Victims assistance & protection

I refer to the complaint made by Dr. Lenin Raghuvansi [please refer to your case number 5840/24/97-98] of a well planned assassination attempt on his life. The attempt was on 18.02.1998. He has given detailed information that his house was surrounded by police officers from Ramnagar police station in an attempt to assassinate him the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) is in danger of loosing its independence, through a draft by the Presidential Transition Committee (PTC) on 16 January 2008 placing the commission under the control of the incoming president. On January 25, the draft will […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the prolonged detention of two farmers in Davao Oriental province, the Philippines. Both of them have been detained for almost three years without any progress in their case because the prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court on six occasions. One of […]

An October 17 article in the Bangkok Post reported that the Ministry of Justice there has to pay hundreds of millions of Thai Baht in compensation to people who have been wrongfully prosecuted for crimes they did not commit. The law providing for compensation, the Compensation for Victims of Crime Act BE 2544 (2001), arises […]

In a September 26 address at a conference on national human rights institutions, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, said that he supported the creation of a national human rights committee for the country. Om Yen Tieng, the prime minister’s aide, said that perhaps it could be set up within a year. The audience, […]

The Bangkok Post newspaper of Tuesday, September 19 cited Vasant Panich, the human rights commissioner charged with investigating killings that occurred during the 2003 “war on drugs” as saying that the victims in cases he had investigated were mostly innocent persons whose deaths have never been properly investigated. Vasant, chairperson of the Subcommittee on Legislation […]

This is the last in a series of five open letters that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has felt compelled to write to the UN Human Rights Council over the horrible human rights situation in Bangladesh, and its causes. As we have noted throughout, we are doing this as we are deeply concerned for […]

The public information on the situation of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) became even more confused with the statement made by one of the commissioners, D. Jayawickrama who was quoted in the Sunday Island, July 30, 2006.   Mr. Jayawickrama stated that the reason the Commission had stopped proceedings in the inquiries […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you further to open letters to the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Thailand, Lawyers Council of Thailand and Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva on the need for a concerted response to the alleged attempt to abduct Vasant Panich, NHRC member […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is writing to you to express its persistent concern over the alleged attempted abduction on 28 June 2006 of Vasant Panich, a member of your National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Thailand and the head of the Subcommittee on Legislation and Administration of Justice.  The facts of the case, as […]

The numerous appointments to key national commissions by the executive president, contravening constitutional requirements, are a very clear indication of Sri Lanka’s drift from a law-based society to one in which the law plays a significantly reduced role.  While criticism against presidential actions has pointed to matters including the fact that no person is above […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 10, 2006 AS-101-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission INDIA: Snail pace progress at the National Human Rights Commission the Commission must accept responsibility The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received a communication from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India on 9 May 2006, informing the […]

This is to bring to your notice that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, which is your counterpart in that country, has ceased to function as the time of office of the earlier commissioners, chaired by Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, has expired and no new commissioners have been appointed. The power of appointment of the […]

A report in today’s Daily Mirror newspaper of April 3 states that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa “is exploring the possibility of setting up independent commissions under the 17th Amendment, bypassing the now defunct Constitutional Council…” The president is also quoted as having said that he was looking into the possibility of an appointed parliamentary […]

In a news item published in the Island on March 29, 2006 outgoing chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Radhika Coomaraswamy, confirmed that the terms of office of the Commission members would expire on April 3, 2006. Like the other commissions created under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, the Human Rights […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the following letter from Dr. K. Manoharan of Trincomalee, whose son was one of five students murdered on 2 January 2006. As we believe that the problems he has raised are of the greatest importance from the point of view of witness protection in Sri […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) unconstitutional and ordered it to be scrapped immediately. This has paved the way for the release of ousted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had […]

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

Dear friends, You will be aware that Sri Lanka has a new Executive President who was elected on 17 November 2005.  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is issuing this urgent appeal because of the serious constitutional deadlock that has been affecting human rights in Sri Lanka for several months due to the non-appointment of […]