Rule of law

Discrimination and abuse from police and government officials continues to be faced by transgender rights defenders. Furthermore, many activists have been abducted, beaten, and raped for raising their voice against the atrocities meted out to them. Pakistani society by and large ostracises persons of transgender. Being social outcastes and shunned by their families, many transgender […]

May 17, 2016 Share| We are pleased to release a short video of Mr Basil Fernando reciting his poem“Looking for Raju” which is among the 15 winning poems selected by Amnesty International in their poetry competition “ Silenced Shadows” regarding forced disappearances. On 14th May 2016, the Amnesty International announced and made available these 15 poems, 05 each […]

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that a man was killed in Surigao del Norte. The victim was shot by the police in front of his wife and children when they came to serve an arrest warrant to him.  CASE DETAILS: (Based on the documentation by the Asian […]

Dear Friends, According to information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Mr. Neil Silva an owner of a hotel in Kandy has been illegally arrested, detained and produced before the Magistrate of Kandy on fabricated charges by the police officers attached to the Peradeniya Police Station on 3rd December 2015. Mr. Neil Silva states […]

Strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure accountability for human rights abuses (Bangkok, 9 May 2016)—We, the undersigned organizations and community-based networks, urge the Thai authorities and several mining companies to drop legal proceedings against community-based human rights defenders and call on Thai authorities to strengthen mechanisms to protect human rights defenders and ensure accountability for human […]

In this month five-year-old Hindu girl, Shazia Bheel, was murdered by Zahid Sheikh, a man who was dressed as a woman when he raped and murdered the child in Hyderabad. An FIR (# 22/2016), was lodged for murder and rape against the culprit on the compliant of the father of the deceased child. Women and […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where three cases of honour killings have been reported from the country over the last 15 days, killing five women. Such acts are the result of a typical mindset that women must be killed for disobeying men, and besmirching their honour. The year 2015 saw more than 7,010 […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the recent political move in Nepal. The political parties have ganged up to undermine the ongoing transitional justice process, to flout the verdict of the Supreme Court of Nepal – on how those involved in crimes committed in the conflict period can be given amnesty, and […]

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment Mr Juan E Mendez, published his preliminary findings on 7th May 2016 following an official visit to Sri Lanka. He has observed that torture is a common practice in Sri Lanka and structural reforms are required to prevent it. In […]

Dr. Deepika Udagama Chairman, National Human Rights Commission Head Office,  No. 165 Kynsey Road,  Borella, Colombo 08 Sri Lanka Dear Dr. Deepika Udagama, Request for special action regarding Ms M K Malani, presently being held at the Dumbara-Bogambara Prison – tortured, sexually abused and incarcerated under fabricated charges by Nawalapitiya Police The Asian Human Rights […]

Ms. Patnaree Chankij, a 40-year-old single mother of four children, including anti-junta student activist Mr. Sirawit, aka, ‘Ja New’, has been charged with defaming the monarchy. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deems Ms. Patnaree’s arrest a new low in the junta-ruled country. Mr. Sirawit is a Thammasat student activist who has been actively involved […]

Hello. On 9 May 2016, Tanya Shrivastava, a 21-year-old journalism student, made a distress call to 1091, the toll free womens’ helpline. An intern with The Times of India, a prominent Indian newspaper, Tanya had just survived an attempted kidnapping right outside her newspaper office. As she dialled, her kidnapper was trying to get way. What […]

The Chief Justice of India, Mr.T.S. Thakur, has once again appealed to the Government of India regarding the immediate need to appoint judges in the country. Citing reports of the National Law Commission from 1987, Justice Thakur said that the Commission had assessed that to tackle court delays the country required at least 40,000 judges […]

Militants in Karachi assassinated a prominent human rights defender, Khurram Zaki, on May 7. He was on the hit lists of ISIS, Taliban, and their affiliated outfits. He had informed the police, and the governments of Sindh Province and Pakistan, about the death threats he had been receiving. But as per usual, in the policy […]

On 27 April 2016, Ms. Sirikan (“June”) Charoensiri, a lawyer at Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, received a summons to report to the public prosecutor at the Office of Special Prosecutor at Subdistrict 3 Court (Dusit) in Bangkok on 12 May 2016 at 10.00. Under Thai law, after the police have concluded an investigation and decide […]

In a harrowing incident of honor killing a 16-year girl, Miss Amber, from Makol village near the town of Dunga Gali, distrct Abbottabad Khyber Pakhtun Khuwa (KPK) province was burned alive on 29th April 2016 for helping her friend elope. Because of her help her friend was married The incident caught media attention after a […]

For millions of Indians hit by the devastating drought, death comes in myriad forms. Farmers’ suicides – oft reported by the media and denied by the State – are one of them. A recent and surprising pattern of drought death is heart attacks to those waiting in water collection queues. This is what killed 12-year-old Yogita […]

This week’s episode covers World Press Freedom Day, marked annually on May 3. Journalists are at risk in many Asian countries, facing either threats to their lives or legal repression. According to Reporters without Borders’ 2016 World Press Freedom Index, the media freedom situation has worsened significantly or stagnated in the region. The majority of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission received information that police officers attached to the Nawalapitiya Police have illegally arrested and severely tortured Ms. M K Malani, a resident of Dholosbage Estate, and later produced her before the Nawalapitiya Magistrate. She was detained when she tried to lodge a complaint at the Nawalapitiya police station […]

Bangladesh is today going through a deep political crisis that the global civil society is yet to fathom. For all practical purposes, the country is under a dictatorial regime that has usurped power through unfair means. Independent institutions like the Judiciary, Election Commission, and the National Human Rights Commission are completely under the control of […]