AHRC News

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THAILAND: When will police and immigration officials also be detained over deaths of 54 migrants?

According to media reports, police in Thailand have so far detained six suspects involved in the April 10 suffocation deaths of 54 persons who had been brought in a refrigerated container truck from B...

SRI LANKA: IIGEP episode, AG’s department becoming prosecutor and defender at the same time

The hottest topic in Sri Lanka this week is the press statement given at a meeting by the International Independent Group of Imminent Persons (IIGEP), in which the chairperson, Justice P.N Bhagwati, a...

INDIA: The National Human Rights Commission must prove its impartiality

The Supreme Court of India is an internationally acclaimed institution, known for its neutrality and authority. Though there are incidents that have provoked criticism — sometimes for good reaso...

PAKISTAN: A Hindu worker is lynched for blasphemy as punishment for loving a Muslim girl

A 27 year old Hindu worker, Mr. Jagdesh Kumar was killed by fellow Muslim workers on the charge of blasphemy in the presence of more than two dozen policemen including an officer. The police and facto...

CAMBODIA: The Cambodian government must stamp out bribery in fire fighting

In the middle of this month of April, just within hardly a week, three fires broke out in quick succession in Phnom Penh. The first one happened on 11 April and the blaze destroyed some 450 houses in ...

SRI LANKA: A nation without a political will

In giving reasons to quit their role, the IIGEP stated that there is no political will on the part of the government to find out the truth about the alleged violations of human rights by agents of the...

BURMA: Persistent threats to basic health rights of detainees

According to news reports of the last couple of days, leading human rights defender and political activist Min Ko Naing is among those persons detained in Burma since the nationwide uprising of last S...

SRI LANKA: Criminalize refusal to record complaints of victims of crimes and human rights abuse

Many newspapers reported a statement by a member of the opposition UNP made yesterday stating that during the last two months the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has received over 200 complaints of viol...

ASIA: Mr. Muneer A. Malik awarded 2008 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights

On January 23, 2008 the Board of Directors of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announced that it was granting its 3rd Asian Human Rights Defender Award jointly to Mr. Muneer Malik, former Pres...

SRI LANKA: Evolution of the falsifier’s role of the Attorney General’s Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-097-2008 April 17, 2008 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Evolution of the falsifier’s role of the Attorney General’s Department AG...

SRI LANKA: IIGEP departs – a Requiem for Justice and Human Rights

The eleven-member International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) consisted of representatives from India, France, Indonesia, the United States, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Canada, Cyprus,...

PHILIPPINES: Criminal acts by the police must not be part of their work

After nearly two years, the Office of the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (Moleo) has resolved to “close and terminate” the investigation they were conducting into the complain...

SRI LANKA: Case No. HC326/03 … denial of right to an adequate remedy under Article 2 (3) of the ICCPR

April 14, 2008 Mr. C.R. De Silva the Hon. Attorney General  Attorney General’s Department Colombo 12 SRI LANKA Fax: +94 11 2 436 421 Dear Mr. De Silva, Re: Case No. HC326/03 – Request for appe...

PAKISTAN: Immediate actions required to prevent a possible civil war in Pakistan

The brutal attacks on April 9, 2008, in Karachi claimed the lives of 14 persons including a child. Six persons were burned alive of which four persons were lawyers and the other two their two women cl...

PAKISTAN: Human rights groups denounce burning to death of up to 7 lawyers in Karachi and call for immediate action

Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and Lawyers Without Borders/Canada (LWB/C) call on the Government of Pakistan to immediately provide effective protection to ...

THAILAND: Authorities must treat truck victims with dignity and according to law, not their own idea of law

The news that 54 persons died in the back of a truck as they were being transported to work illegally in Thailand on 10 April 2008 has again drawn global attention to the desperate conditions in Burma...

PAKISTAN: Brutal attacks on lawyers and it is time for parliament to act

According to reports from Karachi seven charred bodies have been recovered yesterday, the 9th April, 2008. Among them were the bodies of five lawyers including two women. In total 11 persons were kill...

SRI LANKA: Academics in Sri Jayawardenapura fear foul play

We reproduce below a letter written to the Vice Chancellor of the Sri Jayawardenapura Univestiy and the Chairperson of the University Grants Commission regarding the complaint of several academics who...

INDIA: Initiate good precedents in the Universal Periodic Review

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has started the first session of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) from yesterday. India is among the 16 states that will be reviewed during this sess...

CAMBODIA: Cambodia must recognize the competence of international human rights bodies

In recognition of the horrific violations of the rights of its people in its recent past and in order to prevent any recurrence of such violations, Cambodia, by virtue of the Paris Peace Agreements of...