Right to food

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 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning the plight of several thousand villagers suffering from hunger and malnutrition due to the severe drought that has affected the Tharparkar District over the past ten months. Drought has been a common occurrence in the area, and while several welfare assistance programmes exist […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) and Aim, Lucknow regarding the acute situation of hunger and failure of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Nindura Block, Barabanki District, Uttar Pradesh. On May 5, 2006, a group of nearly 200 villagers gathered […]

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) has received information from the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) regarding the acute hunger and exploitation of villagers belonging to the Musahar community in Mirzapur District, Uttar Pradesh. A fact finding team, consisting of members from PVCHR and the Right to Food Campaign, visited the […]

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: HU-09-2005: UPDATE (India): Government action inadequate in providing rehabilitation to displaced hunger victims and continued starvation death in Murshidabad, West Bengal; HU-07-2005: Starvation deaths continue despite government’s commitment to provide food assistance in West Bengal; UA-161-2005: INDIA: Human rights defender physically assaulted, threatened and detained by government officials; HU-04-2005: INDIA: UNICEF still avoiding responsibility […]

[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: HA-23-2005: INDIA: Villagers exploited by employment in slave like conditions due to lack of food and terrible living conditions] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information from the People’s Vigilance Committee for Human Rights (PVCHR) regarding the current situation and conditions of quarry labourers living in the Mirzapur District. The […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the forced eviction of thousands of households in Rehmatya colony by Karachi City Government officials. The colony, which also houses one Hindu community, was destroyed without warning to make way for the construction of the Lyari Expressway. Only a small number of families […]

[Re: HU-10-2005: Food assistance assured to families of farmers suffering of hunger in Alabel, Sarangani province, Mindanao; Re: HA-25-2005: Unfairly sacked farm labourers in Mindanao forced to eat poisonous frogs and corncobs due to abject poverty and lack of food] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information regarding the hunger […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information concerning hunger and the loss of several lives due to starvation in the Yahukimo District, Papua Province, Indonesia. Between November 11, 2005 and December 10, 2005, at least 55 people have died due to starvation, while 112 people have become critically ill from […]

The starvation deaths and malnutrition affecting thousands of villagers residing on the banks of the Padma River in Jalangi, Murshidabad has for the first time been accepted by the local administration. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the admission by Superintendent of Police, Murshidabad, Mr Neeraj Kumar Singh, that at least 300 of the […]

In recent weeks, there have been numerous protests by Korean farmers against the government’s liberalization policies. These have been dealt with by riot police in a brutal and violent manner, causing severe injuries. One farmer has even died due to the seriousness of his injuries: 43-year-old Jeon Young-Cheol died on November 24, 2005 after being […]

[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 […]

[Re: HA-25-2005: Unfairly sacked farm labourers in Mindanao forced to eat poisonous frogs and corncobs due to abject poverty and lack of food] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that the provincial and municipal office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Alabel, Sarangani province, […]

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 disturbing information from the People’s Vigilance Committee for Human Rights (PVCHR) and other sources regarding the hunger situation of one family who has already lost a member to starvation in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. Chirauji Devi died on July 10, 2005 due to the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that an 11-month-old baby, John Paul Mahinay, died of severe malnutrition and a hunger related disease in General Santos City, Mindanao on 19 September 2005. The victim’s parents, Darwin (22) and Maricel (22) Mahinay, belong to a poor family suffering from abject poverty. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information that at least seven out of 16 families of farmers who were unfairly dismissed from work at a banana plantation company in Alabel, Sarangani province, Mindanao in 2003 have had to eat poisonous frogs in order to survive. The frogs must be carefully […]