Refugees, IDPs & Asylum seekers

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shares the concerns expressed by the Secretary General of the United Nations in his statement on the human rights situation in Nepal. Time and again the AHRC has stressed that regional governments such as India, international governments and bodies such as European Union, national political parties and the King […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Heeralu Mohottalalage Punchi Banda (39) was illegally arrested and tortured by the Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dhammika Bandara of Samanalaweva Police Post in Balangoda on 26 August 2004. Due to brutal torture, the victim still suffers from severe pain on his […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding an appeal from SUARAM, a leading Malaysian human rights group, on targeted arrests of Burmese asylum seekers in Kuala Lumpur. Thirty Burmese were arrested outside the UNHCR office on 14 April 2004, at about 3am, while other Indonesians and Bangladeshis who were also present were […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 30-year-old woman named Ms. Hidayat was allegedly killed by her husband, Mr. Momin Ali Mahar in Dal village, Lakhi Ghulam Shah Town, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan on 29 February 2004. The case was registered at the Chak Police Station. However, a human […]

Dear Friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is very happy to give you good news that Mr. Sok Yoeun, 67, who is a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience, won’t be extradited to Cambodia and will reunite with his family in Finland soon.  Thailand’s Appeals Court ruled on Nov 28 last year that Sok […]

Dear Friends, We join the appeal from the Human Rights Watch for URGENT intervention in the current situation in Nepal regarding the assessment of refugee status by the governments of Bhutan and Nepal. Research carried out by a joint mission of non-governmental organisations has found that the screening of Bhutanese refugees by the two governments […]

Dear Friends We are forwarding information from the Liberty Center, a human rights organization in Mongolia, that 26 North Korean refugees are facing deportation to the North Korea soon. Your urgent action is requested to pressure the Mongolian government not to send them back to the North Korea and protect their rights in accordance with […]

Dear Friends We are pleased to be able to give you good news that Mr. Stephen Khan, a Kashmiri asylum seeker, was released on 6 August 2003 after five years of immigration detention. Federal court judge Malcolm Lee agreed to place an interim injunction against immigration Minister Philip Ruddock enabling 28 year-old Stephen Khan to […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you regarding the recent developments of the Bhutanese Refugees’ indefinite Dharna (means hunger strike) that began on 7 January 2003. For your attention and support, AHRC is sending you the following latest information from the organizers of this event and other reliable sources. If you […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike beginning today (Jan. 7) in order to demand that both the governments of Bhutan and Nepal announce the results of the verification process to determine their refugee status, which […]

BHUTAN/NEPAL/INDIA/UNHCR: Denial of the right to refugee; Political maneuvering, stagnation and human rights violations ——————————————————————– One year has past since the refugees of Khudunabari, the first and smallest Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, were verified on 14 Dec. 2001, but there has been little or no activity to verify the remaining 88 percent of, or […]

Dear Friends, The following is an urgent appeal from the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), based in Bangkok, regarding the crackdown on dissidents and pro-democracy activists who have defected from the Burmese military junta regime. The Thai authorities arrested 31 Burmese nationals (But Forum-Asia claims a total of 34 were arrested) who […]

Dear Friends, We are forwarding you the following urgent appeal from the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) based in Bangkok. We are concerned that the Thai authorities plan to close Camp 3 for the Karenni people, one of the minority ethnic groups in Burma, and relocate the refugees to Camp 2. The […]

Dear Friends, The following is a forwarded appeal sent by the Citizens¡¯ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) based in South Korea regarding the incident in which the Chinese police entered the South Korean consulate in Beijing and seized one of two North Korean asylum-seekers who had entered the compound. Please send your appeal […]

Richard Cook, Director of UNRWA operations in the West Bank: 
“The reports we are getting are of wholesale destruction of a kind more normally associated with natural disasters such as earthquakes…. We implore the Israeli authorities to open up the camp to allow our relief teams to help its desperate population.” 

The UN Commission on Human Rights, meeting in its 58th session, issued a press statement on 16th April including the following reference to the obstacles placed by ‘the occupying power’ to the proposed visit by the High Commissioner on Human Rights to the occupied Palestinian territories: 

Dear Friends,  On 26 February 2002, AHRC issued an urgent appeal drawing attention to the case of Stephen Khan, a Kashmiri asylum seeker who has been in detention in Australia since 1998. At the time the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) also wrote directly to the Minister of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock (in […]

Last resort’ for asylum seeker Stephen Khan AUSTRALIA: Mandatory detention and denial of the right to asylum, denial of independent fair trial, serious risk of ill-treatment if expatriated ——————————————————————— AHRC has previously issued urgent appeals drawing attention to the brutal treatment of asylum-seekers and the appalling conditions in detention centres in Australia. Since last year […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission takes the opportunity of Australia Day 2002 to congratulate Dr Aamer Sultan on his recent special commendation by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In recognising Dr Sultan for his work among asylum seekers at Sydney¡¦s Villawood Detention Centre, where he is also a detainee, the Commission has […]

Dear Friends, Regarding our earlier urgent appeal (28-08-2001) on the refugee crisis in Australia, we are forwarding the following appeal by Amnesty International in Australia for your urgent action. The Norwegian freighter, Tampa with 438 asylum-seekers on board still remains about four nautical miles off of Christmas Island despite the Australian government’s request for it […]