Institutional reform

Nida Paras Societies and cultures are man-made. Cultures play a vital role in national identities and their development. Rich cultures treat men and women More equally than ours with positive impact on the nation. Other cultures are terrible and full of fear with negative impact on the nation. In patriarchal societies, bad cultures are very […]

Javeria Younes Words fail to express the grief when the victim of a heinous crime is a child who has been a victim of parental greed. Children, who are the future of a nation, form the vulnerable faction of society; children are most prone to being beaten, sexually exploited, forced into bonded labor, and murdered […]

The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has seen curfew for the last 41 days. Sixty-six persons have been killed, as a result of the “actions” of government forces. Most of the channels of communication remain blocked. It is reported that the authorities have gagged the media. There are concerns that even essential supplies are […]

This week Just Asia begins with Thailand, where 25-year-old Jatupat Boonyapatraksa is continuing his hunger strike at Phu Khiao District Prison, Chaiyaphum province to protest against the country’s broken justice system. Jatupat was arrested on August 6 for distributing anti constitution flyers. The Resistant Citizen group have invited ordinary Thai people to write post cards […]

On 7 August 2016, Thailand held a referendum to decide upon the country’s new constitution, as drafted by the military. Preliminary results indicate that 62 percent voted in favour of the constitution, while a majority also agreed that a military nominated Senate should be allowed to select the Prime Minister together with the House of […]

From 11-14 August 2016, 17 explosions took place in seven provinces in Southern Thailand causing a number of deaths and property damages. On 13 August 2016, the Thai authorities responded. They invoked Section 44 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (Interim), B.E. 2557 (2014). It allows them to hold several suspects in custody, […]

“Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees, depriving the poor of justice, robbing the weakest of my people of their rights.” (Isaiah 10:1) Inspired by the teachings of the Catholic Church pastoral exhortation to build a society more human, more worthy of the human person, the Task Force Detainees of […]

Balochistan Province continues to suffer the wrath of law enforcement agencies; even by official figures, corpses found are threatening to breach the 1,000 mark in recent years. The real numbers are greater, with violent death scarring the countryside and blotting humanity. According to official reports, nearly a thousand bullet-ridden corpses have been recovered from various […]

The Kerala State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) Chairman, Justice K. Narayana Kurup, recently spoke about the widespread use of abusive language by the Kerala Police, as reported by a local newspaper. He referred to this as the “mother tongue” of the institution, and cautioned that bad luck would befall cops that even abuse people likely […]

National Minorities Day is annually commemorated on August 11, in remembrance of the 1947 landmark speech of Pakistan’s founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, envisaging that citizens of all faiths will be treated equally in the new nation: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your […]

This week Just Asia begins with the senseless and brutal attack on lawyers in Quetta, Balochistan on August 8. The blast killed 97 persons, including 63 lawyers, and more than 120 persons including women and children were injured. The attack occurred amidst a gathering to pay respects to the assassinated President of the Bar Association. […]

Nepal’s transitional justice bodies closed registration of complaints on 10 August 2016, with over 60,000 cases registered during the last four months. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) now have six months to establish truth, investigate into violations of human rights, and make recommendations for […]

A wave of anxiety has gripped the most populated province of Punjab, following the kidnapping of more than 700 children within this past year.. Several areas in Punjab particularly Lahore, the capital city, has witnessed a sudden surge in child kidnappings. There have been reports of the dead bodies of missing children surfacing in deserted […]

Avinash Pandey Narendra Modi’s high-octane poll campaign in 2014 was littered with the promise of development, with a capital D. Buying into his promise, big business rooted for him, in India and abroad. And now, after a little more than 2 years of premiership, the developments under his watch have rattled the same gung-ho corporate […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) joins everyone who is shocked and dismayed by the senseless and brutal attack on civilians in Quetta, Balochistan on Aug 8, 2016. According to the leaders of the Balochistan Bar Association, the attack has killed 97 persons which includes 63 lawyers, and two journalists, the photographer of Dawn and […]

A Statement from journalists, activists and academics in India, available on www.kafila. org, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission This statement is being posted with the hundred-plus signatures received between 1 pm and 8 pm today. Please endorse in the comments section if you wish to do so. We, the undersigned journalists, activists and academics, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been actively following the case of disappearance of human rights defender Ehsan Arjumandi, a dual national of Norway and Iran, who has been missing since August 2009. For the past seven years, after he was picked up by the Pakistani security agencies, the whereabouts of Mr. Ehsan are […]

By Nasurullah Baloch, Chairman, Voice of Baloch Missing Persons In 2010, a Commission was founded by the Pakistan Government to probe the missing persons’ cases and trace those still missing and unaccounted for. On 16 July 2016, this Commission presented its report to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Then, the head of the body, (retired) […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely dismayed by President Joko Widodo’s decision to continue the execution of death row inmates. Prior to the July 29 executions, the AHRC issued an open letter urging the President to stop the third execution, to no avail. President Widodo’s administration has so far executed 19 death row inmates, most […]

Avinash Pandey One doesn’t often see a respected international media house asking a democratic republic’s prime minister to break his silence in an editorial. Even more rare is it to see this “silence” tagged with the adjective “shameful”. The New York Times did exactly that today, 8 August 2016. The editorial forewarns Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of […]