Announcement

This week Just Asia begins with Malaysia, where more than one hundred foreigners in immigration detention centers have died in the past two years. There were 83 deaths in 2015, and at least 35 in 2016, from various diseases and unknown causes. More than half of the 118 dead are from Burma. A commissioner from […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where the UN has agreed to ‘urgently’ dispatch an investigation team to probe the abuse amounting to war crimes against the Rohingya Muslim minority. According to the resolution adopted by consensus, the investigators must provide an oral update in September, and a full report by this time next […]

This week Just Asia begins with calls by activists for a UN special rapporteur to be appointed to look into deteriorating human rights in Balochistan. Leading the protest outside the UN office in Geneva, Baloch activist Mehran Marri said the past 4-5 months had seen a particular low, with the abduction and disappearance of women […]

This week Just Asia begins with International Women’s Day, annually celebrated on March 8. The theme for 2017 is ‘Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030’. The idea is to work towards the 2030 Agenda, which includes ending discrimination and violence against girls and women, and ensuring free quality education for […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where five police officers have been arrested in connection with the custodial death of a suspect at the Peliyagoda Police station. The 42-year-old Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi was arrested on February 25, following information provided by another suspect. The next day, Chadik’s body was recovered by his family at the Police Mortuary […]

Human rights defenders across the world today have to overcome restrictive and challenging circumstances to undertake their mandate. These challenges could be broadly classified into three categories. They are: (i) restrictions imposed through statutes or regulatory processes; (ii) false accusations and fabricated cases registered by the state against HRDs and their organisations; and (iii) threats presented […]

Since the promulgation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, out of 48 Asian states, 40 states have ratified/acceded to the CAT, whereas 8 states, including countries like India, have refused to ratify the convention. Despite large number of states having ratified the CAT, the practice of torture […]

Two women from a farming village, about 100 kilometres from Colombo, were raped within one year by a judge presiding over cases which involved their husbands as accused parties. Seeking justice, the women approached the National Judicial Services Commission, the BAR Association, and the President of the country. The authorities, instead of helping the victims, […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where two blasts occurred outside a court in Charsadda, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday. At least eight people were killed and 20 injured in the attack. Since the beginning of 2017, Pakistan has witnessed an unprecedented spike in violence, with 20 terrorist attacks claiming the lives of more than […]

This week Just Asia begins by speaking to Adem Carroll, the Burma Task Force director for New York and UN programs regarding the dire situation faced by the Rohingya in Burma. Carroll calls for an independent commission of inquiry into the military abuses against the Muslim minority group. He also says that citizens of ASEAN […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with the UN’s new report detailing mass gang rape, killings and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya by the Burmese military. A team of UN investigators interviewed over 200 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who told how their children, including a newborn, were trampled or cut to death. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you about a paper entitled “Kidnapping and Forced Disappearances of Activists in 1997-1998: Who was Responsible?” This paper shows the stagnation of the investigative process. In 2006 the National Commission on Human Right (Komnas HAM) investigated the case and issued a recommendation report. It concerned allegations of […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with Thailand, where the Khon Kaen Provincial Court on Monday, during an in-camera hearing, granted permission for police to extend the detention of Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattaraksa. A law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM), Jatuphat was arrested on lese majeste charges for sharing a […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia is a special focus on the regional meeting of Asian Parliamentarians & Human Rights Defenders Against Torture, held in Hong Kong in December. During the meeting focusing on modernizing criminal institutions, Just Asia interviewed several parliamentarians and rights defenders. Beginning with India, Just Asia speaks to Dr. P. M. […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, which is seeing human rights at its lowest point since 1997, said an Amnesty International report. According to the report, authorities have “failed on many fronts” to protect the city’s rights and freedoms. Amnesty urged the Hong Kong government and civil servants to “make defending […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where at least 14 bloggers have disappeared since the beginning of January. The government started off 2017 with a crack-down on human rights defenders and bloggers raising their voices on disappearances and extrajudicial killings, particularly in Balochistan. The security establishment there is very sensitive to the construction of the China PakistanEconomic […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where four border police officers have been detained after a video went viral, showing them beating unarmed Rohingya men in the state of Rakhine. The video was posted to Facebook on Saturday and seems to show officers with military-grade weapons kicking two men, as another officer looks on […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where two persons from the Ahmadiyya community were killed when a Muslim mob attacked the community’s mosque on December 12, the day Muslims were celebrating the birthday of Prophet Mohammed. Although the Ahmadi community had written to the Chakwal district commissioner, Punjab, about threats to burn their worship […]

This week Just Asia focuses on international human rights day, celebrated annually on December 10. It commemorates the day on which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948. The UN theme for this year’s Human Rights Day is ‘Stand up for someone’s rights today!’ At a time when intolerance and violence is […]

This week, in its 150th episode, Just Asia begins with Burma, where the crackdown on the Rohingya may amount to ‘crimes against humanity’, says UN’s human rights agency. Since October, the Burmese military have been burning Rohingya homes, shooting people and raping women. According to John McKissick of the UN refugee agency, the government’s “ultimate […]