Military

A Statement from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) in collaboration with Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) and Amnesty International Thailand was planning to organize a presentation of report on the situation of human rights “Access to Justice in Thailand: Currently Unavailable […]

Protection International and the Asian Human Rights Commission are seriously concerned about the Royal Thai Army’s latest intervention in the conflict between the Wang Saphung community in Loei Province with a neighbouring gold and copper mine.  On Monday, 25 August, the Wang Saphung community organization, the Khon Rak Ban Kerd Group (KBRK), invited community members […]

Out of several recent incidents concerning conscripted men, two have sparked public outrage and triggered a call for an overhaul of the conscription system in South Korea. The first case concerns Mr. Lim, a young conscript, who turned his gun on his fellow conscripts and opened fire on 21 June 2014. As a result, five […]

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland Dear Special Rapporteurs and Working Group Members, You will be aware of the significant threats to human rights which have followed the 22 […]

Courtesy to Daily Dawn The government, once again has refused to follow the orders of the Lahore High Court which directed police to register a First Information Report (FIR) which names amongst others, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab Mr. Shahbaz Sharif and 19 others including federal and provincial ministers and government […]

Statement on the Judicial Harassment of Leading Human Rights Defender, Ms. Pornpen Khongkachonkiet We, the undersigned civil society groups, are gravely concerned about the criminal legal action taken for defamation and libel against the Cross Cultural Foundation, headed by Ms. Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, by the Army’s Task Force 41. Ms. Pornpen, Director of the Cross Cultural […]

On 24 August 2014, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a long-time human rights defender and director of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), received a warrant summoning her to report to the Yala police station by 25 August 2014. She has postponed her reporting to the Yala police station until later in September. The warrant was in relation to […]

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has announced its agreement with the Burmese government to collaborate on strengthening the rule of law and addressing significant drug and crime threats. The agreement, the result of over a year of negotiations, will cover a period of three years (2014 – 2017). It has been […]

Farmers from Ngetpyawtine village tract, Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Division, have been instructed by the Township Administrative Office to remove the houses they have built on their own farmland. The administration and the No. 2 Shwe Bo Logistic Battalion have warned the farmers that if they do not dismantle the houses and leave the land, they […]

Death threats still stand and are repeated against the Wang Saphung community We, the undersigned 18 organisations, are deeply concerned about the Wang Saphung community’s situation. The death threats against 10 community members are still standing. More worryingly, we have been told by community leader MrsVironRujichaiwat – mother of a one-month old baby – that […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned to have learned that another activist, Pornthip (last name withheld), age 25, who graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at Ramkhamhaeng University, has been arrested in relation to a complaint under Article 112 of the Criminal Code in Thailand. This is the second arrest of someone […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM – a human rights organisation based in West Bengal, India – concerning the torture of a man that dared to complain against a Border Security Force (BSF) officer. The man complained that the BSF officer had been found peeping into a room […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned to have learned that Patiwat (last name withheld), a fifth-year student in the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Khon Kaen University and a human rights defender, is facing a criminal investigation in relation to a complaint under Article 112 of the Criminal Code in Thailand. […]

National history is written from a certain perspective. And, it can be rewritten later from other perspectives. However, it should not be forgotten that the purpose of having a national history, which itself underlines certain aspects of national memory, is so that accumulated wisdom from the past can circulate in society. Future generations can utilize […]

Police in the Mandalay region of Burma shot farmers who were protesting their land having been grabbed by the military. The protest, which took place this morning (14th August 2014) involved the farmers ploughing the fields that had been taken from them. The farmers are from Nyaung Wine Village, Singu Township, Mandalay Region. Over 6,000 […]

Members of the Insein Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have been threatening relatives of Ko Zin Aung, a local rickshaw driver tortured to death in July this year (AHRC-UAC-110-2014). Ko Moss and Ma Aye Aye Nwe, the brother-in-law and the cousin of the victim respectively, were called, 11th August 2014 to Myo Thit Quarter Administrative Office, […]

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the disappearance of a man and his son in Maguindanao. They were last seen by a witness at a military checkpoint. The military claim they had released the two after talking to them. However, they have not been located as yet.  CASE […]

In two video clips released to the public on 2 and 3 August 2014, Kritsuda Khunasaen, who was arbitrarily detained by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), detailed her experience while in detention. She described a range of forms of both mental and physical torture. The response of the NCPO has been to […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that 65 farmers in Myanmar (of the Kanbalu Township, Shwebo District, Sagaing Division) are languishing in prison for ploughing their own fields, and over 350 more are headed for the same fate. This miscarriage of justice continues be-cause, in the words of the No. 1 Kanbalu […]

A young Palestinian boy walks through the remains of a house targeted by an Israeli air strike near a beach refugee camp west of Gaza City. (UN Photo/shareef sarhan – 12 July 2014 ) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and its partner organisations condemn the continuing hostilities in the occupied Gaza Strip. The AHRC […]