Torture

SOUTH KOREA: Human Rights in 2011 – Systematic setup to restrict rights vs. systematic failure to protect rights

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 is publishing the annual report on the State of Human Rights in South Korea in 2011. The full report is available […]

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: AHRC launches human rights report on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day

(Hong Kong, December 07, 2011) On the occasion of the upcoming International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2011, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is launching its annual report on the State of Human Rights in Indonesia in 2011. The full report is available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2011/AHRC-SPR-006-2011/view. In the report, the AHRC witnessed a […]

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 […]

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 […]

SRI LANKA: Prageeth’s wife writes to UN-CAT over Mohan Peiris claim

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following open letter from Mrs. Sandya Eknaligoda to Mr. Joao Nataf, Secretary to the United Nations Committee against Torture. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ——- An Open Letter from Mrs. Sandya Eknaligoda forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) […]

SRI LANKA: Report on the examination of the third and fourth periodic reports of Sri Lanka by the UN Committee against Torture

First round The Committee against Torture (hereinafter – “the Committee”), presided over by Mr Claudio GROSSMAN1 , began its consideration of the third and fourth periodic reports submitted by Sri Lanka pursuant to Article 19 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter – “the Convention”) on 8 November […]

SRI LANKA: Drunken police officers attempted to steal a motorbike and tortured the bike-owner after arbitrary detention

Dear friends, Mr. Chulani Thilakarathna, (50) of Ushani Plant Nursary, Dunkannawa, Naththandiya in Putthalam District was severely tortured, illegally arrested and detained by police officers attached to the Marawila Police Station on 17 Octorber 2011. The officers were drunk at the time of the incident and attempted to steal the victim’s motorbike. He was only […]

INDIA: Armed robbery by police and security agencies in West Bengal

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation working in West Bengal, concerning the case of armed robbery by the state police and the security agencies operating in the state on the pretext of anti-Naxalite operations. It is reported that a team of armed police officers […]

INDONESIA: New report reveals extent of Papua human rights violations; NGOs meet in Geneva to address their concerns on the situation of human rights in Papua

A Joint Statement by the Faith Based Network on West Papua (FBN), Franciscans International (FI), and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Geneva, 3 November 2011 Following last month’s violent dispersal by Indonesian security forces of the Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress in Jayapura, Indonesia has been confronted with the full scale of human rights problems […]

SRI LANKA: Epilogue to the CAT Committee proceedings on Sri Lanka

The meeting of the Sri Lankan delegation with the CAT Committee took place earlier. Kindly see our comments on those meeting of the 8th and 9th November. It is now a suitable moment to take an overview of ‘the dialogue with Sri Lanka’ which the Sri Lankan delegation obviously did not treat as a dialogue. Why did the Sri […]

SRI LANKA: A young man was illegally arrested and severely tortured by the Wattegama Police

Dear friends, Mr. M.M. Kushantha Janaka Herath was illegally arrested, detained and severely tortured by officers of the Wattegama Police Station on 30 October 2011. Kushan was on his way home when he was stopped by three police officers who ordered him to submit to a search. Kushan voluntarily submitted showing the officers, who he […]

INDIA: BSF brutally assaults and injures six innocent farmers in West Bengal

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation working in West Bengal, concerning the case of torture of six innocent farmers by the Border Security Force (BSF) on mere suspicion. The incident happened when the BSF stooped the farmers for questioning while they were on their […]

SRI LANKA: An innocent man was illegally arrested, tortured and laid with fabricated charges by the Ranagala Police

Dear friends, Mr. Sarath Keerthirathna (40) of No: 130, Nilgalla, Udispaththuwa in the Kandy District was illegally arrested and severely tortured by the police officers attached to the Ranagala Police Station on 15 October 2011. Sarath was arrested while he was at his sister’s house by two heavily inebriated police officers in civilian clothes and […]

SRI LANKA: The 47th Session of CAT — the government makes empty statements without firm commitments to halt violations

Yesterday (November 8, 2011) the government delegation gave the state report relating to the questions raised by the Committee against Torture (CAT) at the 47th Session of the CAT Committee. Mr. Mohan Peiris, a former Attorney General and now an advisor to the government presented the report. After making the report the committee members raised […]

PAKISTAN: Taliban threaten the family of a gang rape victim, her lawyers are illegally detained and tortured by the perpetrators

Police officials accused of having, along with a soldier, gang-raped a 16 year-old girl for one year are now targeting the lawyers working with the victim. At the time of writing, four of her lawyers were abducted, kept in illegal detention, tortured and threatened to quit the case on different occasions. The resoluteness of the […]

SRI LANKA: Student tortured at Horana Thakshila Primary School

Dear friends, A 14-year-old school child, Uve Adikarige Shashendra Sampath of Horana Thakshila Primary School was severely tortured by a teacher on 20 October 2011. This assault has happened despite the assurance of the government that violence against school children would be closely monitored. This case is yet another illustration of the fact that the […]

NEPAL: Torture victim denied justice for nine years must be granted protection

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the 2002 torture case of Hom Bahadur Bagale will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday, 31 October. This former police officer was tortured and illegally detained in 2002 for having refused to obey an illegal order from his superiors. Nevertheless, the […]

INDIA: BSF strikes again, this time, knifing a person

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 brutality practiced by the Border Security Force (BSF) against civilians living along the Indo-Bangladesh border. In this instance, the BSF was in fact assisting the cross-border smuggling gang of which […]

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 […]