International human rights mechanisms

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to strongly condemn the comments made by Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen who launched a scathing attack on a UN envoy who criticised the government’s record on human rights. At the end of his second mission as the Special Representative of the Secretary General on human […]

At the end of his second mission as the Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights in Cambodia (March 19-28, 2006), Professor Yash Ghai pointed to the stark fear present throughout Cambodia due to the one-man rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which prevents the growth of democracy and the possibility of human […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) unconstitutional and ordered it to be scrapped immediately. This has paved the way for the release of ousted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had […]

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Please send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia urging his intervention to commute the death sentence of three Sri Lankans; UP-34-2005: Death […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002. The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through its local partner MASUM in West Bengal that Mr. Gopen Sharma, a human rights activist was illegally detained, threatened and assaulted by the officers at the Block Development Office in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, West Bengal. Mr. Sharma was, at the time of the […]

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on the case of Manishbhai Motibhai Vasava (30), an adivasi who was murdered by an Indian […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shares the concerns expressed by the Secretary General of the United Nations in his statement on the human rights situation in Nepal. Time and again the AHRC has stressed that regional governments such as India, international governments and bodies such as European Union, national political parties and the King […]

The immense killing and insecurity tearing Nepal apart are no longer a secret. War-torn Nepalese are fleeing daily to save themselves from atrocities committed by the state security forces and Maoist militia. If no action is taken, Nepal will be plunged into the most horrific humanitarian catastrophe that Asia has perhaps ever seen. Thousands have […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Heeralu Mohottalalage Punchi Banda (39) was illegally arrested and tortured by the Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dhammika Bandara of Samanalaweva Police Post in Balangoda on 26 August 2004. Due to brutal torture, the victim still suffers from severe pain on his […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 30-year-old woman named Ms. Hidayat was allegedly killed by her husband, Mr. Momin Ali Mahar in Dal village, Lakhi Ghulam Shah Town, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan on 29 February 2004. The case was registered at the Chak Police Station. However, a human […]

Dear Friends, On the occasion of International Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released a statement entitled “Effective Remedies Are Ineffective in Asia: Governments Ignore U.N. Human Rights Conventions and Domestic Laws.” In the statement, AHRC emphasises that Human Rights Day this year must be an occasion to renew […]

One of the most important step towards finding international justice to grave human rights violations and grace crimes has been achieved through the establishment of International Criminal Court (ICC) on the 1 July 2002. NGOs played a key role in brining this court to a reality, lobbying many governments to support it. However, there are very few ratifications from the Asian region thus undermining universal representation in the Assembly of State Parties of ICC.

Time to ratify ICC Treaty SRI LANKA – Not yet a signatory to International Criminal Court Treaty ——————————————————————– The treaty on the International Criminal Court (ICC) received the required number of ratifications (60) on 11 April at the 9th Session of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC), effectively putting into force the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal received from Amnesty International regarding the draft decision by some governments to remove UN Special Procedure mandate holders in the UN Human Rights Council. Please immediately send a letter to your foreign minister to oppose the draft. For further queries, please contact […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding an appeal issued by the Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI), the national partner of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC). Asia remains significantly under represented at the ICC with only 5 States Parties: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and […]

Dear friends,   The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from the NGO’s Collaborative Action to Put the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in its Place (NHRCK Watch) to the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC). For more information, please contact Ms. Myoungsook, coordinator of the NHRCK […]