Institutional reform

A Statement from The Committee for the Defense of Bhim Army (CDBA) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Committee for the Defense of Bhim Army (CDBA) expresses it shock at the act of the Uttar Pradesh government and the Saharanpur district administration in slapping charges under the National Security Act on Bhim Army founder President […]

An article published in the Colombo Page on 8th November 2017, titled “Sri Lanka responds to media report on allegations of torture by government, assures investigations into the claims” forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Nov 08, Colombo: Sri Lanka, today responding to an Associated Press report which alleged that dozens of Tamil men were raped […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the following information from the Terai Human Rights Defenders’ Alliance (THRDA). On 29 October 2017, a 17-year-old Muslim girl, a resident of the Parsauni Rural Municipality-4, Sakhuwa of the Parsa District, had been gang raped. Mukhtar Ansari, 22, son of Ward Chairperson, Jumadin Ansari, and […]

The weekly Times column, Focus on Rights, titled ‘Tensions unravellingacross the reform road-map’ by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, in the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, on 05 November 2017, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena There appears to be a brisk uptick in the tone of visiting European lawmakers to Sri Lanka this week as compared […]

by Raksha Ram Harijan The routine practice of torture in Nepal is nothing new; decades of work by human rights organizations working on torture and impunity can provide solid examples of the Nepal Police and Nepal Army practicing torture during their work. Despite the government’s ratification of the Convention against Torture (CAT) on 14 May […]

Over the past decade, Human Rights Watch has recorded the occurrence of over 1,000 killings of civilians at the hands of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, in which a majority of victims were unarmed. Despite these numbers, arrests are rare in such instances of arbitrary use of force – which often result in the death of the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the three years Indonesia has been under President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s administration, October 2014 – October 2017, there remains two years in the presidential term (2014-2019). Indonesia has ratified several key international human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you about an incident on 13 July 2017. The pepper farmers organized a Protest March from Pallebedda to Palmadulla in the Ratnapura District, marching towards Embilipitya-Ratnapura-Colombo Road. They walked peacefully, respecting the Law and protecting the lives and properties of the public. Unexpectedly, […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you about an incident on 10 October 2017. Police used excessive force against protesters in a peaceful Public Protest at Kollupitiya Junction in Great Colombo Area. The protest was organized by the ‘Peoples Wall Against the Private Medical College SAITM.” Thousands of people, […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where a man was shot dead Monday by the Special Task Force of the police while travelling with his friends in a car. The police later claimed that they only began firing after the vehicle fired on them first, but there is no evidence to support this […]

A Sinhala translation of a Statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission, published by Lankanewsweb.net මාස 10ට ජීවිත 10 ක්! පහත දැක්වෙන වගුවෙන් දැක්වෙන්නේ 2017 ඔක්තෝබර් මාසය වන විට ගතවූ මාස 10කට ආසන්න කාලයක් මුළුල්ලේ අධිකරණයෙන් පිටත සිදුකළ ඝාතන 09 ක් සහ ඝාතන උත්සාහයන් 01 ක් පිළිබඳව ය. එම ඝාතන 09 සිදුවී තිබෙන්නේ පොලිස් ස්ථාන […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that around 500 residents in Dharamsal village, a small village on the Line of Control (dividing the State of Jammu Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian administered parts) have been living in equivocal situation since August 13, 2017. The Indian Army is unremittingly targeting […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court ruled that sex with a wife younger than 18 is rape. This is a much needed legal development for child rights, and will help in the fight to end child marriage in the country. Sadly, the fight against marital rape for adult women continues. […]

The table given below sets down 09 extrajudicial killings, 01 attempted killing – 09 of which are at the hands of the police at various police stations and the other, in a prison. These 10 incidents are the ones reported to the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong during this year. However, at […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding Pitawalagedara Chandrarathna (47), resident of Bakamuna Police Division. Chandrarathna was arrested on 4 May 2017 charged with participation in a murder. After being detained for 14 days, he was found dead on 18 September 2017–murdered inside the Polonnaruwa Remand Prison.   Prison Authorities said that they […]

On 8 October 2017, the Kerala State Public Service Commission (PSC) announced the list of candidates who have been recommended by the PSC to be appointed as priests in Hindu temples in the state. Out of the 62 persons named in the list 36 are non-Brahmins. Out of this, 6 persons are from the Dalit […]

An article from The Wire by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is home to many archaic provisions, provisions that hold India back and permit it to take refuge in the dusty annals of ancient law books. It is preposterous and embarrassing that Section 375, Exception 2, has been allowed to remain […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where a distressing case of caste discrimination saw a 14-year-old Dalit girl paraded in Belbari Municipality-2 of Morang district with shoes around her neck, soot smeared on her face, and the tag of ‘thief’ stuck on her body. She was also beaten with nettle greens, causing her body […]

Dr. Govinda KC, a senior orthopedic surgeon at Nepal’s Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), and professor at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), was compelled to start his 13th hunger strike on 5 October 2017, after the government failed to meet its agreements from the previous 12 hunger strikes. Dr. KC has been staging hunger strikes […]

ඉහතකී කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් සිදුකරණු ලබන කරුනු දැක්වීමකි. ඉහත සඳහන් කෙටුම්පතේ රීතීන්ට අනුව ඕනෑම අගතියටපත් පුද්ගලයෙකුට හෝ එම පුද්ගලයෙකු විසින් බලය පැවරූ තැනැත්තෙකුට පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු හෝ පොලිස් සේවය විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ නිල කටයුතු වලදී සිදුවු කිරaනියාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් පොදු පැමිණිලි පරීක්ෂේණ අංශය වෙත පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඒ ස`දහා සහන ඉල්ලා සිටිය හැකිය. මෙම අංශය පී සී අයි ඞී […]