AHRC News

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BURMA: No place for profiteering, referendum amid devastation

News is increasingly coming from the areas outside of Rangoon about the extent of devastation in Burma wreaked by Cyclone Nargis. In the Irrawaddy Delta region in particular, the towns of Bogalay, Lap...

PHILIPPINES: UN Human Rights Committee’s decision on the Abadilla Five case

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to share with you the full text of a decision adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee on 20 March 2008 regarding a complaint filed under the Optional Pro...

PAKISTAN: Government issues false statements about missing persons

The newly elected government of Pakistan has constituted two committees for Balochistan province, one for missing persons and the other for internally-displaced persons. Of all of the countryÂ’s provi...

SRI LANKA: A mirror of the culture of repression

A reply to another statement by SCOPP dated May 5, 2008 entitled response to AHRC The AHRC has engaged in an exchange of statements with Rajiva Wijesinha, the General Secretary of the Secretariat for ...

SRI LANKA: Justice and peace: a reply by the AHRC Chairperson to the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat

by the Chairperson of the AHRC SRI LANKA: Justice and peace: a reply by the AHRC Chairperson to the Secretary The secretary general, SCOPP, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, has written a letter regarding sever...

SRI LANKA: Reply to Pachoris

May 5th 2008 Mr. Lasantha Wickramatunga – The Editor The Sunday Leader Leader Publications (Pvt) Ltd. 24, Katukurunduwatte Road, Ratmalana  Sri Lanka Fax : +94-75-365891  email : editor@thesu...

BURMA: International assistance needed now, especially from Asia

The physical damage caused by Cyclone Nargis, which swept through Burma this May 2 and 3 is clearly enormous. In addition to the at least 350 dead and uncounted numbers of injured, hundred-year-old tr...

ASIA: South Asia has lost a great crusader of peace

Nirmila Deshpande, a well known peace crusader of India, died on May 1, 2008, after a long period of illness. She was 79-years-old and left behind so many followers who like her, wanted peace. From he...

SRI LANKA: What should a genuine peace secretariat do? A reply to the Peace secretariat

The following is a reply to the statement by Rajiva Wijesinha of the Peace Secretariat entitled ‘Crudities from the Asian Human Rights Commission.’ Not to be diverted from the issue let us reiterate...

SRI LANKA: A call by a group of JVPers for critical self evaluation of past violence has the potential of ushering in political change for the better

A news item this week had the unusually welcome piece of news of a call by a group within the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party (JVP), who refer to themselves as the moderate wing of the party, requesti...

CAMBODIA: Durable solution to land grabbing lies with the due process of law

Land grabbing has been plaguing Cambodia for many years. In early March 2007, a month prior to the commune election, Prime Minister Hun Sen loudly announced a “war against land grabbers”, ...

PAKISTAN: Government remains unmoved by the burning deaths of lawyers

The ministry of Human Rights and Justice remains silent and stationary on a horrifying incident in April 9, that saw two lawyers, two women, another man and one child burned alive in a Karachi lawyerÂ...

SRI LANKA: The Peace Chief and the Summoner’s Tale

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-112-2008 April 30, 2008 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: The Peace Chief and the Summoner’s Tale The Executive Director of the AHRC, Mr....

PAKISTAN: Government has still not initiated enquiry in the case of a young Hindu labourer who was lynched for blasphemy

Jagdesh Kumar, a 27-year-old Hindu, was brutally killed by Muslim workers on the charge of Blasphemy on April 8, 2008 and to-date, no official inquiries have been initiated into this most brutal act. ...

SRI LANKA: Piliyandala bus bombing: attacks on civilians is a crime against humanity

No cause however great, be it a claim of liberation or national security justifies attacks on innocent civilians. The bottom line in any human discourse is the basic humanity of all human beings. Wher...

SRI LANKA: 36 lawyers from Bangladesh urge the AG to appeal from the judgement of the High Court in the torture case of Gerald Perera

On the 2nd April, 2008 the High Court of Negombo acquitted all the accused in the torture case filed against them for severely torturing Gerald Perera. Ever since many human rights organisations have ...

PHILIPPINES: Abadilla Five: Appeals court decision leaves many questions unanswered

The well known case of Abadilla Five came before the Court of Appeals for decision after almost nine years. The appeal was on the judgment of Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City, Branch 103, whi...

BANGLADESH: The lawyers begin their protest movement against emergency laws and the Supreme Court judgment on the issue of bail

The Supreme Court Bar Association of Bangladesh (SCBA) yesterday (April 24, 2008) endorsed a resolution to condemn the decision of the Supreme Court declaring that no court, including the Supreme Cour...

PHILIPPINES: State responsibility to relieve to hunger and poverty related deaths

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed by your letter dated 9 April 2008 to Danilo Reyes, programme assistant of the AHRC, of the case of Maricel Mahinay and her son, John Paul. As you ar...

BANGLADESH: Supreme Court abdicates its powers relating to bail on emergency law matters

The decision of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh made yesterday (April 23, 2008), to the effect that even the High Court, which consists of Supreme Court judges has no jurisdiction to entertain, or to ...