Violence against women

BANGLADESH: A massacre of demonstrators

News reports from Bangladesh allege that a series of attacks on demonstrators have taken place, at around 3am today, May 6, 2013. The extent of the injuries and death is difficult to be ascertained at the moment. The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, gave the figure of deaths as 5. However, several internet reports have mentioned that the […]

PAKISTAN: Violence against the Ahmadi community continues with the collusion of the police and authorities of Punjab province

Once again violence against the Ahmadi community has erupted in Punjab province. As the election are approaching (May 11) this recent outburst is seen as an attempt to influence the voters to support fundamentalists and right wing parties. On 28th April 2013 supporters of Khatme Nabuwwat (the movement against the Ahmadi sect of Islam) raided […]

INDIA: A Republic of the rapists, by the rapists, for the rapists?

Article | India | 17-04-2013

The news had sprung up from nowhere. All that I had picked up the newspaper for, was to kill some time on that long flight and here it was, tucked away in a small box, staring at me. Reading it had sent a shiver down my spine. No, it was not about some unseen horrors. […]

NEPAL: A fifteen year old gang rape victim deserves protection and justice

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the gang rape of a fifteen year old school girl on 26 March 2013, in her house of Methinkot VDC-8, Kavrepalanchowk. The victim and her father were threatened that they would be killed by the perpetrators who identified themselves as Maoists, should they […]

SRI LANKA: Ayio Neethipathi… Aiyo Neethipathi…

Wednesday, 03 April 2013 02:34 The Attorney General is reported to be collecting statistics on incidents of rape and child abuse. Though this has come a little too late it is commendable. We are sad to note that Sri Lanka does not maintain proper records of such ruthless crimes. According to media reports the inquiry […]

BURMA: Charges brought against child assault, rape victim by officials protecting perpetrators

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that police and other officials in Burma are continuously harassing a teenage girl who has lodged complaints against a former employer for rape, assault and trafficking. As feared, the alleged perpetrators seemingly have used their money and influence to have charges brought against […]

INDIA: A girl murdered in Manipur, allegedly by two minors acting upon instructions from a man

Dear friends: The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding the murder and probable rape of a 16-year-old girl in Imphal West District, Manipur State. On the 5 March 2013, local fishermen found the body of pregnant girl, deceased, Ms. C1 (name withheld), floating in Haorang cannel. Although a confessor has emerged and taken […]

BURMA: President too quick to proclaim state of emergency

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been following with concern news of the latest outbreak of communal violence in Burma. Although the circumstances of how the violence began are clouded, the president on 22 March 2013 declared an indefinite state of emergency over four townships of Mandalay Region–Meikhtila, Wundwin, Mahlaing and Thazi–after the imposition of […]

SRI LANKA: A mother of two was publicly tortured by the Chairman of the Co-op Lanka, Kotapola

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ms. Kumarapperuma Arrachige Dileeka Shanthi Kusum, a 33-year-old mother of two was beaten in public by the Chairman of the Co-op Lanka, Kotapola. Dileeka Shanthi Kusum was hospitalised due to the injuries she received in the incident and has made complaints to the […]

INDONESIA: Police and military officers molested a pregnant woman and arbitrarily arrested six civilians in Paniai, Papua

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the raid conducted by a joint police and military force in Paniai, Papua. The raid was conducted to find members of the pro-independence group but the joint force arrested six civilians who are not related in any way with this group. Four officers […]

INDIA: Reforms without honesty

Statement | India | 19-03-2013

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) appreciates the proposed reforms to the criminal law in India – Penal Code, 1860; Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, and the Evidence Act, 1872. Amendments to the three legislations, collectively known as the Criminal Major Acts, partially address some of the pitfalls in India’s criminal law architecture with regard to […]

PAKISTAN: Killing of human rights defender Ms Perveen Rehman

A Press Release from Front Line Defenders forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) On 13 March 2013, human rights defender Ms Perveen Rehman was shot and killed by armed motorcyclists, close to her offices. Perveen Rehman was a social and economic rights defender, working with communities in the slums of Karachi. She was director of […]

PAKISTAN: A fighter for the poor and disenfranchised gunned down

Amir Murtaza In a tragic incident, the well-known social worker, educationist and development expert Parveen Rehman was brutally shot dead in Karachi on 13th March, 2013. She had been working vigorously for the emancipation of the poor and marginalized people in Pakistan, for more than two decades. Parveen Rehman was a very well respected teacher […]

ASIA: Modus Operandi TORTURE

Statement | Asia | 14-03-2013

Based largely on a series of drawings by Nepali artist Sushil Thapa, Modus Operandi TORTURE exposes the true horror of what takes place in police stations around Asia. Thapa, in collaboration with the CVICT in Nepal, interviewed a number of police torture survivors and based these illustrations on their gruesome accounts of what they experienced at the […]

PAKISTAN: When will cases of Blasphemy be filed against the Muslim attackers?

Sections 295 and 295A of the Pakistan Penal Code do not differentiate between Islam and Christianity These are just two of the photos, among many, taken during the attack on Joseph Colony, a Christian residential area in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. The pictures tell the real story of the attack by Muslims extremists […]

PAKISTAN: Christian houses were burned with connivance between the government of Punjab and land grabbers

(Photo courtesy of the Daily Express) The small incident of a quarrel between three Christian and Muslim friends during a drinking session (of alcohol) turned into the ransacking, looting and burning of 180 Christian houses in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. The fighting between the friends happened on Tuesday, March 5 but after three […]

SRI LANKA: The Recent Suppression of Tamil Voice at Vavuniya

A group of hundreds of relatives of the disappeared from Mannar and Vavuniya were to arrive on the 5th night in Colombo by buses to share with the people in the South their pathetic stories about the disappearances of their loved ones during and after the war, and then to present a petition to the […]

INDIA: महिला हिंसा नहीं, कहीं नहीं और कभी नहीं.

Article | India | 08-03-2013

हाल ही में सामने एक सर्वेक्षण ने  “महिलाओं की सुरक्षा संबंधी इन्डेक्स” में मध्यप्रदेश को सबसे अधिक खराब स्थिति में पाया | टाटा स्ट्रेटजिक मेनेजमेंट समूह द्वारा 33 राज्यों में किये गए इस सर्वे में मध्यप्रदेश का स्थान 29वें नम्बर पर है | जिन सूचकों के आधार पर यह श्रेणीकरण किया गया वे हैं 6 […]

PAKISTAN: International Women’s Day – Legislation is essential but not enough, especially if it is rarely implemented

Every year, this day represents a suitable occasion to remember the battles fought and the recognition gained, but above all it is a moment of reflection concerning all those achievements not yet acquired. This year in particular, the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women has been scheduled between March 4th and 15th at […]

INDIA: Democracies don’t strip their women

Avinash Pandey* The decision of going naked in protest to the oppression committed on them by POSCO and its supporters must not had come easily to the women of Govindpur village of Jagatsingpur district in Odisha. It cannot come easily to women of anywhere in country, however, much distressed they are. It is a country, […]