Press Release

(Hong Kong, 12 February, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is launching an online signature campaign today marking the 10th year of Sharmila’s (Iron Lady of Manipur) fast to end the culture of impunity in the Indian state of Manipur. Sharmila will celebrate her 38th birthday on 14 March this year in the small […]

(Hong Kong, January 8, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased to inform you that 14 of the 18 workers who were held in detention after having been falsely charged have been temporarily released.  The workers, collectively known as the Karnation 20, were first arrested in March 2007 and were continuously detained over questionable […]

The Asian Legal Resource Centre has urged a group of United Nations human rights specialists “to operate to their fullest possible capacity” in the interests of a young man being tried in Burma’s central prison, who has alleged that he was severely tortured to confess to a crime that he did not commit.  In a […]

(Hong Kong, January 4, 2009) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is publishing below the full text of the interview made by a radio host with one of the three journalists who had escaped from the November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre. In December 2009, the AHRC has invited the person (name withheld for security reasons) […]

(Hong Kong, December 11, 2009) The Muslim-Christian Community of Hong Kong (MCC-HK) is once more getting together at Chater Road on Sunday, December 13, 2009, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The MCC-HK grew out of the tensions and conflicts created by the Philippine Government’s decision not to sign the agreement to create the Bangsa […]

(Hong Kong, December 9, 2009) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today launched an online petition to call upon the members of the Philippine Congress to revoke a proclamation which placed the province of Maguindanao, in southern Philippines, under martial law.  Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the Proclamation No. 1959 on December 4. However, the […]

(Hong Kong, November 17, 2009) Two Catholic Priests and a group of indigenous people from Mindoro Island have commenced a hunger strike of indefinite length in Manila to protest an impending mining operation by a Norwegian company.  Fr. Roberto Reyes, a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), is one of the 25 […]

Hong Kong, October 28, 2009  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned that after Soeharto’s fall there is no significant progress in the resolution of the past human right abuses which occurred under the New Order regime, in particular disappearances.  For example between 1997 and 1998, 24 activists were abducted because their struggle for […]

SRI LANKA: Journalist complains of death threats and unknown persons pursuing him (Hong Kong, October 21, 2009) Mr. Senaka Ekanayake, the editor of SATANA, a local newspaper, complained of constant death threats received over the last few days and of unknown persons visiting his house in search of him, in a telephone interview given to […]

(Hong Kong, October 6, 2009)  Between 1997 and 1998, 24 student activists in Indonesia, who challenged Suhartoe’s New Order regime disappeared by an abduction of the Army Special Forces Command. Until now, no justice was brought to this key case in Indonesian history.  The National Commission for Human Rights in Indonesia categorized the case as […]

(Hong Kong, September 22, 2009) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the assurance given by the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the Philippines (CHR) that she would initiate “direct communication” with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the signing of the law on torture. In her September 22 email to Basil Fernando, […]

(Hong Kong, September 16, 2009) The Asian Human Rights Commission today launched an urgent appeal demanding the Repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and .  The online appeal calls for everyone to sign up for letters which will automatically reach the President, The Speaker of the Parliament and the Opposition Leader of Sri Lanka.  […]

(Hong Kong, September 17, 2009)  The civil groups in Hong Kong have learned that on September 2, the government released a statement regarding the increasing of the minimum food allowance for foreign domestic workers. We are deeply concerned about absence of a transparent and reasonable mechanism in making this decision. We have written a joint letter to […]

(Hong Kong, September 4, 2009) The Asian Human Rights Commission has reliably learnt that the alleged extract of the Udalagama Commission of Inquiry Report published in the Lakbima newspaper and subsequently reproduced in the website of the Ministry of Defence on 7/26/2009 is not, in fact, an extract from the report but rather an extract […]

(Hong Kong, August 13, 2009) We wish to inform you about an interview, in its entirety, with ‘sisaIN’, a weekly magazine in Korea, concerning the independence of the National . The interview was conducted using both email and telephone connections. The Korean version of the interview can be read here. Interview follows: Q: When did the […]

(Hong Kong, June 26, 2009) To mark the United Nation’s Day in Support of Victims of Torture today, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) launched its latest publication in Manila entitled: “Abadilla 5 Families”, a book which contains interviews and stories of their families in the latter’s travails for justice. The Abadilla Five is a […]

(Hong Kong, June 25, 2009) Mr. Muzibur Rahman is a businessman who farms shrimp in Pakigachha in the Khulna district of Bangladesh, but on January 23, 2007 he was arrested and tortured by army officers. They detained him at their camp for most of the day, and beat him severely for at least two hours […]

(Hong Kong, June 23, 2009) With the practice of torture rampant across Asia, it remains one of the most serious obstacles to social health. To battle this injustice, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announced today its plan to launch a year-long campaign to lobby for the criminalisation of torture in Asian countries, starting June […]

(Hong Kong, June 24, 2009) Three years ago, Axel Pinpin, a researcher and public information officer for a local peasant group, was abducted and briefly disappeared together with four other persons. Only later did Axel, and his four companions, Riel Custodio, Aristides Sarmiento, Enrico Ybanez and Michael Mesias, learn that they had actually been arrested. […]

(Hong Kong, June, 2, 2009) As President Obama is to visit the Saudi Arabian authorities tomorrow the Asian Human Rights Commission has issued an appeal for him to intervene on behalf of Rizana Nafeek whose appeal against the death sentence has been pending for several months now. Rizana Nafeek who was a 17-year-old girl from […]