Institutional reform

We reproduce below the content of the letter written to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice by the AHRC. 13th September 2016 Objection to the designation of Mr. Yasantha Kodagoda, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) as the Chairperson of the Government’s Steering Committee on ‘Torture Prevention and the Law’ of the National Human Rights Action […]

The latest statistics put out by the National Crime Record Bureau gives the Haryana state of India a dubious distinction. It stands second in the number of complaints lodged with the police, second only to Uttar Pradesh. That the population, in general, views police as the last resort in cases of injustice, puts the statistics […]

By Basil Fernando For a week, the media reported that a boy who was last seen at a police station had ‘disappeared’. Everyone knows that this word is a euphemism for murder. Somehow, it is less disturbing to talk about a disappearance. No police dogs have been sent to look for the boy or at […]

Just Asia begins this week with Sri Lanka; on the eve of the Sri Lanka Police celebrating 150 years of service, a TV programme was held discussing Sri Lanka’s policing service, its history and present status, and the country’s much needed criminal justice reforms. The discussion was attended by Mr Basil Fernando, Director of Policy […]

By Md. Ashrafuzzaman INTRODUCTION: There is an urgent and unavoidable need to protect people from torture. And, towards this end, there have been few notable legislative developments in Asia. However, despite the promulgation of select legislation in certain Asian jurisdictions, which now criminalize torture, the crime remains entrenched in the fabric of daily life. The […]

(4 September 2016) On 31 August 2016, at 13:30, four men suspected of crimes in Thailand’s Deep South were taken into custody (although they were usually called “invitees” and not “detainees” by the authorities). Three were subsequently released, though one, Mr. Manasae Zoroae, 26, continued to be held at Ranger Taskforce 43 inside the Ingkhayutthaborihan […]

On 2 September 2016, a team of police was seen in the vicinity of the home of the human rights defender Dr. Rubina Feroze Bhatti, and questioned her house maid of her whereabouts. The previous day, the NGO of the human rights defender, Taangh Wasaib Organization (TWO) was shut down by police and 8 of […]

The 7th September is one of the darkest days in the history of Pakistan when religion was firmly inducted to be the basis of the state affairs. This laid the foundation of unprecedented discrimination, abhorrence and violence against other religions, other sects or other interpretations of religion that did not conform the religious interpretations of […]

Avinash Pandey Unable to pay the ambulance drivers INR 1500, or around USD 22, a young mother was forced to sit out the night with her child’s dead body outside a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district. This happened less than two weeks after a nationwide outrage over the ordeal of a tribal man named Dana Majhi […]

यातना सबै प्रकारका मानव अधिकार उल्लंघनको आमा हो । गम्भिर मानव अधिकार उल्लंघनको विषयमा अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय क्षेत्राधिकार समेत लागु हुने र यातना विरुद्धको महासन्धिले जहा सुकै यातना भएको भए पनि यातना विरुद्धको महासन्धिको पक्षराष्ट्रले त्यसलाई रोक्नु पर्ने दायित्व समेत तोकेकोले पनि यातनाको विषय सबैको चासोको विषय हो । तर यति गम्भिर विषयमा यातनाका पीडितहरु, अधिकारकर्मीहरु, विज्ञहरु […]

Engaging daily with the misery manufactured by Asia’s dysfunctional justice institutions was bound to result in something truly creative some day. This creativity has sprung forth in the form of biting satire and humor. And, that day is the day after, none other than this Friday. It is the pleasure of the Asian Human Rights […]

On 7 September 2016, at 10:30 a.m., the verdict in the case of Karen people forcibly relocated from the Kaeng Krachan National Park will be read at the Central Administrative Court in Bangkok. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges all concerned persons to attend the court as observers, and calls on other interested persons […]

Please read Part I – Asian Charter on Human Rights – it’s significance and purpose The Asian Human Rights Charter – a People’s Charter, was the initiative of the Asian Human Rights Commission, a regional human rights organisation based in Hong Kong. The idea of drafting the Charter emerged as a result of certain discourses on human […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the assassination 12 years ago, of prominent human rights activist, Munir Said Thalib, has passed without any progress being made. Munir was poisoned to death on 7 September 2004 on board a Garuda Indonesian flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Recently, some movement occurred when the court […]

The dust has barely settled on the Quetta carnage and killing of lawyers that another attack has taken place against the Judiciary. On 2 September 2016, terror once again visited District Court Mardan, Peshawar, KPK Province. The modus operandi was similar: a suicide attacker lobbed a hand grenade before exploding himself at the main gate […]

On 17th March 1998, the Asian Human Rights Charter, or the People’s Charter, was launched in Gwangju City. The work for the Charter was the exclusive initiative of the Asian Human Rights Commission, supported by hundreds of organisations and a large number of individuals. All the supporting organisations were named in the back cover of […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where Ganga Maya Adhikari, an icon of justice, has resumed her hunger strike on August 11, calling for justice for her son Krishna Prasad. Krishna was brutally murdered by Maoists in 2004. Since 2013, Ganga Maya and her husband were on hunger strike. Instead of justice, 22 September […]

Commissioners from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) have been working to fulfil their mandate for some time now. But their work remains hobbled for a number of reasons. Most crucially, the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act that governs the transitional justice […]

The Migrant Working Group has provided legal representation for the Rohingya, who have become trafficking survivors and have successfully requested to become co-plaintiffs in the case filed by the public prosecutor of Pak Phanang, Nakhon Si Thammarat against Mr. Sunon or KoMit Saengthong, defendant no.1, Mr. Suriya Yodrak, defendant no.2 and Mr. Warachai Chadathong, defendant […]

Arsalan Barijo The smallest ethnic and religious community of Pakistan is fighting for the survival of its culture and religious identity, in the face of religious extremism, forced conversion, migration, and climate change. Are we going to allow this rich culture to vanish from the pluralistic land of Pakistan? The Kalash people live primarily in […]