Caste-based discrimination

An article , “An overall framework for reconciliation discourse” by Basil Fernando, Director of Policy and Programmes, Asian Human Rights Commission, published in the Daily News issue of 04 February 2016. Basil Fernando The author is sharing this writing, with a suggested overall framework for reconciliation discourse in Sri Lanka. It is meant to provoke […]

RohithVemula’s suicide will not be just another suicide in the statistical records of the National Crime Records Bureau. It will not be so in the same way the 2006 massacre in Khairlanjiwas not. These two cases separated by almost a decade,are far more than a statistic of ordinary crime, such as that committed in a […]

The author is sharing this writing, with a suggested over all frameworkfor reconcilation discourse in Sri Lanka. It is meant to provoke thought and discussion. Responsiblity for this view is the author’s alone. I The village where I was born, for all purposes, looked very quiet and peaceful. However, an internal structure of discrimination was […]

The suicide of a young Dalit scholar, Mr. Rohith Vemula, in the University of Hyderabad is not merely the death of an individual. The sordid saga behind what made Rohith take this extreme step exposes all the pretensions of the Indian state and its institutions. It shows how six decades after independence, elitist Brahminical domination […]

This is Just Asia’s final episode for 2015. It begins with a report from Sri Lanka and the long struggle for justice of a torture survivor. Rohitha Liyanage was after 10 years finally able to see the perpetrators tried and convicted for their crime. Two police officers tortured Rohitha so brutally that his leg was broken […]

दक्षिण एसियामै जातीय भेदभाव तथा छुवाछूत मुख्य समस्याको रुपमा रहेको छ । विगतदेखि जातीय भेदभाव तथा छुवाछूत अन्त्यका लागि यस क्षेत्रमा भएका पहलहरु अझै प्रभावकारी हुन सकेका छैनन् । नेपालका सबै नागरिकहरूलाई समानता, स्वतन्त्रता र आत्मसम्मान जस्ता मानवअधिकारका मूलभूत विषयहरू नेपालको अन्तरिम संविधान, २०६३, राष्ट्रिय कानुनहरू तथा नेपालपक्ष भएका मानवअधिकारसम्बन्धी अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय दस्तावेजहरूले प्रत्याभूत गरेका छन् […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the case of Mr. Sudirman, a drug dealer, who was burnt alive by Brigadier Sony Saputra, a police officer of the Karimun Police Resort (Polres Karimun), and the Officer’s friends. Sony was hImself involved in the drug business, benefiting from the same. When […]

A total of 180,657 rural households continue to engage in manual scavenging in India, despite the inhuman practice being repeatedly outlawed by the Parliament and Judiciary. This is the state a year after the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), a flagship scheme of the incumbent government, covering 4,041 statutory towns, aiming to […]

Dear Friends, The Jagaran Media Center (JMC) has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission that A Dalit woman, who queued up to receive relief materials after suffering loss in the Great Earthquake of 25 April, has been beaten black and blue. The beating by local non-Dalit Deepak Bhattarai’s family members has resulted in Saraswoti Sunar, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you that Ganga Maya Adhikari, wife of late Nanda Prasad Adhikari, has filed a Right to Information (RTI) application. Ganga Maya, who has resumed her hunger strike in Bir Hospital, seeking justice for the murder of her son Krishna Prasad Adhikari who was allegedly murdered by […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Baswadi Meghwal Samaj and Anusuchit Jati and Samasat Jan Sangharsh Samiti, Nagaur, Rajasthan, about a brutal attack on a Dalit family over a land dispute. The alleged perpetrator set the family home on fire; this resulted in the death of an elderly woman […]

Discrimination based on caste practices, including untouchability, is a deep and unhealed wound in India’s collective conscience. Caste-based prejudices adversely affect an estimated 160 million Indians. Despite a constitutional injunction and legislations that seeks to prohibit caste-based discrimination, the practice continues in India. Most tribal communities in the country also face discrimination that has its […]

Dear Friends, The Jagaran Media Center (JMC) has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission that a pregnant 21-year-old woman, Rajani Thapa Magar, who married Lal Bahadur Bishwokarma, a Dalit man, has been beaten by her family. The woman’s family belongs to the Magar ethnic community. The police have apprehended five members of Rajani’s family. However, […]

Dear Friends, The Jagaran Media Center (JMC) has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that Mrs. Sangita Lama Pariyar (21), resident of Ward 4, Padhmapur Village Development Committee (VDC), Chitwan District, Nepal, has been tortured by her own father, mother, sister, and relatives on 26 January 2015. She married a Dalit man, Mr. Manoj […]

This week’s episode of Weekly Roundup brings you stories from across Asia. The episode begins in Nepal where the drafting of a new constitution has stalled, leading to violence. Advocate Dipendra Jha, provides a view from Kathmandu. AHRC TV then turns to Burma, for more on illegal land grabbing. Thein Than Oo, a Chief Court Advocate, elaborates. […]

Citing lack of evidence against those accused of killing 22 Dalits in Shankar Bigha of Jehanabad, the district civil court acquitted all of the suspects. Coming a full 15 years after the massacre on the eve of 26 January 1999 – ironically the Republic Day – the verdict is not a standalone case of justice […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) joins millions of Asians and others across the globe to mourn the sad demise of Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer. Aged 100, Justice Krishna Iyer passed away today at a hospital in Kerala, India. He was a member of AHRC’s advisory group and was an active participant in AHRC’s […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that large numbers of Madhesi activists have been arrested from different parts of Kathmandu in the lead up to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit. Those arrested were preparing to attend a programme in Kathmandu’s Sundhara area on 26th November, organized by Madhesi […]

by Avinash Pandey A doctor conducted sterilization surgeries on 83 women in 5 hours in an abandoned hospital with no infrastructure. The women were made to lay on floor for the surgery and there are allegations that the medicines came from a small, one room factory that is owned by close affiliates of the party […]

The following interview was originally published in the latest issue ( Volume 3 Number 4 & 5)  of Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives ON 25th September 2014, Basil Fernando and the Asian Human Rights Commission was bestowed with the coveted Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternate Nobel Prize,” for “his tireless and outstanding […]