Rule of law

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned about the recent arrests and detention of two land rights activists consecutively in just two days. They are currently being held in pre-trial custody for their involvement in land protests. Ms. Yorm Bopha (29), an outspoken Boeung Kak Lake village representative, was arrested on […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an incident of rape. An 11-year-old girl has been raped by a policeman in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The minor girl has suffered serious physical, psychological, and social trauma due to the sexual assault for which the local police initially refused to register […]

The arrest of Aseem Trivedi, a cartoonist and a member of India against Corruption, is not only ridiculous but also a telling comment on the paranoia that has set in the government circles and deserves all the outrage it has caused. In fact, the only thing more ludicrous than the arrest itself is the reason […]

After 17 days of daring to stand in neck-deep water, the villagers who are protesting against the unjust compensation package offered for the Onkareshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh is yet to receive any guaranteed assurances from their government. Yesterday, the Madhya Pradesh State Government has reportedly agreed to reduce the water level in the reservoir, […]

The villagers’ protest against the absence of reasonable settlement for the land and livelihood lost to the Omkareshwar and the Indira Sagar Dams in the Narmada Valley project has thus far fallen upon a blind and deaf government. The agitation, though has received wholehearted support from a section of the Indian civil society, has failed […]

(Hong Kong, September 05, 2012) “This is taking the Ghandhian method to the water. To be submerged in water continuously for so many days is more difficult, in fact, than fasting…” Mr. Basil Fernando, Director – Polices and Programmes said referring to the ongoing protest in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India by the villagers who lost […]

The ongoing protest by village communities acting against the increase of water level in the Omkareshwar Dam is unique in several aspects. The protest, which has completed 11 days today, is directed against the Madhya Pradesh state government that has failed to adequately rehabilitate those who have lost their land and livelihood to this ‘development’ […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that when Ms. Warnakulasuriya Tresa Dorin Marcus tried to make a complaint to the officers of the Pamunugama Police Station that her son-in-law was in possession of an illegal weapon the officers sided with the culprit and verbally and physically abused her. Working under […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a series of human rights violation cases in Chashma Barrage, Mianwali district, Punjab Province. In December 2011 a fisherfolk activist and human rights defender was attacked and killed by land grabbers. Three persons were injured in the attack and they have not been […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received a report from the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) that a large group of villagers who have been evicted from their land without compensation for the construction of the Omkareshwar Dam are protesting against the illegal increase in the water level, beyond that is allowed by the Supreme […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that yet another innocent victim has been arrested and severely tortured by the Thambuththegama police in revenge for allegedly taking part in the demonstration held at the police station. Mr. D P Anil Thushara was a witness to the incident but did not take […]

[RE: AHRC-UAC-075-2011: BANGLADESH: Rapid Action Battalion shoots innocent college student, causing permanent disability, and now threatens sympathizers with extra-judicial killing Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding repeated attempts by the state machinery to brand a college student named Limon Hossain as a criminal, after he was shot point-blank and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Abasinghegedara Mahesh Niroshan Palamakumbura, a 19-year-old machine operator was illegally arrested, severely tortured and forced to sign fraudulent documents by police officers who wanted to use him as a witness against two others. After severely beating Mahesh they threatened to cut off […]

The people of Bangladesh are scared. Incidents of abduction by plain-clothed people, who often claim to be law-enforcing agents of the country, are ongoing, without any indication of being on the want. The people of Bangladesh are scared because their brothers and sons are disappearing. The stories of disappearances are being exposed by the media […]

Dear friends, On 2 August 2012 around 3,000 people from Thambutthegama took part in a demonstration in front of the Thambuththegama Police Station. The demonstrators were carrying the dead body of a lady and blamed the police for bailing out a drunken driver of the vehicle that was responsible for the death of the lady. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. G R Sampath Prasanna Piyadasa (37) is a three wheeler driver by profession. After witnessing a group of unknown persons damaging his vehicle he and his wife made a report to the Rattota Police Station. Instead of investigating his complaint the officers […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Sundaram Sathies Kumar was a detainee under the prison authorities of Sri Lanka. As a result of severe torture suffered during his incarceration Sundaram is now in critical condition at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo (NHSL). He is presently […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Gallalagama Arachchige Thilanka Niroshan Gamaarachchi of Bandaragama in the Kalutara District was illegally arrested, detained and tortured by officers of the Bandaragama Police Station. Although he has presented his case to the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Horana the only action […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Workers Assistance Center Inc about the floods caused by torrential rains that has imperiled the food security of a vast population in the CALABARZON area of Philippines. Here, the floods affecting more than 3 million people have already taken a toll of 95. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Sivapalan Pradeepan (28) of Batticaloa was arrested shortly after his brother-in-law by officers of the Terrorist Investigation Department. After being assured that he would be released after a statement was taken from him Sivapalan was sent to the CID offices where he […]