Rule of law

“…..you dislike doctrines, you have a horror of systems, as for principles, you deny that there are any in political economy; therefore we shall call it your practice — your practice without theory and without principle.” Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) [Open letter to the French Parliament, originally published in 1845]   The operation in Geneva has […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum to the Chairman of UCPN-Maoists Party Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” Chairman of United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) Central Office Perishdanda-Koteshwor, Kathmandu NEPAL Tel: +977 4602290 Fax:+977 4602289 Email: ucpnminfo@gmail.com Dear Mr Dahal, NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against the victims’ fundamental rights […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum to the Chairman of (UML) Communist Party of Nepal Mr. Jhalanath Khanal Chairman Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Central Office Madan Nagar, Balkhu P. O. Box: 5471 NEPAL Phone: 977-01-4278081/82 Fax: 977-01-4278084 Email: umlcpn@gmail.com, info@jnkhanal.com Dear Mr Khanal, NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum to the President of Nepali Congress Party Mr. Sushil Koirala Nepali Congress President Central Office B.P. Smriti Bhawan, B.P. Nagar, Lalitpur NEPAL Tel  : (977-1) 5555263 / 5555266 Fax : (977-1) 5555188 E-mail : ncparty@wlink.com.np Dear Mr Koirala, NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the wife of a nationalist, who has refugee status in Belgium, was prevented from leaving the country to meet her husband by the Pakistani authorities. The Pakistani authorities at the Islamabad airport told her that her name has been put on the exit […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. R D Wickramasinghe, a teacher and former army officer, has been arbitrarily detained for almost five years. A husband and father of three, Mr. Wickramasinghe was abducted and held in the basement of a building, the offices of the Criminal Investigation Department […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. JP Samson Kulatunga (62) of No: 23, Ihala Haththiniya, Marawila in the Puttalam District, was tortured by two officers from the Marawia Police Station who attempted to force him to sell his property. When he reported the matter to the Assistant Superintendent […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Nervazhi, a human rights organisation based in Kerala, concerning the case of custodial death and police torture of a person by a police officer stationed at Anthikkad police station. It is reported that, the police officer in civil dress, chased the victim while […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from MASUM, concerning the case of Mr. Tabibar Molla. The Border Security Force (BSF) had tortured Molla on 13 December 2011, against which Molla had filed complaints with the help of MASUM and the AHRC released an Urgent Appeal AHRC-UAC-007-2012 on 26 January 2011. It […]

If a girl sits badly, it is up to her mother to cover her thighs. – Orma (Kenyan) Proverb Again, it works, doesn’t it? But for how long you are going to trap the public with this same strategy which has different faces? When the person who has abused power and undermined the basic rights of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ms. Madurasinghe Arachchilage Chandrani Madurasinghe (42) of Bibilideniya, Udubaddawa in Puttalama District was assaulted by the Chairman of the Udubaddawa Pradesheeya Saba after the man instructed her to hand over a road construction project to one of his cronies. The assistant of the […]

The President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Md. Zillur Rahman has once again exercised his power of clemency. This time his office has commuted the sentence of a convict formerly given a life sentence to that of a ten years’ imprisonment.  It is not surprising that the same person has received two commutations in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Herman Kumara, a well-respected Sri Lankan human rights defender has received a number of death threats after he helped organize fishermen in protest of rising fuel prices. Soon after, he was followed by a group of people in a white van who […]

One of the sad truths that we have to live with today is that the people’s struggles for human rights are highly fragmented in India. Equally disheartening is the fact that whenever or wherever human rights comes up for discussion, it is addressed in piecemeal, ignoring and leaving far behind a comprehensive approach to rights […]

Dear friends, Mr. Saman Sampath Rajapakse (34) of No: A/182/24, Adurapotha, Kegalle was working as a soldier attached to the Commando Regiment of Sri Lanka Army. At the request of his family members, he resigned from the service and began work as painter. Soon after he became a painter, he was arrested by a team […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that in 2008 Mr. A Navajeevan (27) of Rawatte Lower Division, Ukuwela in Matale District was working as a motor mechanic. Around June of 2008 the police began to arrest Tamil youths of Indian origin in the Ukuwela area. The reason for the arrests […]

One of the advisors to the Sri Lankan president went to Vavuniya last Saturday (February 25) to talk to the people displaced by ‘the war’ and was interviewed by a BBC correspondent. The presidential advisor told the correspondent that the displaced people in Vavuniya had not received as much benefit as the people in the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding continuous death threats to environmental rights activists at Sonargaon in Narayanganj district for resisting the illegal mining of sand from the Meghna Rivera that threatens the existence of 900 families living in Mayadip and Nunertek islands under the Sonargaon sub-district of Narayanganj. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from Guria, a local human rights organisation based in Varanasi, India concerning the case of Maya (name changed), a girl who was kidnapped and sold by human traffickers in 2006. After rescuing the girl, Guria and the AHRC had issued an Urgent Appeal […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 15-year-old girl was raped with the connivance of her mother. Despite repeated complaints to several police stations the culprits remain at large, one of them being released on bail. The rapist and the girl’s mother are making continuous threats both to her […]