Right to remedy

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the torture case of Yusli, who was physically assaulted and shot to death by three police officers in 2011. In March this year, Tangerang District Court sentenced the perpetrators to two to five years imprisonments for maltreatment. However, the AHRC has learned […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the shooting of a Papuan man in Nabire, Papua. The victim, Marthen Gobai, was shot in the head on 5 September 2013. Whereas the identity of the perpetrator is yet to be confirmed there is an allegation that the shooting was carried out […]

Download the full text of the report ( PDF) (Word) In her media statement from Colombo on 31 August 2013, Dr. Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, “I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, […]

On June 21, we reported that Alfredo Lim, the former Mayor of Manila, had tortured a rape suspect in full view of the public, while the senior police officers present did nothing to prevent him. We rightly demanded that Lim, who perpetrated the torture and the policemen, who did nothing to stop the torture, be […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the plight of tribal villagers residing in a forest village named Dhurkuch, Gram Panchayat Kota in Jawa block of district Rewa in Madhya Pradesh from Panchsheel Sewa Sansthan,a local voluntary organization. Sansthan found that there is no Public Distribution Shop (PDS) shop, earmarked […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information regarding the recent spurt in cases of starvation deaths in Odisha from a fact finding team. The team comprising of one member each from Regional Centre for Development Cooperation and the AHRC visited the Jalpankel village of Khaparakhol block, Balangir district on 25th […]

The horrible military killings at Ratupaswala are nothing but mean and horrible killings. Nothing in the military terminology or strategic manuals could ever justify the horrible acts that happened at Rathupaswala. If there is some decency left in the military establishment in Sri Lanka, the first step that should be taken is to arrest the […]

Impeaching the Chief Justice and Sri Lankan Politics By Upul Abeyrathne1 “All are accordingly bound by the necessity of keeping the law, unless perchance there is any who can be thought to have been given the license of wrong-doing. However, it is said that the prince absolved from obligations of the law, but it is […]

The president of Burma, or Myanmar, U Thein Sein in his recent visit to the United Kingdom has made a commitment that all political prisoners in his country will be released by the end of the year. According to him, a committee is continuing to review all relevant cases and determine those persons who are […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local NGO, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), regarding the fabrication of charges and torture committed by the police against a 72-year old man and his two sons. The innocent men were falsely charged, tried and sentenced to […]

Click here to watch our video presentation The following is a series of reflections by experts, of what has gone wrong in Asia, that despite attempts, torture continues to exist in most Asian states. The response is released marking the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26. Question 1: Is […]

INR 17, or approximately 30 cents in USD, is what an average poor spends a day in rural India. Their urban friends are no better off either; they have to content with spending INR 27 for seeing a day off. Adjust that amount for the cost of living in urban centres and they are just […]

A Statement from a group of civil society actors in India against the ostracisation of Mr. Harsh Mander, by the Chief Minister of Gujarat forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission New Delhi 12 June 2013 With great pride, we would like to put on record that the work of our colleague and friend Mr. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information regarding several elderly women living in destitution in the Palash Bari area of the Gaibandha district of the Rangpur division. As in the earlier cases reported by the AHRC, most of the victims have no one to look after them and are physically […]

“The next day at 9 am the same three police officers took him back to the Crime Branch and told him to sign a document which was already prepared. He signed it due to fear of further ill-treatment but affirms that he had no knowledge of the contents of the document. The officers then took […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about allegedly illegal demolition of around 120 houses in Florentino St., Sto. Domingo, Quezon City on April 10-11, 2013. The information sent to the AHRC by Barangay Sto. Domingo Settlers Association through Defend Jobs Philippine asserts that the demolitions were carried out in violation […]

Several police officers from the Karandeniya police illegally arrested Chandila Padmakumara Gurusinghe of Kiripedda, Babuwo Kanda, Karandeniya in Galle District, apparently on the instigation of a cinnamon trader. He was arrested without being informed of the reason for his arrest and he learned it only after he was brought to the police station by listening […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the punishment of three police officers who tortured and shot a 23-year-old man, Yusli, in 2011. The court sentenced two of the officers to two years of imprisonment and the other one to five years. It found the officers were responsible for […]

Reconciliation has not been treated as an attractive word in Sri Lanka. The government’s view is that forgetting is the best course available. It argues that reconciliation attempts could reopen the wounds and will do more harm than good. Officially therefore, the government policy is to encourage forgetting. This policy does not come under serous […]

Basil Fernando A seven-year-old child, Pushpakumara Wijekoon from Kegalle, went to school as usual and left around 1 pm. He walked to the junction where his father usually picked him up on his cycle to bring him home. As the child did not see his father, he started walking back home. The distance was about […]