AHRC News

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ASIA: Extra-judicial killings in Asia

The following is a joint statement by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), Asian Legal Resource Centre, and International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development (INFID) at the 4t...

ASIA: Support for Special Procedure on Torture in Asia

The following is an oral submission made by Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) at the 4th Session of the Human Rights Council on March 26, 2007: Interactive dialogue – Special Rapporteur on Tor...

PHILIPPINES: Foreign interference–why not for a U.N. Human Rights Council member?

On March 26, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) spokesman Ed Diansuy was reported to have cautioned civil society groups inside and outside of the country from taking the matter of extrajudicial exe...

THAILAND: Ninety-one judges & 14 years not to complete a trial

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today issued an appeal on a case that has been heard in the Bangkok South Criminal Court since 1993. The four defendants are accused of having plotted to kill ...

PHILIPPINES: Exoneration of Palparan and his troops exposes impossibility of seeking justice in dysfunctional system of justice

On March 20, Commissioner Eligio Mallari of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) announced it had submitted the results of its investigation that recommend the dismissal of complaints against Maj. Gen...

CAMBODIA: The Bar Association’s charge of exorbitant fees to foreign lawyers is immoral and is obstructing the Khmer Rouge trial

In January 2007, while international judges and their Cambodian counterparts on the Khmer Rouge tribunal were working on the internal rules for the hearings, the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Camb...

PAKISTAN: Restore the judiciary and end militaristic tyranny in Pakistan

The legal community of Pakistan has rejected a government offer for talks, while demanding the withdrawal of the reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the formation of a natio...

BANGLADESH: National Human Rights Commission must not be a toothless tiger

On 19 March 2007, Bangladesh’s national television channel BTV announced in a news bulletin that the present government has “in principle decided to establish a National Human Rights Commi...

PHILIPPINES: Economic gains do not justify strength of democracy

Not only is democracy being subverted in the Philippines, but its meaning is also misunderstood. While the country may have made economic gains in recent times, to declare them as proof of a “strong ...

INDIA: Nandigram might equate India with other dictatorships in Asia

“There is anarchy and everyone is taking the law into his own hands” said the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)]. He is right! So what is the state gover...

CAMBODIA: Investigation of 1997 grenade attack on peaceful demonstrators and other criminal cases must be conducted and the report made public

On 30 March 1997, Sam Rainsy who is now the leader of Cambodia’s opposition party, organised and led a peaceful demonstration in front of the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. The rally was calle...

SRI LANKA: Abuse of the powers of the AG’s Department and Criminal Investigation Bureau can turn Sri Lanka into a situation like that of the Gulag Archipelago

The last few weeks have seen the use of the powers of the Attorney General’s Department to freeze the accounts of a person associated with a leading newspaper which turned hostile to the governm...

PAKISTAN: As outrageous violations take place, to keep silent on the issue of the rule of law is nothing less than betrayal

In recent weeks the Asian Human Rights Commission commented on two major violations of human rights from Pakistan. One was the severing of a young man’s penis by police officers in Larkana distr...

THAILAND: The real thinking behind the coup–“What do the people know?”

AS-055-2007 March 18, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission THAILAND: The real thinking behind the coup–“What do the people know?” Last Monday, a week before the six-...

INDIA: Bastar and Nandigram, where next?

Unity in diversity is the catchphrase often used in reference to India. People of various cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds united to form a nation.  However, today India is a strange twist ...

PAKISTAN: Reinstatement of the Chief Justice is the only credible solution to the present judicial crisis

It appears that the enormous public support that the ‘non-functional’ Chief Justice Mr. Iftekhar Mohammad Choudry is receiving throughout the country has obviously surprised and shaken the...

THAILAND: The struggle for rationality over barbarity

These are sad times for Thailand. Amid all the confusion and uncertainty at the national level, the violence in the south has gone from bad to worse with the killing of nine minivan passengers on Marc...

PAKISTAN: Torture victim is threatened by a federal minister

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to draw your attention to the tragic case of Mr. Hazoor Bux Malik. As you should be aware, this case allegedly involves a vicious attack that resulted in the v...

INDIA: Nandigram, the latest outcome of a failing justice system

The central and state governments of India ruling 1.2 billion people in the world’s largest democracy boasts of economic and industrial growth, surpassing almost all nations except China. Ideall...

THAILAND: Brutal killings must be met with due diligence, not further violence

The Asian Human Rights Commission joins in the condemnation of the attack on a minivan in Yala, southern Thailand, which left nine people dead. As has been widely reported, the vehicle was stopped in ...