Right to life

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that two ethnic Kachin teachers have been tortured, sexual assaulted, and murdered. The two girls were volunteer teachers for the Kachin Baptist Church serving in a village near to the conflict area between Burma army and the Kachin armed group in Northern Shan State. They […]

Police excess is quiet a norm in Pakistan but on January 23 police transcend their authority and baton charged school children who were demanding that their school run by trust be reopened and administration not handed over to government. The students of Government Islamia High School near Bhati Gate Lahore along with their parents were […]

India has never been known for investing in the health of its citizenry. The nation’s public expenditure on health hovers around 1% of its gross domestic product; it is among the lowest in the world. This makes the recent decision to slash the health budget by 20% appalling. The move will not just deflate citizen […]

2014 was the deadliest year yet, for the children of Pakistan. The year began with the killing of 19 school children on 15th January 2014 – all pupils of the Bright Future High School in Daulatpur, in the Sindh Province. They were returning home after winning a quiz competition, when their van was crushed under the […]

This week’s episode of Weekly Roundup brings you stories from across Asia. The episode begins in Nepal where the drafting of a new constitution has stalled, leading to violence. Advocate Dipendra Jha, provides a view from Kathmandu. AHRC TV then turns to Burma, for more on illegal land grabbing. Thein Than Oo, a Chief Court Advocate, elaborates. […]

The 100-day reform programme of the new government is an opportune moment for rebuilding the legal structure of Sri Lanka, a precondition for achieving the “good governance” that has been promised. The legal structure of Sri Lanka has suffered a great fall, due to what has been termed as “tomfooling with the constitution”. From 1972 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is shocked to hear that police shot a 57-year-old woman farmer to death during a peaceful protest over fencing on land taken from the farmers for a mining project. She was looking after her confiscated land on the day she was killed and she hadn’t accept-ed compensation for […]

In this week’s episode of Weekly Roundup covers a wide range of events in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The episode begins with analysis of legal developments in Pakistan. Hear what AHRC experts have to say on the increase in power granted to military courts. Next, AHRC TV turns to Burma where new protests over […]

The AHRC has started collecting the comments from jurists on the amendment to the constitution to establish military courts and the following is the first interview in the series. This is a war of religious ideology that cannot be won using force. It is time the government does some soul searching and bury the political […]

17-year-old Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work promoting young people’s rights. Here she is, accepting that honour. In the name of God, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful. Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, Respected President General Assembly Vuk Jeremic Honourable UN envoy for Global education Mr Gordon […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 In the absence of thorough justice institution reforms, human rights guarantees in India will remain a mirage. The transcendent principles of dignity, freedom, and equality to all enshrined in the Constitution and the interpretations that the courts and the Parliament have provided […]

“Matters can go to such a head that the SHO (station house officer) would have to bring him (the detainee) chapattis and chicken curry to satisfy him.” Indeed, this is not an obiter dictum by Justice T. S. Thakur. This comment that the Supreme Court judge has made while hearing a case concerning the installation […]

Image courtesy: aithiya.lk (Hong Kong, November 03, 2014)  Mayuri Inoka, the wife of a disappeared husband, Madushka Haris De Silva, was herself abducted on 1 November 2014. According to Mayuri, her abductors threatened her not to engage in any activities calling for the recovery of her husband. Mayuri’s husband disappeared in September 2013, and remains missing. […]

(Hong Kong, October 29, 2014) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is shocked and saddened by a tragic landslide, which, according to reports, has caused the disappearance of more than 300 residents in the mountainous area of Meeriyabedda, Haldummulla, Badulla District, in the early hours of 29th October 2014. The AHRC extends its solidarity to those […]

The government of Pakistan  through its regulatory body, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has banned a local television channel, the “ARY News” and has arbitrarily suspended its license for a period of 15 days, and  imposed a fine of Rs.10 million (approximately USD 97,000) for airing on 20th October 2014  an allegedly derogatory […]

The recent escalation in atrocities committed on Dalits is surprising even for Bihar, a province notorious for crimes against members of the community. The only things worse than the state’s failure to stop the crimes are the reasons the crimes are being committed. Can one really burn alive a 15-year-old child for the “crime” of […]

by Basil Fernando On the 19th October 2014 BBC Sinhala Service broadcast, the United National Party Member of Parliament Ranjan Ramanayake, complained that there was a plan to assassinate him due to his participation in a televised debate. On air, he had provided details of the information he had received regarding the alleged assassination plan. […]

(Hong Kong, October 17, 2014) Professor K. G. Sankarapillai is one of the best known poets in India and he has won a number of prestigious awards for his poetry. He writes in Malayalam language. His poems have been translated to many Indian languages and a number of western languages. Some of his poems have […]

On 10 October 2014, the independent online media outlet Prachatai reported on three instances of torture of persons held in military and police custody which have taken place since the 22 May 2014 coup by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in Thailand (Read the entire report by Prachatai in English here and […]

(Hong Kong, October 14, 2014) “The widespread torture and ill-treatment that prevails in most of the Asian countries is a direct result of the political system and the legal system. Eradication of torture cannot be done merely by education of the police, the military and other security forces who usually engage in committing acts of torture”, […]