Judicial system

Twenty years ago, when the Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) Urgent Appeals Programme started, we embarked on a new venture to demonstrate the potential of the Urgent Appeals in creating a culture that respects the sufferings of the victims, and to create a counter culture of concern and protest. It is time now to assess […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where a teenage student, Tania Khaskheli, was murdered for turning down a marriage proposal from an influential feudal lord in Sindh province’s Sehwan city. The Sehwan police only filed murder charges after strong civil society protest. While two persons have since been arrested, the feudal lord is still […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the attacks against the right to freedom of expression, opinion and peaceful assembly that have occurred frequently over the past year in Indonesia. These have occurred despite constitutional and legal guarantees to protect such rights: Article 28 of the Indonesian Constitution states, “Every person shall have the right […]

An article from Voice of Baloch Missing Persons forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission By Naser Ullah Baloch Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) is a non-political organization. It initiated campaigning to recover Enforced Disappeared Persons in Balochistan. As an organization, VBMP set its parameters to work within the State’s constitutional limits. Everything is […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from the Youth Forum for the Protection of Human Rights (YFPHR), Manipur. It concerns the death of a 22-year-old man from Manipur in Noida. Reported missing by his friends, they were late informed that he had passed away and his body was cremated by the […]

An oped from the Kathmandu Post forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission A country cannot survive in the absence of honesty and integrity. Additionally, there is a need for unity, compassion and eagerness for development among the people. Similarly, the government must observe the rule of law for the regulation of good governance. Nepal has had […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where many Rohingya are suffering horrific injuries and loss of limbs by landmines along the Burma-Bangladesh border in their attempt to flee the violence. After the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) attacked several police posts on August 25, the Burmese government carried out a brutal counter-insurgency clampdown. […]

A Statement from Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Darker and more dangerous: High Commissioner updates the Human Rights Council on human rights issues in 40 countries Human Rights Council 36th session Opening Statement by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High […]

06 September 2017 Mr. Krishna Bahadur Mahara Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: 977-1- 4200182/183/184/185 Toll Free No: 1660-01-00186 Fax: 977-1- 4200061/056/160 Email: info@mofa.gov.np Dear Mr. Mahara, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you that we are aware that your office […]

ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ අධිකරණ පද්ධතියේ ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැන් මතුවී තිබෙන විවාදය මේ පිළිබඳව පැවතී ඇති සාකච්චා වල වැදගත් අවධියක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. රන්ජන් රාමනායක මහතා හා ලංකාවේ නීතිඥ සංගමය අතර ඇතිවූ විවාදයක් සේ මෙය පටන් ගැනුනත් මේ වන විට එය පළල් ක්ෂේත්රකයක් කරා පළල් වී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳ මහජන අවධානයද ඉතා බලවත් ලෙසින් ඉස්මතු වී ඇත. සමස්ථ […]

Perhaps for the first time in the contemporary history of Sri Lanka, an important debate is now taking place on the need for judicial reforms. This debate has come about as a result of a statement made by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka with regard to a public statement made by Deputy Minister Ranjan […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where fighting has broken out once again in the state of Rakhine. Clashes between Burmese security forces and Rohingya militants have led to some 89 people killed, including 12 security force personnel. This is the worst violence to hit the area since October 2016, when a military crackdown […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Advocacy Forum (AF), Amnesty International, Accountability Watch Centre, Conflict Victims’ Common Platform (CVCP), Committee for Social Justice, INSEC, Inhured International, Peoples’ Voice, Voices of Women Media, NEFAD, DFHRI, HURFON and OHR, on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances The Commission of Investigation […]

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where there is much protest and outrage against the jailing of three democracy activists for their role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Hong Kong’s High Court sentenced Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow to six-eight months imprisonment for the non-violent protest related crime of unlawful assembly […]

A Press Release issued by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has threatened contempt of Court action being taken against a deputy minister who has made some serious criticisms against the Courts and the legal profession. While it is not our intention to defend the deputy minister, we are perturbed by such threats against anyone […]

Blogger Ahmed Waqas Goraya, who disappeared earlier this year along with four other social media activists, has recently revealed the names of his abductors. Mr. Goraya posted on his Facebook page that Colonel Khalid of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, and a civilian deputy director, Mr. Irtiza, tortured him while in custody. Having remained […]

This week Just Asia begins with Thailand, where student activist Pai Dao Din has been sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment for sharing a BBC biography of King Vajiralongkorn. Despite more than 2,000 people sharing the controversial BBC article on Facebook and millions reading it, Jatuphat was the only one arrested for lèse majesté. A […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Indonesian Authorities to ensure that cases of human rights violations that occurred in Papua must be investigated properly, under fair trial principles and the Rule of Law. In the last two months, the AHRC has documented and reported some three cases of serious human rights violations, as […]

Khaosod reporter Pravit Rojanaphruk charged with sedition and computer-related crime On 8 August 2017, Mr Pravit Rojanaphruk, senior reporter at Khaosod English, reported to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) to hear his charges in two separate cases. First, Pravit is accused of sedition offence under Section 116 of the Thai Criminal Code and computer-related […]

Divya Bharathi, a filmmaker recently released her debut film ‘Kakkoos’, a documentary on the plight of manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state. In the past one month, there have been two reports of deaths of workers engaged in manual scavenging, both from New Delhi, India’s capital city. Seven manual scavengers died due to the inhalation […]