Institutional reform

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been found guilty of corruption by the Supreme Court’s Joint Investigation Team. The team found the Sharif family wealth to be beyond their sources of income. The country’s political parties and Bar Associations are now demanding Sharif’s resignation. Moving to Burma, the […]

An article from The Mint forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The death of prisoner Manjula Shetye in Byculla jail last month reminds one of the 1983 Mulla committee report on prison reforms. More than three decades old, words from the report may not ring truer than now: “Do they continue to be citizens of the country […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a Hong Kong based Nepali investigative journalist and NepalKhabar Hong Kong Editor, Mr. JB Pun Magar, has been attacked and threatened for writing on issues relating to the Nepalese community residing in Hong Kong. Mr. Komal Gurung (Thapa), a Hong Kong based businessperson has been targeting JB […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where police brutality and violence continues. Three videos show how law enforcement officials regularly transcend their authority and abuse ordinary citizens, with a complete lack of accountability. In the most recently surfaced video, a group of police officers are baton charging unarmed women mill workers in Muzaffargarh, Punjab. […]

A Fact-finding report by MASUM forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) conducted a high level fact finding in Darjeeling and adjoining areas to assess the situation at Darjeeling hills after the agitation for separate statehood and the subsequent police atrocities upon the agitators. This report is only a primary […]

Law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh have announced on 3 July 2017, that at 11:30 pm they have ‘rescued’ Mr. Farhad Mazhar from a Dhaka bound passenger bus at Noapara in the south-western district Jessore, bordering India. The police later interrogated him during which he was allegedly ill-treated. Farhad was in police custody till 3:00 pm […]

An article from Baloch Insight forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission By Ahmar Mustikhan “My personal enmity is only with the ISI,” US citizen Afzal Bugti, 57, a successful businessman from Chicago, who went back to Pakistan, said. There were rumors that he had been abducted because of personal enmity when he vanished into […]

For the past several years, the Asian Human Rights Commission has been reporting on the widespread practice of abuse of power by the Nepal Police. The extent of abuse of power and politicization within the police today is such that even senior police officers are targeted. On 24 April 2017, a team of police officers […]

Referring to the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Mr. Tomin J. Thachankary, the former State Police Chief, Mr. Senkumar, has said that this officer is a butcher stationed at the state police headquarters. Allegations against Thachankary, one of the senior most officers in service in the state, is nothing new. The only difference this […]

The weekly Times column, Focus on Rights, titled ‘Dangers of Unseemly Ministerial Outbursts to Free Speech’ by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, in the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, on 02 July 2017, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Kishali Pinto Jayawardena However much they may genuflect to the concept of free speech, Sri Lanka’s politicians are quite unable […]

A letter by Lakshan Dias (Attorney at law) sent to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 29.06.2017 Mr. Amal Randeniya Secretary to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Mihindu Mawatha Colombo -12 Dear Mr. Randeniya Thank you for your emailed letter dated 25th June 2017. As a preliminary […]

A Study on the use of torture as a routine part of criminal investigations in developing countries; lessons from the situation in Sri Lanka Basil Fernando The Asian Human Rights Commission is happy to present its latest publication which is now available in print and as an e-book. The book is based on over 20 […]

This week Just Asia focuses on the situation of torture in Asia, in commemoration of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Beginning with Pakistan, the UN Committee Against Torture has condemned the widespread practice of torture in the country and called on the government to enact urgent reforms. The government however, is […]

The State Police Chief in the Indian state of Kerala, has openly said that “there are more criminals in the state police service in the IPS cadre than within the constabulary.” State Police Chief, (SPC) Mr. Senkumar, in a speech delivered in a public function held at the state capital today (30 June 2017) has made this […]

by Avinash Pandey ‘Why do armed women cut off a particular organ of Indian soldiers engaged in combating armed insurgencies across India, be it Punjab, Kashmir, Arunachal, Assam, Bengal or Jharkhand?’ asked senior opposition leader Azam Khan. The insinuation was unmistakable, and it had a basis: armed Maoists had indeed chopped off private parts of Central Reserve […]

The scenic Parachinar valley, capital of the federally administered Khurram Agency, has been under the grip of sectarian violence for many years, resulting in thousands of deaths. However, the Parachinar twin blasts on June 23 were the deadliest, unnerving citizens ahead of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. The […]

READ FULL REPORT – HERE ලංකාවට අවශ්‍ය අධිකරණමය සංශෝධන එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මණ්ඩලයේ විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන්ගේ හා නීතිඥයන්ගේ ස්වාධීනත්වය පිලිබඳ සුවිශේෂ වර්තකාරිය වන මොනිකා පිටෝ විසින් ඇය ලංකාවට පැමිණි දුත ගමනින් පසු සකස්කොට නිකුත් කොට ඇති නිල වාර්තාව.  මහ ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ සටහන 2016 අප්‍රේල් 29 සිට මැයි 7 වෙනි දින දක්වා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල කල දුත ගමනේදී සකස් කරනු ලැබූ විනිසුරුවරුන් හා නීතිඥයන්ගේ ස්වාධීන බව […]

With the collapse of the overall system of governance in Pakistan, the jail system followed suit and collapsed. As the last resort in the system of criminal justice, jails were meant to reform an individual who has gone astray and resorted to crime. Due to pervasive corruption and incompetence the prison system has been reduced […]

A Statement “Rapid Collapse of the Secular State “ translated by Yahapalanaya Lanka issued and forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission. SINHALA Version English Version Read HERE 2017 ජුනි 24 වෙනි දා‘ ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම‘ මගින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලද “ශ්‍රී ලංකාව/ ලෝකය: ලෞකික රාජ්‍යයේ සීග්‍ර කඩා වැටීම” නමැති මේ සමග අමුණා ඇති ලිපිය සිංහලට පරිවර්තනය කලේ ‘යහපාලන ලංකා‘ අනුග්‍රහයෙනි. එය ඔබට ප්‍රයෝජනවත් […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture The government of Pakistan has stated before the UN Committee on the Convention against Torture (CAT) that it does not intend to set-up legislation against torture and ill-treatment. On May 13, 2017 during the UN review, […]