Judiciary, and Jails are designed to protect perpetrators of crime that are associated with the powerful elites in the country. This is how the system was devised over 200 years ago, and all who are associated with the institutions have only further twisted this system against the common people since. The lifespan […]

INDIA: Demonetisation last nail in the coffin of already beleaguered peasantry

Article | India | 21-11-2016

By Avinash Pandey Even if one puts the cacophonous debate on the merits and demerits of demonetisation of Rupees 500 and 1000 currency notes aside, one thing is clear: it has hit hard the farmers all set to sow Rabi crops. Almost entirely dependent upon cash transactions for everything, starting from buying seeds and fertilisers, […]

PHILIPPINES: Network Against Drug War Killings Urges Probe, Fears Gov’t Cover-Up

A Press Release from Network Against Killings in the Philippines (NAKPhilippines) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). NAKPhilippines Says Duterte Has Brought Human Rights Crisis to New, More Dangerous Level (MANILA, Nov. 22, 2016) – The Philippine government should hold accountable members of law enforcement agencies implicated in the extrajudicial killings of civilians […]

PAKISTAN: Compensation programs required to help victims of violence

Amir Murtaza Violence has always been an integral part of human history, in all parts of the world. It is roughly estimated that each year more than a million people lose their lives, and many more suffer non-fatal injuries, as a result of self-inflicted, interpersonal or collective violence. The World Health Organization defines violence as, […]

PHILIPPINES: Criminalization of Human Rights Defenders in the Philippines continues!

A Statement from the International Peace Observers Network (IPON) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission. The International Peace Observers Network (IPON) expresses its deep concern about the precarious security situation and the continuing criminalization of human rights defenders (HRD) in the Philippines. Against this background, IPON welcomes the decision of the German Member of […]

PAKISTAN: Animated video on Custodial Torture-part 1

The Pakistan desk of Asian Human Rights Commission has this time comes out with animated video on custodial torture which is discussing the menace of torture in the country. This video covers the practice of torture and ill-treatment in three parts. Human rights can be rooted in a society only when the ethical and moral […]

PAKISTAN: Over 100 workers at ship-breaking yard incinerated without a trace

Javeria Younus In one of the worst incidents that has occurred at plot number 54 Gadani ship-breaking yard, in Balochistan, 26 people have lost their lives and more than 100 are reported to missing and feared dead. It is likely those missing had their bodies burned to ashes and washed away by the water used […]

AHRC TV: Hong Kong lawyers march in black and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 147

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where more than 2000 lawyers marched silently in black on Tuesday, protesting against Beijing’s interpretation of the Basic Law, to prevent two elected activists from taking up their seats in parliament. Prominent advertisements in Tuesday morning papers read ‘Beijing destroys rule of law—Hong Kong world city no […]

PAKISTAN: Military men demolish business centre after trader refuses to supply arms to the Taliban

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that in retaliation to locals refusing to supply arms to the international terrorist organisations Taliban and Al-Qaida, Army officers have blown up a two-storey business centre, which had more than 150 shops and four commercial halls. This incident has occurred in Wana City, the headquarters of […]

NEPAL: Man suffering continuous bleeding from his anus after police torture

Dear Friends, The Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that 4 police officers attached with Maruwahi Police Post Mahottari District brutally tortured Mr. Ganga Mahato (45), resident of Ward number 4, Bathanaha Village Development Committee (VDC) Mahottari District. Victim Ganga Mahato is in serious condition. He is […]

PAKISTAN: Will the judiciary bring back to life the two brothers who were declared innocent, following their execution?

Sadly, in an atrocious system where innocents spend decades behind bars awaiting justice to be served on them, instead death penalties are handed down as state sanctioned murder. The lack of justice sector reforms coupled with near-collapsed institutions of criminal justice has yet again caused a grotesque miscarriage of justice. In a shocking revelation on year after […]

INDONESIA: Investigation into the Paniai case in Papua goes nowhere

Ever since the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) established the Ad Hoc investigation team for the Paniai case, under the decision 1 March 2016 letter of the Chair of the Komnas HAM (Number 009 / Komnas HAM / III / 2016), there is no progress in this case (see case details at AHRC-UAC-089-2015 and a […]

AHRC TV: Thai authorities claim HK activist threat to national security and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 143

Just Asia begins this week the detention of Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong at Bangkok airport, for being a threat to Thailand’s national security. Invited to give a talk at Chulalongkorn University, Joshua was barred from entering the country by immigration officials. According to the Thai Deputy Police Commissioner, Joshua’s detention was purely a […]

INDIA: Armed with 50 grams of food in viscera, authorities deny starvation death

Statement | India | 13-10-2016

Srikant Dixit, a 40-year-old farmer did not die of hunger, claim authorities in Uttar Pradesh. These authorities base their conclusion on the post-mortem report, which states that there was 50 grams of food in the man’s stomach. Yes, for authorities, finding 50 grams of food in the stomach of a man starving for 12 days […]

PAKISTAN: Truth-fearing government, not Almeida, real threat to national security

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the government of Pakistan for placing prominent journalist Mr. Cyril Almeida on the Exit Control List (ECL), labelling him as a threat to national security, and barring him from leaving the country. This was done in retaliation for reporting a meeting between the military and civilian government on […]

INDIA: Police kill 4 citizens protesting land acquisition on CM’s watch

Statement | India | 03-10-2016

The Police firing, killing 4 citizens, including a minor, in Dadikala Village of Barkagaon Block in Hazaribagh District of Jharkhand, has not come out of the blue. The state authorities were well aware of the popular anger against forced acquisition of villagers’ lands for a coal mine project of the NTPC Limited (NTPC), a public […]

THAILAND: National Human Rights Commission must protect torture victims

On 17 August 2016, the Office of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) officially informed Ms. Pornpen Khongkachonkiet that the NHRC could not investigate the facts revealed in a torture report that she and two other human rights defenders had submitted to the NHRC. The Commission claimed that the report failed to provide […]

INDONESIA: Government must earnestly address human rights violation in Papua

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned about six Pacific countries raising the subject of human rights violations in Papua in the General Debate of the Assembly’s 71st Session, on 26 September 2016. The video can be accessed here. The six Pacific countries are Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Tonga. The […]

PAKISTAN: Punjab police save teenage Christian from lynching

Though incidents of accusation of blasphemy are on the rise, it is heartening to note that the police attitude has improved remarkably in handling such cases. Thanks to the incessant and relentless lobbying and advocacy by civil society and rights organizations, the tide has begun to turn in favor of marginalized religious minorities, especially in […]