AHRC News

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BURMA: Misuse of law to imprison man who complained about electricity supply

Last week the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an urgent appeal on the case of a man in Burma who has been imprisoned as a consequence of making repeated complaints about electricity supply...

PAKISTAN: Military is the main obstacle in the investigation of extrajudicial killings of three Baloch nationalists — Asian Human Rights Commission

No progress has been made in the investigation into the extrajudicial , Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Sher Mohammad Baloch and Lala Muneer Jan Baloch, after their abduction by the persons from the military,...

PAKISTAN: Army leadership should be taken to task for issuing public statements on political matters — Asian Human Rights Commission

The Pakistani parliament is debating a controversial American bill, the Kerry Luger bill, which would provide Pakistan with US$ 1.5 billion per year over the next five years for democratic, economic a...

SRI LANKA: Ranga Bandara MP talks to the AHRC about the arson attack on his house and office

   Mr. Ranga Bandara, a Member of Parliament gave a live interview to the Asian Human Rights Commission, based in Hong Kong, on October 6th about the arson attack and about the political environment...

PHILIPPINES: Treatment for tuberculosis must also be afforded to prisoners — Asian Human Rights Commission

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern that two detainees, Leo Paro and Melvic Lupe, have died, reportedly due to tuberculosis while being held at the Karangalan Police Stat...

SRI LANKA: The Arson attack and the abysmal lawlessness — Asian Human Rights Commission

The opposition politician Ranga Bandara’s house was burned to cinders on the evening of the 4th October. Sometime earlier, the house of another opposition politician, John Pulle, was similarly r...

BURMA: Amend the Child Law — Asian Human Rights Commission

Last Friday, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an Urgent Appeal on the case of three teenage girls who have been imprisoned for alleged involvement in an illegal lottery ring in Burma (A...

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh’s international obligation of criminalising torture remains pending for eleven years — Asian Human Rights Commission

On October 5 1998, the government of Bangladesh, under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). ...

ASIA: South Asian organisations must be more active against caste based discrimination — Asian Human Rights Commission

Human rights organisations working against caste based discrimination in the region must engage in debates on the need for a comprehensive UN framework to tackle caste based discrimination and should ...

SRI LANKA: Opposition demands dismantling of war time security measures

Basil Fernando     Nearly five months have passed since the government claimed complete victory over terrorism by the defeat of the LTTE. And at the same time, it was claimed that peace had ...

INDONESIA: Government should enforce the law regarding student disappearances of 1997/98

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2, 2009 AHRC-OLT-026-2009 An Open Letter to the President of Indonesia by the Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC) Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono President of the Republic o...

SRI LANKA: Features of a Gulag (1) — The loss of the meaning of legality and illegality

(This article initially appeared in the Sri Lanka guardian and was written as a response to a discussion in Ground Views) Basil Fernando The concept of the gulag, first used by Aleksandr Solzhenisyn i...

INDIA: Advertisement campaign against Naxalites is a call for violence

A newspaper advertisement published by the Government of India on Sunday, September 20, 2009, reads ‘Naxalites are nothing but coldblooded criminals’. This advertisement is part of the gov...

PAKISTAN: The ritual abuse and naked humiliation of three women casts a deeper shame on the justice system that supported it — Asian Human Rights Commission

The violent humiliation of three women reported from Punjab this week has thrown stark light on the complicity of the police and the courts in gender-based crimes — and on the continued degener...

PHILIPPINES: An appeal to help flood victims and desperately needed improvements to the public warning systems

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) express its sincere condolences to the Filipino people for the terrible loss of life caused by typhoon Ondoy (international name: Ketsana) that affected Metro ...

SRI LANKA: A Gulag Island — a response to Dayan Jayatilaka — the mentality of the phantom limb — Asian Human Rights Commission

Basil Fernando Dayan Jayatilaka begins his article with the words, “I am proud of my country, Sri Lanka.” To demonstrate the differences in our points of view I would like to begin by stating that, ...

SRI LANKA: The Gulag Island (2) — Zero Status of Citizens- Dayan’s problem (and a response from Dayan Jayatilaka)

“The issue that concerns me is something a little different. Why is it that many people still do not grasp that the system in this country has gotten so warped that it is not capable of what is ...

PHILIPPINES: Policemen squabble in open court over custody of a detainee for bounty — Asian Human Rights Commission

To argue that some Filipino policemen are corrupt and extorting money on pretext of enforcing their duties and obligations is something that no rational person could disagree with. This is an establis...

SRI LANKA: The Gulag Island — Asian Human Rights Commission

Alexander Solzhenitsyn added the word ‘gulag’ to the human rights vocabulary to describe a type of experience that is being repeated in many parts of the world. His own three volume study ...

SOUTH KOREA: Prosecutor must stop applying provisions found unconstitutional; accused must be released — Asian Human Rights Commission

The Constitutional Court decided yesterday that two articles of the Act on Assembly and Demonstration are unconstitutional. They are article 10 of the Act prohibiting assembly and demonstrating before...