Refugees, IDPs & Asylum seekers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from SUARAM, a human rights organization in Malaysia, that 228 asylum seekers and refugees from western Burma were arbitrarily arrested by the immigration officers and a civilian group on 25 June 2007. Two days later, on 27 June 2007, 41 more refugees were arrested. […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the prolonged detention of two farmers in Davao Oriental province, the Philippines. Both of them have been detained for almost three years without any progress in their case because the prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court on six occasions. One of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through international and national media as well a through local social and political groups of Pakistan that the Pakistan Army is conducting military operations in Balochistan, the southern province of Pakistan. Though this has been ongoing since 2001, since December 2005 the military government […]

It is with great concern that we watch the rapid deterioration of – perhaps it would be more accurate to say the deliberate flaunting of – the rule of law and international norms in Western Asia.  You, like most persons who have been following developments there, are familiar with the relevant facts: An Israeli soldier […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that on the morning of 27 June 2006 the Municipality of Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s seaport town and seaside resort, sent a mixed police force of 100 men armed with rifles and electric batons, 80 workers, three bulldozers and 10 trucks to evict 32 families from the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Myint Mo Media and other sources in Thailand that over 800 persons fleeing Burma army troops destroying villages have been refused entry into Thailand and are currently living in temporary shelters within a few miles of a Burma army camp. There are […]

The numerous appointments to key national commissions by the executive president, contravening constitutional requirements, are a very clear indication of Sri Lanka’s drift from a law-based society to one in which the law plays a significantly reduced role.  While criticism against presidential actions has pointed to matters including the fact that no person is above […]

AUSTRALIA: Threat of deportation of asylum seekers; failure to consider plight of asylum seekers; lack of impartial refugee assessment; failure to respect international obligations —————————————————— Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), a local organisation, that Mr. Huseiyin Duman and his family are at […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the continued cruel treatment of poor tenants following their brutal eviction and the destruction of their homes on May 3 (to see our original appeal on this issue please refer to: UA148-2006). Now the entire village on the bank of the Bassac River–not far from the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from The Asylum Seeker Project (http://asp.hothammission.org.au/), in Melbourne, Australia, detailing the plight of several asylum seekers and the denial of their right to health, as a result of the Australian Government’s current refugee policy. The right to health is a fundamental human right, however […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local organization, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) (www.asrc.org.au), of the Australian Government’s current refugee policies, which deny asylum seekers the right to food and right to health. The right to food is a fundamental human right, however thousands of asylum seekers […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the legal reforms proposed by the Australian Government to excise all of Australia from undocumented asylum seekers who arrive by boat. In January 2006, 43 West Papuan asylum seekers arrived in Australia by boat. The Australian government granted temporary protection visas to 42, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) unconstitutional and ordered it to be scrapped immediately. This has paved the way for the release of ousted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had […]

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Please send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia urging his intervention to commute the death sentence of three Sri Lankans; UP-34-2005: Death […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002. The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through its local partner MASUM in West Bengal that Mr. Gopen Sharma, a human rights activist was illegally detained, threatened and assaulted by the officers at the Block Development Office in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, West Bengal. Mr. Sharma was, at the time of the […]

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on the case of Manishbhai Motibhai Vasava (30), an adivasi who was murdered by an Indian […]

Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned by reports of delays in aid distribution in Indonesia, especially in the worst hit region of Aceh. Since the tsunamis hit Sumatra and Aceh, there has been an overwhelming international will and response for Indonesian victims. However, lack of clear distribution procedures, the limited capacity of the central […]