Right to life

PAKISTAN: 40 killed and 33 missing in another industrial accident

The granting of the General System of Preference (GSP+) status to Pakistan, applicable from 1 January 2014, has done little to improve the condition of labourers in Pakistan, while industrialists continue to disregard minimum wage rule and industrial safety standards. The history of industrial accidents in the country is rife with examples of preventable accidents. […]

SRI LANKA: පෙළපාලි හා මහජන උද්ඝෝෂණ වල පොලිස් සහභාගීත්වය

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු නොබෝදා පත්කරන ලද ජාතික පොලිස් කොමිසම විසින් ඔක්තෝබර් මස 29 වන දින විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාව ඉදිරිපිටදී ශිෂ්‍යයන් කණ්ඩායමකට පොලිසියේ කැරලි මර්ධන ඒකකය විසින් පහර දීමේ සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පරීක්‍ෂණයක් පැවැත්වීම ආරම්භ කිරීම සතුටට කරුණකි. එම පරීක්‍ෂණ කොමිටුවේ වාර්තාව සති දෙකක් ඇතුළත නිකුත් කරනු ලබන බවට ජාතික පොලිස් කොමිසමේ ප‍්‍රකාශකයෙකු විසින් නිවේදනය […]

NEPAL: UN Members deeply concerned about caste discrimination and untouchability

A Press Releasefrom the Nepal Dalit National Social Welfare Organisation (NNDSWO), Dalit NGO Federation (DNF), The Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO), and the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) on behalf of the Dalit Civil Society Organisations Coalition and by the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN)forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) UN Nepal UPR Review calls […]

PAKISTAN: An 8 year old girl was raped by Imam of a mosque – no end in sight for child sexual abuse

An eight years old girl, Miss N (real name withheld), who is the daughter of Meer Muhammud, from Golrachi Village, in the Badin District of Sindh Province has been raped by a religious leader in the mosque. Her Quran teacher, Imam Khameesa, someone who is also a local mosque leader, reportedly raped her on 25 […]

PHILIPPINES: Civilians assisting wounded soldiers shot dead

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that four civilians assisting ambushed soldiers were shot dead and accused of being rebels. The victims were allegedly killed by the Bravo Company of the 9th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army. CASE DETAILS: (Based on the documentation by Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 96

This week AHRC TV first highlights the 70th anniversary of the birth of the United Nations with excerpts from the recent Asian Alliance against Torture conference, where delegates discussed the future of the UN. Bijo Francis, AHRC’s Executive Director, also gives his take on the significant achievements but also colossal failures of the UN Universal Human […]

PHILIPPINES: Mistaken for rebels, five Manobo killed by military in Northern Mindanao

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you of the killing of five indigenous persons in Bukidnon, Northern Mindanao. The victims were mistaken for New People’s Army rebels by the military. CASE DETAILS: (Based on the documentation by Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples Rights (KARAPATAN)) On 18 August 2015, Herminio […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: MNHRC appeals the President to pardon the all political prisoners

A Statement from Myanmar National Human Rights Commission forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Statement No.(15/2015) The Multi-party Democracy General Elections will be held on 8 November 2015. Only a few days remain. The political parties and independent candidates are campaigning earnestly to be victorious in the General Elections. […]

WORLD : තේමාව: මධ්‍යතන යුගයේ ප‍්‍රභවයන්

මැග්නා කාර්ටා යනු කුමක්ද? එය සෑදුවේ කුමක් සඳහාද? එයින් පවසන්නේ කුමක්ද සහ ඉතිහාසයේ වඩාත්ම වැදගත් ලියවිල්ලක් ලෙසට එය සලකනු ලබන්නේ සහ සමරනු ලබන්නේ ඇයි? මොන්ටි පයිතන් හි ටෙරී ජෝන්ස් විසින් හඬ කවනු ලැබූ මෙම කෙටි ඇනිමේෂන් චිත‍්‍රපටය මගින් ඔබ ව මධ්‍යතන යුගයේ එංගලන්තය වෙත රැුගෙන යනු ඇත. එය වර්ෂ 1215 හි පාලනය ගෙන ගිය නපුරු ජෝන් රජු ගේ පාලන […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Imminent elections causes spike in politically motivated arrests

