Right to redress

BANGLADESH: State appears bankrupt in protecting rights

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 International Human Rights Day is going to be ‘observed’ in Bangladesh amidst numerous victims facing gross abuses of human rights without an access to legal remedies from the existing criminal justice system. On the eve […]

INDONESIA: Human Rights in 2011 – The Decay of Pancasila and Constitutional Protections

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 the AHRC publishes its annual report on the State of Human Rights in Indonesia in 2011. The full report will be made available […]

NEPAL: Commitments to accountability and justice continue to be jeopardized in 2011

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 On the occasion of the 63rd Human Rights Day, the Asian Human Rights Commission is releasing its annual report on the state of human rights protection in Nepal through 2011. The report is available here. Given […]

SRI LANKA: Widow of two children denied justice by the Thalathuoya Police Station

Dear friends, Ms. E M Premawathi (53) is a widow and the mother of two children. She resides at Alikewela, Heagedara, Marassana in the Kandy District. Premawathi learned that her Brother-in-Law has provided fraudulent documentation showing that he is the lawful owner of the land and house in which she and her teenage daughters reside. […]

SRI LANKA: Death threats to the Sunday Leader newspaper’s editor must be investigated

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ms. Frederica Sandra Carmela Jansz, editor of the local, English-language newspaper, The Sunday Leader, received sexually violent, anonymous death threats on 27 October 2011. Ms. Frederica is a well-known journalist who has bravely and repeatedly called for governmental transparency and accountability. She was […]

SRI LANKA: Cancer patient who was trafficked for organ smuggling is facing denial of justice and protection

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information about an attempt by an unknown group of people to illegally traffic the organs of a cancer patient in Sri Lanka. Ms. TC Kanthi (38) of Ibbankatuwa, Dambulla in the Matale District went for medical treatment to the Cancer Clinic at Kandy Teaching Hospital on 16 […]

PAKISTAN: A case of male lust and woman’s treatment as sexual commodity–a teenage girl was gang raped for one year by army and police officials

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a teenage girl was repeatedly raped by several persons in the captivity of army and police officials for almost one year. She was arrested by the police officers in the presence of an army officer and remained missing since then. She is now […]

SRI LANKA: Perpetrators of a brutal attack on a student of Jaffna University have not been arrested

Dear friends, Mr. Rajavarothayan Kavirajan (27) of Nalloor, Punarin in Kilinochchi District, a final year student of Art Faculty of the Jaffna University was severely assaulted by members of an unknown group, who are believed to be of the country’s military intelligence units, in Jaffna on 24 October 2011. Rajavarothayan was seriously injured, and was admitted to […]

INDIA: Baduria police in West Bengal protecting child traffickers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has once again received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation working in West Bengal, concerning the case of 14-year-old girl, who was trafficked from her village on 18 April 2011. The victim was subsequently rescued, but in the meanwhile she was raped several times. The father […]

SRI LANKA: Witness to a corruption case’s home attacked; investigation needed

Dear friends, A retired public school teacher who gave evidence before an inquiry committee appointed by the Department of Education and Ministry of Education on a corruption case, was attacked on 1 October 2011 at Circular Road, Galavilawatte, Homagama in Colombo District. He was inside his home when he heard shots being fired at two […]

SRI LANKA: Fr. Prasad Perera obstructs the use of a national monument for the disappeared

(Hong Kong, October 21, 2011) The national monument for the disappeared at Raddoluwa, Seeduwa is nationally and internationally known and respected place where the families of the disappeared persons gather to pay respects for their loved ones who are counted among the disappeared in Sri Lanka. The monument was eructed in 2000 at a place […]

SRI LANKA: Innocent man was severely tortured by Dompe Police

Dear friends, On 28 September 2011, Mr. Battharamulla Gamage Susantha Buddhika (19) of No: 243/3, Pelahela, Dekatana, Dompe in Gampaha District was illegally arrested, detained and tortured. He was tortured on two occasions; he was hung from a ceiling beam and beaten with pipes and poles by three officers, including the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the […]

SRI LANKA: Death of the primary suspect in the case of the murder of a newspaper editor should be investigated

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Pichchei Jesudasan, the primary suspect in the murder of veteran journalist editor of the Sunday Leader News Paper, Lasantha Wickramatunga, died while in remand prison. The other suspect who was arrested in relation to this case confessed to the Magistrate that he is […]

SRI LANKA: Perpetrators of brutal attack on student leader of Jaffna University have not been arrested

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Subramaniam Thavapalasingham, President of the Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) was severely assaulted by members of an unknown group in Jaffna on 16 October 2011. Thavapalasingham was seriously injured, and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. […]

PHILIPPINES: Another torture and detention of a man in place of the real accused

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the continued detention of another man whom soldiers illegally arrested and tortured in custody in the place of the real accused. The soldiers, who have no police power to implement an arrest took him into custody supposedly for a bomb blast in […]

SRI LANKA: Police officers are not prosecuted after torturing a Free Trade Zone worker

Dear friends,  Mr. Maharambage Pradeep Kumara Priyadarshana (28) of Jambolagahamullahena, Dippitiya, Mahapallegama is single and works at Noratel Lanka Ltd in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Katunaya. On 30 May 2011 Pradeep participated in a trade union action organized by the factory workers. Police officers attached to the Katunayake Police Station arrived at the […]

INDIA: Two persons arrested and tortured in West Bengal

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) concerning two more cases of police violence from West Bengal. It is reported that in the two separate incidents of arrest, the police at the time of arrest, not only failed to comply the law and procedures, but […]

PHILIPPINES: A man is detained for Maguindanao massacre in place of the real accuse

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concern about the continued detention of a man that the police have arrested as a suspect in the Maguindanao Massacre in place of the real accuse. The police harassed his common-law wife by threatening her into admitting that her husband and the person they were […]

SRI LANKA: Kandy ASP and Nuwara Eliya Headquarters Police Station refuse to investigate abduction of a teenage girl

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the 19-year-old daughter of Mr. R.J.K. Niel and his wife Ms. Ajantha Edirisinghe of No: 13, Vijithapura, Magastota, Nuwara Eliya has been abducted by a person on 3 September 2011. When his daughter went missing he made a complaint to the Nuwara Eliya […]

SRI LANKA: Murder and abduction due to failure of the police to provide protection

Dear friends,  A wealthy businessman was killed by a relative of his second wife who later attempted to abduct his two daughters. Prior to his murder the deceased complained to the Ragama Police requesting protection but as is usual in Sri Lanka no action was taken. The suspected mastermind behind the killing and abduction, the […]