AHRC News

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PHILIPPINES: To justify the use of torture is a constitutional and human rights violation

In a letter dated 21 January 2006, the City Director of the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO), Senior Superintendent Alfredo Toroctocon wrote to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to den...

UNITED NATIONS: A second chance for all – the AHRC welcomes the establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council

The first step on a new road towards the worldwide enjoyment of human rights and the protection of victims was taken yesterday, with the creation of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, fol...

SRI LANKA: Draft Contempt of Court Act must be enacted promptly

In an attempt to fill Sri Lanka’s legal lacuna, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has adopted a draft Contempt of Court Act to be submitted to the government this month, March 2005. The draft bro...

CAMBODIA: Government should remove obstacles to freedom of expression

In violation of their right to freedom to expression, the Kampuchea Krom community, on March 6, 2006 was denied permission to demonstrate against the arrival of Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai...

PHILIPPINES: Brutal beating of a person by the police was not a “justifiable degree of force”

AHRC-OL-004-2006 9 March 2006 An Open Letter to the City Police Director of the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) Senior Superintendent Alfredo Toroctocon City Police Director General Santos C...

CAMBODIA: Effective measures must be taken to stop massive land grabbing

Although a group of villagers–members of an indigenous community–in Cambodia’s northeastern province of Rattanakiri were told by local authorities that their lands were reserved for ...

SRI LANKA: The elimination of corruption requires court delays to be dealt with

Two recent reports in the Sri Lankan press (see Daily Mirror, 7th March 2006) have brought to light statements made by the Director General of the Commission of Bribery and Corruption and the Inspecto...

ASIA: 2nd AHRC Asian Human Rights Defender Award Presentation Ceremony for Somchai Neelaphaijit

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Hong Kong, with the cooperation of the Institute of Asian Studies and Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University and the NGOs Coalition for the Pr...

SRI LANKA: Delays in courts — everyone’s karume

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-033-2006 March 6, 2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)  SRI LANKA: Delays in courts – everyone’s karume The expression by a High Court jud...

SRI LANKA: The role of the Judicial Services Commission in World Bank reform project

It may be of interest to those concerned with legal and judicial reforms in Sri Lanka that the World Bank has been contributing to such a reform project for several years now. According to a project a...

CAMBODIA: Immediately abolish Cambodia’s criminal defamation law and withdraw legal actions against human rights activists

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the Cambodian government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, to abolish Article 63 of the UNTAC Law of 1992 on criminal defamation and libel and thereby fulfil the ...

SRI LANKA: the father of a victim of extra-judicial killing is threatened with death for pursuing justice

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the following letter from Dr. K. Manoharan of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. As we believe that the problems he has raised are both tragic in personal te...

Re: the arrest, torture and killing of another Sri Lankan citizen on the basis of mistaken identity: the case of Lelwala Gamage Nandiraja, killed by members of the Weliweriya and Pitigala Police

The Asian Human Rights Commission is writing this letter to you, since it is no longer possible to find any responsible agency within the Sri Lankan law enforcement system to which a complaint of this...

PHILIPPINES: State of emergency must not be used to attack human rights defenders

This Friday, February 24, 2006 a state of emergency was declared in the Philippines. Through Proclamation No. 1017 the president has banned all public rallies and greatly restricted constitutional rig...

SRI LANKA: Judges’ resignations demand a response from the president

The resignation of two judges from the three-member Judicial Service Commission (JSC) continues to be a matter of topmost public interest. Comments made by numerous persons reflecting different points...

ASIA: Somchai Neelaphaijit selected for 2nd AHRC Human Rights Defender Award

Today, February 20, 2006 the Board of Directors of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has selected Somchai Neelaphaijit for its 2nd , in recognition of his tireless efforts to bring justice to v...

SRI LANKA: Torture victim subjected to a TB patient spitting in his mouth wins fundamental rights application at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka held on February 17, 2006 that officers of the Welipenna police station severely tortured Koralaliyanage Palitha Tissa Kumara by forcing a tuberculosis patient to spit i...

NEPAL: Supreme Court ruling on the Royal Commission for Corruption Control and the release of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba welcomed

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC...

SRI LANKA: Bypassing the 17th Amendment is a move towards the return to absolute power

Recent reports speak of significant reorganisation within Sri Lanka’s police department, bringing it under the control of the Secretary of Defence (SD), who will now attend to all police appoint...