Prosecution system

Avinash Pandey “Incidents like Dadri and Ghulam Ali are really sad but what is the role of the Centre in them?” These are the words of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, who finally appears to have broken his silence in this statement made to the Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika on the increasing instances of […]

Avinash Pandey It is the Republic and not a Dalit family that stands naked in front of Dankaur Police Station in Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, located not more than 50 kilometres from the national capital. There are “conflicting” reports, as well as pictures and videos, which have gone viral on social media about what […]

A comment on the approved UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka Basil Fernando Now that the UN Resolution on promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka has been approved by the Human Rights Council, a new page opens up with possibilities of looking into and dealing with grave problems that havecrippled […]

The Investigation Report issued by the Office of the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) dated 16th September 2015, is the most comprehensive report on human rights issued by any international or national agency to date. It is comprehensive and balanced. If implemented it could lead to considerable positive developments in Sri Lanka. […]

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් මහ කොමසාරිස්තුමාගේ කාර්යාලය මගින් 2015 සැප්තැම්බර් 16 වන දින නිකුත්කරන ලද ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාව පිළිබ`දව පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව මේ දක්වා ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් පිළිබ`දව ජාතික හෝ ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් නිකුත්කර ඇති පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තා වලින් ඉතාමත් අංග සම්පූර්ණවූත්, තුලනාත්මකවූත් පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව බව නොපැකිල ප‍්‍රකාශකල හැකිය. පිටු 261 කින් සමන්විත වන මෙම වාර්තාව […]

An article from The Hindu forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission No other term but ‘dismay’ can describe one’s response to New Delhi’s ungenerous reply toNepal’s democratic drafting of a Constitution through a Constituent Assembly. The Ministry of External Affairs merely ‘took note’ of the document, and followed that up a day later with a […]

The Interior Ministry of Baluchistan has recently stated that it has arrested 8363 Baloch over the span of 9 months. Whereas, the Chief Minister of Balochistan Dr. Malik Baloch has said that those arrested will be dealt in accordance with the law. No further details pertaining to the arrested have been revealed. The provincial interior […]

The Pakistani National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology approved the Cyber Crimes Bill 2015 on September 17 for a second time, after making some cosmetic changes to clauses that curb free speech. Legislators from the ruling party are determined to pass the Bill; the Chairman of the Standing Committee is the son in-law of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Nepal government to take urgent measures in order to defuse alarming on-going violence in Biratnagar. Police have indiscriminately fired on protesters that had just begun to gather in order to carry out their plan to burn a copy of the Constitution promulgated yesterday. The police fired live […]

An article from the Kathmandu Post forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission I am a Chhetri man, born and raised in Kathmandu. Today, the new constitution of the Federal Republic of Nepal will be officially promulgated and it is my constitution – it has been drafted by people who share my gender, my complexion, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has repeatedly raised the alarm against the killings in Terai; however, they fail to stop. The police have again opened fire, this time on 15 September, a market day. The police firings have resulted in four innocent citizens in Bethari, Bhairahawa town, Rupandehi District being killed. The mentality of […]

This week’s Roundup will focus on initiatives for police reform in South Asia. The episode begins in Nepal where on-going instability in the Terai in the last 2 months has provided ample examples for the urgent need of police reform. Nepal’s dysfunctional, incompetent, violent, and corrupt police institution reflects the norm in the South Asian […]

The rights of tribal people and other forest dwelling communities are set to be assaulted again, as the Indian government is warming up to the to the idea of public private partnerships in forest management. Though the details of the proposal are still unclear, a report in the Hindustan Times suggest that the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate […]

September 15 is commemorated throughout the world as the international day of democracy. Yet, for a majority of Asians, true representative democracy remains an illusion.  The “elected dictatorship” most often in practice in these regions allows the people to vote once in four or five years, but they have no say in decision-making process, matters […]

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, abandoned the practices of the previous government delegations to the UN Human Rights Council in the recent years, has frankly admitted before the Council the mistakes of the past and the weaknesses of the Sri Lankan institutions. Previous delegations came with the sole purpose of denying all allegations […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned to have learned that Pravit Rojanaphruk, journalist for the Nation newspaper and freedom of expression advocate, is being detained in an undisclosed location by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). The conditions of his detention are arbitrary and a clear derogation of the Government […]

An Article published in the Hong Kong Free Press, on 11th September 2015, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission By Basil Fernando Perhaps the most touching moment broadcast through international media in recent times is the warm welcome people fleeing Syria through Hungary received from large German crowds on arrival. When citizens of one country […]

September 11, 2012 will remain etched in the collective memory of Pakistan. On that day 259 labourers were burned alive inside a garment factory. The incident is unprecedented in the industrial history of Pakistan, and was termed a 9/11 for the laboring class of Pakistan. The fire was caused by a short circuit and quickly […]

The practice of untouchability being a criminal offence did not deter ‘upper caste’ villagers in Sigaranahalli in Holenarsipur Taluk of Karnataka from mercilessly driving out four Dalit women who dared to enter a local Hindu temple. It did not deter them from fining the women with 10,000 rupees (about $150 USD) for a crime they, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the prolonged general strike that has made life very difficult in the southern plains of Nepal. Curfews have been set in Terai Districts to deter any untoward incidents. There is severe shortage of essentials and medicines. Shops and factories are closed. Daily wage earners have difficulty […]