Right to health

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt about the imminent threat to lives of thousands of families in the Narmada Valley which encompasses large tracts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh through an urgent action alert issued by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). The NBA has learnt about an impending meeting of the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about several elderly single women being pushed into starvation in the Ghorabandha village of the Gaibandha district of Rangpur division. Most of these destitute women have been widowed for decades with no family to bank upon and have been forced into begging to ensure […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is greatly aggrieved to learn of the tragic death of Phyo Wai Aung in Rangoon, Burma during the early morning hours of 4 January 2013. Phyo Wai Aung was an aspiring young electrical engineer with a loving family when in April 2010 police arrested him at home late one […]

Recently, the Pakistani press and electronic media have displayed detailed pictures of children who sadly died because of measles, a very infectious disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) also substantiates the news reports and informed that 306 children died in the country in 2012 due to this infectious disease.  A large number of these deaths […]

Tamils living in the North and East have a complained of the loss of all their rights. Most people in the South ignored these complaints. Some even said that such deprivations are punishments for what the LTTE was. The assumption was that such treatment would not be extended to the South. However this has proved […]

“The court system is skewed against ordinary folk,” says Malinda Seneviratne, writing a comment on my last article. His argument is that the people will not defend the courts as the court system is skewed against the people. However, people do have a reason to defend even the highly inadequate and problem ridden justice system […]

The vulnerability of innocent women and children has been astonishingly increased in Pakistan in past several months as the country has witnessed some deadly and planned attacks on unarmed women and children from militants. On 18 December, Five Polio lady health workers were killed in Karachi and Peshawar, while two of their male colleagues received […]

We call upon the people, in particular the judges and lawyers, to grasp the historic significance of this moment It is news now that the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and her legal team, led by Romesh De Silva PC, walked away from the Parliamentary Select Committee proceedings, expressing no confidence in the manner in which […]

SDPI’s study on poverty shows that every third Pakistani is living his life below the poverty line. This is very shocking revelation for all of us. About 58.7 million out of 180 million Pakistanis are living below the poverty line. This below the poverty line population is living 52% in Balochistan, 33% in Sindh, 32% […]

For the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Pakistan, the country presented a four-year working report of how the government improved the state of human rights in Pakistan. Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, the foreign minister leading the Pakistan delegation, presented the report to the UN. The UPR is a process in which the UN […]

The involvement of young children in collecting the offal, leftovers and refuse of sacrificed animals, on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, an Islamic festival, has been a common sight in many cities and towns in Pakistan. It is however a very disturbing fact that poor children, along with their parents or other family members, are doing […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following Press Release from the Pakistan Fisherfolk forum and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research. Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong ————- FORWARDED PRESS RELEASE  AHRC-FP-050-2012 A Forwarded Press Statement by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and Pakistan Institute of Labour […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Sahyog, Support in Development about the death of 23 children belonging to Sahariya community, a scheduled tribe, of malnutrition and diseases caused by it within a short span of time. The AHRC has also learnt that the local administration was made well aware […]

After 17 days of daring to stand in neck-deep water, the villagers who are protesting against the unjust compensation package offered for the Onkareshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh is yet to receive any guaranteed assurances from their government. Yesterday, the Madhya Pradesh State Government has reportedly agreed to reduce the water level in the reservoir, […]

The ongoing protest by village communities acting against the increase of water level in the Omkareshwar Dam is unique in several aspects. The protest, which has completed 11 days today, is directed against the Madhya Pradesh state government that has failed to adequately rehabilitate those who have lost their land and livelihood to this ‘development’ […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Workers Assistance Center Inc about the floods caused by torrential rains that has imperiled the food security of a vast population in the CALABARZON area of Philippines. Here, the floods affecting more than 3 million people have already taken a toll of 95. […]

There is nothing amiss here. The nation is in celebratory mode and it is celebrating with aplomb. The national flag, the tricolour, is everywhere: being waved in the hands of children, tattooed on the cheeks of enthusiastic youth, flying high on the walls. And, it has, for a change, ensured a full meal to the […]

Dear friends, Ms. K K Neesha Chaturangi (17) of Ambalantota, Baragama, Arawanamulla in Hambantota District was a student of a Ambalantota Kuda Bolana Pajjaseeha Maha Vidyalaya. On 2 June 2012 she ate some cashew nuts after school before taking her lunch. Then she complained of stomach pain. When she was brought to Hambantota General Hospital […]

Avinash Pandey Come June, and Indian media has a welcome break from the dearth of positive news. They do not need to repeat telecast the same scams, neither they are forced to fill their ‘news programs’ with this soap opera or that comedy show running on countless entertainment channels. They get their OB vans chasing […]

Education is certainly an undeniable right of every child, as enshrined in all UN and International Conventions and Protocols.  Similarly, getting education in a clean and healthy environment in school is also a fundamental child right; however, thousands of children are being denied to their basic right as they have no or very limited access […]