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the state of freedom of expression in Burma, at a time when Burma is awash in election campaigns. Rather than allow for the people to air their opinions as befits a democratizing nation, the government has chosen to suppress freedom of expression and Internet freedom and […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 94

This week AHRC TV continues its coverage of the 4th annual Asian Alliance Against Torture and Ill-Treatment and for Fair Trial Meeting, which saw parliamentarians, senior policemen, and senior activists gather in Hong Kong last to deliberate on the transformations required in the justice institutions of Asia. The programme includes talks by Sri Lankan Deputy […]

PAKISTAN: Muslim woman and Christian man in mortal danger for their marriage

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding forced conversions and threats to a couple. A Christian groom, who married a Muslim bride, first converted to Islam to avoid a backlash from Muslim religious fanatics. When it was exposed that the couple had re-converted to Christianity later, they came under immense […]

INDIA: Nutrition and TB: An Essential but Ignored relationship

Article | India | 30-09-2015

Prashant Kumar Dubey Nutrition and TB are two entities which need to be considered together, not separately. It is unfortunate that our country has not taken any initiative in this area resulting in a disregard for this relationship. If we really want to overcome TB, we need to talk through a package system similar to […]

SRI LANKA: නීතිපති දෙපාර්ථමේන්තුව පිළිබද ප‍්‍රශ්නය හා ලංකාවේ යුක්තිය පසිදලීමේ අනාගතය

නීතිඥ බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්තුමාගේ කාර්යාලය මගින් 2015 සැප්තැම්බර් 16 වන දින ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව පිළිබදව පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්කරන ලදි. ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් කඩවීම් හා යුද්ධ අපරාධ පිළිබදව ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුවේ එකගතාවය ඇතිව මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලයේදී ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති යෝජනවාට පදනම වන්නේ එම වාර්තාවයි. ලංකාව තුළ විශේෂයෙන් 2002 සිට 2009 අතර කාලය […]

SRI LANKA: OHCHR Investigation contributes to reconciliation and justice development in Sri Lanka

The Investigation Report issued by the Office of the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) dated 16th September 2015, is the most comprehensive report on human rights issued by any international or national agency to date. It is comprehensive and balanced. If implemented it could lead to considerable positive developments in Sri Lanka. […]

INDIA: Let them eat rasgullas

Statement | India | 24-09-2015

Death of children under its care is nothing novel for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics located in Cuttack, Odisha. It took 58 of them to die in less than 10 days for it to become scandalous. Over the years, the Institute, popularly known as Shishu Bhawan, has recorded an alarming number […]

SRI LANKA: Brutal Murder of little Seya and the relevance of the OHCHR Investigation Report

The abduction, rape, and murder of Seya Sadewmi of Kotadeniyawa on 12 September 2015 has led many Sri Lankans to react across the country, and provoked many demonstrations by women’s organisations and also by children. Even yesterday, 23 September 2015, demonstrations by school children were reported from the North of the country. Similarly, media reports […]

PAKISTAN: Where are the 8,363 Balochis arrested in the last nine months?

The Interior Ministry of Baluchistan has recently stated that it has arrested 8363 Baloch over the span of 9 months. Whereas, the Chief Minister of Balochistan Dr. Malik Baloch has said that those arrested will be dealt in accordance with the law. No further details pertaining to the arrested have been revealed. The provincial interior […]

INDIA: Woeful child malnutrition persists amidst wonderful schemes

Statement | India | 21-09-2015

A social justice bench of the Supreme Court of India comprising justices Madan B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit recently lambasted the government yet again for its failure in implementing welfare schemes for children belonging to the lower strata of society. The Court stressed the “mismatch” between the “wonderful schemes” the government creates and the ground […]

NEPAL: Immediate measures for Biratnagar violence needed

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Nepal government to take urgent measures in order to defuse alarming on-going violence in Biratnagar. Police have indiscriminately fired on protesters that had just begun to gather in order to carry out their plan to burn a copy of the Constitution promulgated yesterday. The police fired live […]