AHRC News

In declining to use its powers to review the death sentence of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, the Supreme Court of India has today not only declined to take responsibility for the life that it has condemned, b...

The findings of the Independent Fact-Finding Commission on the Krue Se Mosque massacre in Southern Thailand were made public yesterday. While recommending compensation payments and the preparation of ...

The Calcutta High Court last Wednesday took a short time to announce a decision on a matter that had stood before India’s courts for a decade: it granted leave to prosecute police officers alleg...

The attempted rape yesterday of a High Court judge in Sri Lanka indicates the extent to which the rule of law has collapsed in the country; a circumstance towards which the Asian Human Rights Commissi...

Following letter was handed over to the Attorney General, Inspector General of Police, National Human Rights Commission and National police Commission by a Special Representative, Mr. Ali Saleem sent ...

During the last two weeks there were two occasions in which victims of very serious acts of torture sought protection from the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka claiming that they were facing...

In the Sunday Leader of July 17 under the caption ‘Police Commission Blame IGP for Inaction’ by Shenan Moses, there appear several comments relating to the Constitutional powers of the National Po...

July 2004 is the 21st anniversary of the government-sponsored riots against Tamils in Sri Lanka. The month became known as Black July. Similar state-sponsored violence took place in Gujarat, India in ...

On July 1 last year, more than 500,000 people took to the streets of Hong Kong. It was the sixth anniversary of China’s resumption of sovereignty, and they marched against the Hong Kong governme...

Torture is the most serious obstacle to the advancement of human rights in Asia, whether civil and political rights or economic, social and cultural rights. This is because torture is the prime genera...

As the world commemorates the International Day against Torture 2004, the countries of South Asia continue to be known only for their collective record of endemic torture. From the pre-colonial period...

The authorities in Thailand have abandoned any pretence that they are trying to resolve the disappearance of well-known human rights defender and lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. After initially reacting ...

That police in Sri Lanka continue to get away with torture and murder despite enormous publicity was dramatically illustrated this past fortnight, with the killing of an innocent man involving an offi...

The statement by Amnesty International in its annual report for 2004 to the effect that Sri Lanka is experiencing “an improved human rights situation” is deeply disturbing and patently inc...

On 6 March 2003, 15-year-old Ma San San Aye signed a letter to senior Burmese government officials alleging that she and another young woman had been raped by U San Net Kyaw, the chairman of the Dedal...

Exactly what happened in Songkhla, Pattani and Yala provinces of Southern Thailand this April 28 is yet to become clear, however, under no circumstances can the killing of at least 107 civilians be ju...

Democratic groups in Nepal are now demonstrating in the capital daily, putting lives and limbs at risk demanding an end to ‘regression’–the abolition of parliament by the king, who h...

In October 2003, 17-year-old Mousumi Ari was murdered by her in-laws. Whereas the role of the state personnel should have been to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators, in fact they did exactly t...

To Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam President of India New Delhi Dear Sir The Asian Human Rights Commission is concerned about the horrendous practices during forensic examinations at the government hospitals...

Within the first 70 days of the year 2004, the number of people shot dead by the police in Sri Lanka came to seven ¡V an average of one person every 10 days. All of these shootings have taken place d...