Statement

A well-functioning legal system can be measured by its response to daily crimes and complaints. This is a much better test in fact, rather than a country’s constitution (in Sri Lanka’s case, the 1978 constitution still remains a major barrier to the functioning of a legal system), or statutes, or judicial presence, all of which […]

Contrary to the incumbent government’s electoral promise of doubling farmers’ income, India’s agricultural crisis has deepened, with the farm income growth rate hitting an unprecedented 14-year-low in the last financial quarter of 2018. At 2.67 percent in real terms (constant price), it is the worst growth since October- December 2004. To worsen matters, the nominal […]

The discovery of body parts of two businessmen from Rathgama, Bussa area, who were abducted, disappeared, and later killed, allegedly by several policemen, including the Officer-In-Charge of the southern province special crime investigating unit, is major news in Sri Lanka these days. According to the newspapers, the two businessmen were kidnapped from Rathgama Bussa area, […]

The state of Arunachal Pradesh is seeing protests for the second time this year. The first wave of protests and violence had come with the government’s ill thought out Citizenship Amendment Bill (2016), which promised to give Indian citizenship to some minority communities fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, with much-relaxed rules. The move […]

The Internet broadcasted the long interview with Arun Siddhartha by Hiru on TV and separately on the YouTube channel, Vishwa Karma. One perspective that comes out of Arun Siddhartha’s reflections can be enormously positive. It can be used in trying to understand ways to resolve the present prolonged crises which have dragged the country into […]

In an unprecedented move, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena attacked the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) for carrying out its duty to vet soldiers to participate in United Nations Peacekeeping Missions. While the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations requires the HRCSL to vet the human rights record of persons proposed for participation in peacekeeping […]

Perhaps one thing that was forgotten when Lord Dunmore gave Adult Franchise for all, and also when Sri Lanka became an independent nation, is the stability of the social structure of a country. This is what provides for the establishment of the government, which will ensure security and stability to all. When these matters are […]

After two world wars, the first world elite realized the necessity of a global human rights movement, and cooperated with each other to bring that about. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a product of this imagination and determination not to allow past rights violations to recur. Subsequent UN conventions all followed from this […]

With reports of violence over the passage of the flawed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha across all seven states in the region, India’s North East is on the boil. The Bill, notwithstanding its confusing use of the word immigrants for refugees fleeing religious persecution, seeks to replace the Citizenship Act of 1955 that […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly objects to the lack of medical care given to Dr. C.K. Raut in custody. Dr. C. K. Raut was arrested by police on 7 October 2018 along with his four-year-old daughter from the premises of the District Court in Rautahat, while appearing in court in the case of […]

On December 11 to 14, 2018, human rights defenders from South East-Asia and the laureates of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights participated in an international workshop on the ‘Asian Human Rights Charter” organized by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the May 18 Memorial Foundation, (Gwangju, South Korea) in Jakarta, Indonesia. During the workshop, human rights […]

Nepal saw a year of poor human rights protection in 2018. The government was instead seen to further restrict people’s rights by introducing harsh laws to control the functioning of human rights NGOs and INGOs with its National Integrity Policy (NIP). The NIP places tighter controls over non-governmental space and is currently under discussion, while […]

Despite repeated DENIAL by the authorities and their attempts to pass on such deaths as deaths by illness, 2 more hunger deaths in Jharkhand have been reported over the last month. This takes the total to 17 since September 2017. The report stated that Kaleshwar Soren (45), a resident of Dumka district and Seeta Devi (75) of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned by India’s decision to deport seven Rohingya refugees back to Burma. The seven are among around 40, 000 refugees that have fled to India over the years, escaping the discrimination and violence faced by the minority group in Burma. Last year, two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and […]

The United Nations Development Programme’s recently released 2018 Multi- dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) lauds India for a massive reduction in multi-dimensional poverty in the country. The MPI goes beyond looking merely at income to understand how people experience poverty. It uses key dimensions like health, education, access to basic amenities and living standards and gives 10 indicators […]

On 12 December 2017, two Burmese journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested through a police sting operation in Yangon, and charged with breach of the Official Secrets Act, 1923. The Yangon district court filed charges against them under Section 3.1 (c) of the Act that penalises a person who “obtains, collects, records […]

Sri Lanka repeatedly tops the ranks in South Asia when it comes to hunger. It in fact has mostly sat with the much better doings middle-income countries in global hunger indexes. Not any more despite the fact that it was found to be the most food-safe country in South Asia in the 2017 Global Hunger […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the custodial death of Ram Manohar Yadav, 30, a resident of Janaki Rural Municipality, Banke district. Yadav died in Police custody while on the way to Kathmandu for medical treatment. Police had admitted him to the Bardiya District Hospital in Gulariya and subsequently to the Bheri Zonal […]

On the 28th of August 2018, several raids and arrests were made by the Pune Police across India. These raids were on the homes of well-known Human Rights Defenders, Advocates and Activists. The rationale behind the raids and arrests kept changing although two charges remained constant. First accused were those arrested as having instigated a caste […]

Since late July 2018 Kerala started receiving unusually high rainfall (a total of 3,368 mm rainfall in this monsoon). This was initially ignored, as this southern-most state is a frequent recipient of torrential rains. With time however, matters worsened and for the first time in history, 35 out of 42 dams in Kerala had to […]