AHRC News

Disappearance of Thai human rights defender cause for grave concern What has happened to Somchai Neelaphaijit, and why hasn’t the government of Thailand so far been able to reveal the circumstan...

A Statement by Asian Human Rights Commission Who is celebrating International Women’s Day in Pakistan? On 5 February 2004, Mr Bhooro Subzoai together with an accomplice first shot dead his aunt,...

This February, the families of Nemai Ghosh and Anesh Das were compensated 100,000 Rupees (US$2200) each by the government of West Bengal for their deaths while under police custody at the Malda Magist...

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on 9 January 2004 informed the Sri Lankan government that, in pursuant of Rule 86 of the committee’s rules of procedure, the state party (Sri Lanka) ...

As people read obituaries and find out about the death of someone they know, the first thing many think to do is visit the person and pay their last respects to the dead body. The body becomes a sacre...

Protecting victims requires defence of principles and effective institutions Asian Human Rights Commission December 10, 2003   Today the very foundation upon which human rights stand is under att...

The impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka is now before the Parliament with the signatures of a hundred members of Parliament in support.  Meanwhile a proposal by President Chand...

Thirty-eight persons from ten Asian countries gathered together at Wattala, Sri Lanka, from November 14 to 24, 2003, for the annual Human Rights School Session jointly organised by the Religious Group...

By suspending parliament and calling the police and military onto the streets this November 4, the President of Sri Lanka has undermined ongoing efforts to restore the rule of law to the country by wa...

The former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, expressed serious concerns over judicial integrity in Asia during a speech delivered i...

This 5 October 2003, the Board of Directors of the Asian Human Rights Commission decided to present its inaugural Human Rights Defenders Award to Mr Michael Anthony Fernando, in recognition of his str...

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) draws the attention of the international community, particularly human rights and civil society organisations, to an act of grave injustice done by the Malaysi...

That deep poverty affects the majority of people in the world is a widely accepted fact. Poverty is essentially about food. It is about hunger and thirst. If the world admits the existence of large-sc...

Thirty-eight years since the events that propelled General Suharto to power, and five years since his downfall, Indonesians are still subjected to a version of history conceived and propagated by the ...

The international community took an important step this September 24, when the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, urged the Security Council to take up rule of law issues. There is n...

Senior judge’s premature resignation calls for a thorough review of Sri Lanka’s judiciary The leading prelates of Sri Lanka have made strong pleas for Justice Mark Fernando to stay in his post despi...

That the Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister, Mahinda Wijesekara, has launched an attack on the National Police Commission (NPC) indicates that the body is already making itself felt. Reacting to investigat...

The news that Justice Mark Fernando has decided to resign from the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka two and a half years early is of grave concern. Observers believe that Justice Fernando has been sidelined...

The bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad this August 19 is a profound tragedy for the entire world community. Its immediate victims included Iraqi civilians and United Nations staff, ...

Two months after the brutal attack on the National League for Democracy convoy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo at Depayin, northern Burma, both leaders remain under detention, while arrests a...