Judicial system

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where two blasts occurred outside a court in Charsadda, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday. At least eight people were killed and 20 injured in the attack. Since the beginning of 2017, Pakistan has witnessed an unprecedented spike in violence, with 20 terrorist attacks claiming the lives of more than […]

This week Just Asia begins by speaking to Adem Carroll, the Burma Task Force director for New York and UN programs regarding the dire situation faced by the Rohingya in Burma. Carroll calls for an independent commission of inquiry into the military abuses against the Muslim minority group. He also says that citizens of ASEAN […]

17th February 2017 Mr Pradeep Jayatilake  Secretary  Judicial Service Commission  Hulftsdorp St,  Colombo 12,  Sri Lanka Dear Mr Jayatilake, Letter to the JSC by the Asian Human Rights Commission  Over five years of investigation into a baseless and malicious allegation against a District Judge, (now retired) Mr B. A. R Somasinghe I am writing to […]

A Statement from National Fact Finding Mission forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission In light of the apparent information blackout concerning the fire that devoured the House Technology Industries main building (HTI) inside the Cavite Export Processing Zone, various labor institutions and people’s organization initiated a National Fact Finding Mission to probe the extent […]

The sudden and inexplicable surge in violence against women this year has sent shivers down the collective spine of the country. Not that previous years had been any different in terms of violence against women. However, the year 2017 appears to be particularly brutal with more than a dozen honour killings occurring in the first […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has information regarding the last two years of President Joko Widodo’s administration. It appears that the government has not yet made any effort to resolve past human rights abuses. After President Widodo won the presidential election in 2014, victims and their families had great expectations of him. Instead of […]

It is unimaginable for any democratic, law-abiding society to outsource its key function of justice. And yet, the Government of Pakistan first outsourced the dispensation of justice to the military, and now to the Panchayat and Jirga, which are known for aiding and abetting grave human rights abuses, and are the primary cause of rising […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with the UN’s new report detailing mass gang rape, killings and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya by the Burmese military. A team of UN investigators interviewed over 200 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who told how their children, including a newborn, were trampled or cut to death. […]

घनश्याम चम्लागाई तथा चेतनाथ चौलागाईं  १) विषय प्रवेश नेपालमा तत्कालीन नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी माओवादीले २०५२ सालमा जनयुद्धको घोषण गरे पश्चात् सरकार र युद्धरत दुबै पक्षबाट शसस्त्र द्वन्दमा गैर न्यायिक हत्या, बेपत्ता, सार्वजनिक, भौतिक संरचनाहरु ध्वस्त पार्नेलगायतका गम्भीर मानवअधिकार उलङ्घन र मानवता विरुद्धको अपराधहरु भएका छन् । २०६३ मंसिर ५ मा तत्कालीन नेपाल सरकार र नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you about a paper entitled “Kidnapping and Forced Disappearances of Activists in 1997-1998: Who was Responsible?” This paper shows the stagnation of the investigative process. In 2006 the National Commission on Human Right (Komnas HAM) investigated the case and issued a recommendation report. It concerned allegations of […]

The film by Prasanna Vithanage titled “Usaviya Nihandai” (“Silence in the Courts”), is being shown not in cinema halls only, but also at popular gatherings. I had the privilege of attending four such gatherings in different parts of the country, in Panadura, Negombo and two showings in different parts of Kandy. In each instance, about 30-40 […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with Thailand, where the Khon Kaen Provincial Court on Monday, during an in-camera hearing, granted permission for police to extend the detention of Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattaraksa. A law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM), Jatuphat was arrested on lese majeste charges for sharing a […]

The mandate for The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) is fast approaching their end. With February 9 as a deadline to complete work, only a week left in hand, bringing confusion not only to Commission members, but also conflict victims. The Commissions were established two […]

A Press ReleasefromHuman Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (19 January 2017) In pursuance to the rescue of 15 migrant workers from Cambodia, employed in the fisheries sector by the Thai authorities, on 21 January 2016,who have undergone trafficking screening process and a case against the perpetrators has […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, which is seeing human rights at its lowest point since 1997, said an Amnesty International report. According to the report, authorities have “failed on many fronts” to protect the city’s rights and freedoms. Amnesty urged the Hong Kong government and civil servants to “make defending […]

by Avinash Pandey Rohith Vemula’s suicide a year ago shook the country. The circumstances of his death left no doubt that it was an institutional murder committed through continuous harassment, and not a simple suicide. It exposed how the culture of caste discrimination was alive and kicking in Indian campuses despite being outlawed by the […]

By Jalila Haider Karmal It seems like yesterday when my senior lawyers, colleagues, and mentors were smiling, giggling, taunting, and guiding; it was business as usual at the District Courts in Balochistan. This business as usual was all taken away from me suddenly. The morning of 8 August 2016 brought dramatic changes to my life; […]

शैलेन्द्र प्रसाद हरिजन (अम्बेडकर) न्यायपरिषद्का अध्यक्ष तथा सम्माननीय प्रधान न्यायधीश शुशिला कार्कीज्यूले मंसिर ३ गतेका दिन सप्तरीको राजविराजमा पत्रकारहरुसँग कुरा गर्दै “बुहारीलाई घुम्टोमा राख्ने अनी समावेशी भएन भन्ने ? जहाँपायो त्यहीँ समानुपातिक समावेशी सिद्धान्त लागू गर्दा समस्या आउछ । पढेलेखेका योग्य व्यक्तिहरुलाई पनि हेर्न जरुरी छ । बुहारीलाई नपढाउने, घुम्टोभित्र राख्ने अनि समावेशीको कुरा गर्नु […]

Last week, in the High Court of Badulla five police officers and a security officer were sentenced to death for causing the murder of Sadun Malinga, a 17-year-old boy. The boy and four of his relatives had gone to the town for some business when the police suddenly arrested them, beat them in public, and […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where at least 14 bloggers have disappeared since the beginning of January. The government started off 2017 with a crack-down on human rights defenders and bloggers raising their voices on disappearances and extrajudicial killings, particularly in Balochistan. The security establishment there is very sensitive to the construction of the China PakistanEconomic […]