Right to health

President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the nation, like most of his predecessors at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, took note of persistence of hunger and malnutrition in the country, even more so among the children. He did note that though the republic has made progress in tackling hunger, yet several challenges remain. In his own words […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the health crisis facing Asmat regency in Papua, Indonesia. So far, 68 children have died from measles and serious malnutrition in Asmat. As reported by national media, the measles and malnutrition epidemic has affected 11 districts of Asmat regency: Swator, Aswi, Akat, Fayit, Pulau Tiga, Kolf […]

The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a bilateral arrangement concerning the repatriation of the Rohingya from camps in Bangladesh to Rakhine state in Myanmar. The agreement was signed by both governments on 23 November 2017 at Nay Pyi Taw. The bilateral agreement is only a first step in recognising the crisis. The agreement however does […]

This week Just Asia begins with Indonesia, where the Corruption Eradication Commission finally secured the arrest of Parliament Speaker Mr. Setya Novanto. Novanto is a suspect in the national electronic identity card scheme case, having caused losses of IDR 2.3 trillion. Next, Pakistan observed Universal Children’s Day on November 20 as a mere formality, while […]

by Avinash Pandey Shakina Ashfaq, 50, is the latest life claimed by the AADHAR, the name given to the 12-digit unique identification (UID) number by the government of India. The reports suggest that she died of hunger. The authorities, as is unsaid standard operating procedure, claim that preliminary inquiries suggest that she didn’t die of hunger, […]

Dr. Govinda KC, a senior orthopedic surgeon at Nepal’s Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), and professor at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), was compelled to start his 13th hunger strike on 5 October 2017, after the government failed to meet its agreements from the previous 12 hunger strikes. Dr. KC has been staging hunger strikes […]

1. Today, on 15 September 2017, a group of 58 Asian human rights defenders, including the Chairpersons of the National Human Rights Commissions of: Indonesia, Nepal, Timor Leste, and the Philippines, having converged in the global human rights city of Gwangju, hereby expresses our deep concern about the on-going violence committed against the Rohingya people […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where Rohingya refugees continue streaming to Bangladesh after violence erupted in Rakhine state just over a week ago. Although the Bangladesh government has a zero-tolerance refugee policy, it seems that security officials are ignoring government orders and allowing refugees to cross the border. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) are extremely concerned over the Government of Nepal’s slow response to the flood affected Terai region. Continuous four-day heavy rains since 10 August 2017 triggered floods and landslides across the country, causing a great loss of human life and property. This is […]

In May 2017, a young boy was apprehended by Border Security Force(BSF) officers in Dinajpur, West Bengal. MASUM, our partner organisation in West Bengal conducted a fact-finding mission and discovered that almost 18 months before the incident, his father had come to India, searching for a job, with the help of a middleman. The boy, […]

“නයෙක් කෑවොත් කළ හැකි වෙදකමක් නැතැයි” සමහරුන් කියන්නා සේ පොලිස්පතිවරයා පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු වදහිංසනයට ලක්කල විට එයට ද ලංකාවේ නීතිය කරින යාත්මක වන ආකාරයට අනුව කල හැකි දෙයක් නැතුවා සේ පෙනේ. එය නීතියේ ඇති අඩුපාඩුවක් නිසා නොව ලංකාවේ නීතිය කරිය යාත්මක වන ආකාරයේ ඇති බරපතල පැහැරහැරීම් හා මගහැරීම් නිසාය. පොලිස්පතිවරයා පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයේ නිළධාරියේකුගේ කොළරයෙන් අල්ලා ඔහුට තර්ජනය […]

How exactly can one react to a republic that lets more than 60 of its children die in just 48 hours for the want of oxygen as the company supplying oxygen to the hospital had stopped it after repeated warnings for the same over non-payment of Rs. 68 Lakhs? How exactly one must feel after […]

The 87-year-old, Pakistan’s Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to control leprosy in Pakistan is no more available at his 2nd floor small room in Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC), located in a densely populated area of Karachi. Hundreds and thousands of admirers of Dr. Ruth Pfau are in great shock even the Canary bird, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly condemns yesterday’s late evening attack on Narmada Bachao Andolan’s peaceful sit-in and fast by the Madhya Pradesh state police. The police forcibly arrested Ms. Medha Patkar and 11 others and have detained them. The activists were protesting against Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to submerge the area violating the Supreme Court of […]

The Prime Minister of India has just announced a Rs.2000 crore relief package to deal with the damage caused by the devastating floods have impacted the northeast region of India since mid-June, particularly the states of Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh. The floods escaped media attention for quite some time, as is want of events […]

There have been repeated outbreaks of cross-Line of Control firing in Jammu Kashmir, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including of civilians. Heavy weapons are killing innocent civilians, destroying homes, public and private property. The civilians are forced to flee on both sides of the LOC. Kashmiris of both the sides are leading a […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Khalishpur police of the Khulna Metropolitan city has gouged eyes of a detainee for failing to pay bribe. The victim, Mr. Mohammad Shah Jalal (Jibon). The Khalishpur police arrested him from the street near Boalkhali of the Khulna city when he went […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), has received information concerning Mrs. A. Rohini Aththanayaka (37), No: 131, Akkara Eighty Village, Sorabora Colony, Mahiyanganaya, Polonnaruwa District. Mrs. Rohini was a registered, expectant mother of the Mahiyanganaya Base Hospital throughout her entire pregnancy. She was in good health and her fetus showed successful growth as […]

Avinash Pandey Gopikrishna Durgaprasad, a 25-year-old gainfully employed young man, committed suicide a few days ago in Pune, Maharashtra. With Maharashtra seeing thousands of suicides every year, and being the state with the most farmer suicides annually, Gopikrishna’s death would not have been significant news on its own. What was different about this case though, was that […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been found guilty of corruption by the Supreme Court’s Joint Investigation Team. The team found the Sharif family wealth to be beyond their sources of income. The country’s political parties and Bar Associations are now demanding Sharif’s resignation. Moving to Burma, the […]