Police violence

A group of human rights defenders in northeast Thailand are facing death threats and a defamation case in court over their attempts to protect community resources against a gold mining operation. According to Rights Coalition and Community Resource Centre Foundation (CRC), the Khon Rak Ban Kerd group of human rights defenders was formed in 2007 […]

A Statement from Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The starving and unarmed farmers of Kidapawan cried for rice. They were given bullets. Photo credit to HKCHRPP The Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders [a joint programme of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)], and Odhikar The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the Asian Human Rights Commission, and Odhikar urge the global human rights community to […]

This week’s episode begins with Indonesia, where the trial of 26 human rights defenders began on March 21. The criminal charges against them are believed to be part of the government’s effort to end demands for labour welfare and for the cancellation of Government Regulation No. 78, which supports cheap labor in Indonesia. Just Asia […]

Cutting off electricity, water, and Internet facilities, closing down messes, chasing all the media persons out, and then calling in the Paramilitary to swoopdown on students in the campus sounds like routine work in a dictatorship, not a democracy. Yet, this is exactly what the University of Hyderabad administration, which works under the Union Ministry […]

Avinash Pandey “A mob is the scum that rises upmost when the nation boils.”  John Dryden, English Poet The picture showing two Muslims – one of them a teenaged boy – hanging by a tree in Latehar, Jharkhandis going to haunt the Republic for a long time. Nothing indicts the failure of a criminal justice […]

The bail finally granted to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya is welcome. Despite the media gaze, it took almost a month for the students, who are accused of sedition on flimsy grounds, to be released. This showcases the nature of Indian Magistracy, and yet the repeated rejection of their bail […]

Just Asia is pleased to announce its new website www.alrc.asia/justasia. All episodes of the news programme can now be viewed there. This week, Burma’s Parliament elected Htin Kyaw as the country’s civilian President after decades of military government. Prevented from becoming president by a constitutional clause, Aung San Suu Kyi has said she will be “above […]

An Article by Camelia Nathaniel, titled ‘A Clear Indictment On Sri Lanka Police”, published in the Sunday Leader of 18March 2016, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2016/01/24/a-clear-indictment-on-sri-lanka-police/ By Camelia Nathaniel The National Police Commission (NPC) has so far received 752 complaints against the police from October 21, 2015 to date. According to the secretary […]

A Statement from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Over 30 police and military officers have raided and arrested Mr. Sarawut Bamrungkittikhun, admin of the “PeodPraden” (Open Issues) Facebook page from his residence in Suratthani since 9 March 2016. Today, 16 March 2016, the Thai Lawyers for Human […]

The government’s trend of arresting political leaders and cadres at the forefront of recent Madhes protest, in order to weaken the ongoing Madhes movement, continues. Earlier, 11 front-line leaders and cadres were arrested by the government in the Terai, something the Asian Human Rights Commission addressed its statement released on 24 February 2016. Thereafter, last week, two […]

An oped from the Kathmandu Post forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission On September 15 2015, twelve-year-old Ranjana Singh Kshetri, a resident of Bethari in Rupandehi district, received a bullet in the neck when she stuck her head out of the kitchen to see what was happening outside. On the same day, BinodLakaul, 48, […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has information provided by the Commission for the Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a national human rights organization. A light punishment was meted out to four police officers of Sungailiat Police Resort (Polres Sungailiat) in the torture to death of Mr. Suharli (alias Tembo). Despite the […]

In this week’s episode, Just Asia covers the commemoration of the 1989 Talangsari Massacre in Indonesia. Although the Talangsari Massacre was mentioned by President Widodo as one of his government’s priorities, until now no concrete solution has been provided. Next, Just Asia looks at the unrest at India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The unrest […]

Torture, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial killings have become endemic in the country marred by internal conflict. Rule of law and justice have become a distant dream for the victims and families of missing persons. And, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture in custody and arbitrary detentions, have been given legal and constitutional coverage by the government. Through […]

The trouble fomenting in Indian varsities ever since the new government came to power has now reached one of the most prestigious universities of the country, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The stir ostensibly started after a group of students organized an event commemorating the death anniversary of Afzal Guru and called his hanging a […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia focuses on Hong Kong, where the first day of the Lunar New Year saw violent clashes between protesters and police. The unrest caused shock and increased the sense of uncertainty lingering in the wake of the disappearance of five booksellers in January. The violence erupted overnight as police attempted […]

In this episode, Just Asia continues to cover critical human rights flashpoints in Asia. In Pakistan, three employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have been killed in clashes near the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, on February 3. The employees were on a countrywide protest against privatization of the national airlines. Around 30 persons have also been […]

A 21-year-old woman committed suicide by hanging herself on 28 January 2016. In her suicide note the woman wrote about the most obvious and the ugly truth of India: that of losing faith in the country’s criminal justice process. She wrote: “Please mummy, papa forgive me. I will not get justice anymore, nor will I […]

RohithVemula’s suicide will not be just another suicide in the statistical records of the National Crime Records Bureau. It will not be so in the same way the 2006 massacre in Khairlanjiwas not. These two cases separated by almost a decade,are far more than a statistic of ordinary crime, such as that committed in a […]