Child rights

PAKISTAN: Universal Children’s Day- denied fundamental rights children suffer from State neglect

Universal Children’s Day was observed in the country as a formality, while at the same time, millions of children are denied their basic rights. Despite the Constitutional obligation, enunciated under the Policy Principle, the State is ignoring its duty of care for 53 percent of its population below the age of 18. The preliminary results […]

AHRC TV: UN wants to strengthen ASEAN’s human rights mechanism and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 197

This week Just Asia begins with the ninth ASEAN-UN Summit on Monday, where United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN wants to work with ASEAN to strengthen the regional bloc’s human rights body. This comes as several ASEAN countries face human rights related controversies. Particularly troubling is Burma’s violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority, […]

INDIA: AADHAR- starving the poor to death as the Supreme Courts looks away

by Avinash Pandey Shakina Ashfaq, 50, is the latest life claimed by the AADHAR, the name given to the 12-digit unique identification (UID) number by the government of India. The reports suggest that she died of hunger. The authorities, as is unsaid standard operating procedure, claim that preliminary inquiries suggest that she didn’t die of hunger, […]

PAKISTAN: Morality in the back burner as the LEA resorted to disappearing women and children

by Javeria Younes  Despite lacking legal framework on disappearances Pakistan’s constitution prohibits illegal and arbitrary detention and under article 10. Though the phenomenon of disappearance has been ongoing incessantly for two decade to make matters worse the LEA officials have now adopted the tactic of picking up and disappearing innocent women and children of wanted man as […]

AHRC TV: Dalit girl loses eye in brutal rape and attack and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 195

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where a 14-year-old Dalit girl was raped by a 19-year-old youth. After raping the girl on October 28, the non-Dalit Santosh Shrestha tried to kill her by slashing her with a sickle, and gouging out her left eye. The delay in receiving treatment cost the girl her left […]

NEPAL: Mysterious custodial death of a girl must be investigated

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely disturbed by the mysterious death of 16-year-old Priyanka Yadav in police custody on October 29, 2017. The Area Police Office (APO), Mirchaiya arrested Priyanka and 14-year-old Sanjay Sah on October 28 for the murder of Bhavesh Yadav, Priyanka’s 13-year-old cousin brother. The next day, Priyanka was found […]

NEPAL: Dalit girl raped and left eye gouged out

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a 14-year-old Dalit girl who had been raped. It was carried out by a non-Dalit male named Santosh Shrestha (19). He is an eighth-grade student at the local Saraswoti Secondary School. After raping the girl, Santosh tried to kill her by slashing her […]

NEPAL: Police use excessive force on protesters demanding investigation into mysterious child death

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is alarmed at the Nepali police’s firing in broad daylight, with an intent to kill, at protesters who were protesting at the lack of investigation in the death of an 11-year-old child. Laxman Shiwakoti was found dead in a pool of floodwater on 1 October 2017 after he went […]

SRI LANKA: Five students tortured by their Principal still under treatment in hospital

Dear Friends, According to reliable information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), four senior girls and a boy were tortured by the Principal of the Deniyaya Central College. On 17 October 2017, the Principal had called five students to his office. He assaulted the students on their head, neck, back, legs and dragged […]

PAKISTAN: Government deports Turkish family violating UNHCR’s asylum status and Court’s stay order

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the forced deportation of a Turkish family. They had been granted asylum status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Secret State Agencies and plain clothes persons arrested and then abducted them. The family included Mr. Mesut Kacmez, the former vice-president […]

SRI LANKA: Girl expelled from government school on unfounded allegations

Dear Friends, According to information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a 15-year-old girl in 10th Grade at A/Madatugama Sri Rewatha Navodya Vidyalaya, Madatugama, Kekirawa was arbitrarily expelled by the Principal. When she began vomiting during an outdoor celebration of International Children’s Day on 2 October 2017, a group of students misinformed the Principal that […]

SRI LANKA: Fourteen-year-old child tortured by Moratuwa Police

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding the case of 14-year-old Kahingala Waduge Kanidu Minsara Silva, who was illegally arrested, detained and tortured by the Moratuwa Police Station on 10 October 2017. Minsara is a student at Uyana Kanishta Vidyalaya. On October 8, he had a non-violent dispute with a senior […]

INDIA: Superpower aspirations while 21 percent of children waste away

Statement | India | 17-10-2017

With the publication of the 2017 Global Hunger Index Report, it is clear that India’s dreams of becoming a superpower, with world class airports and bullet trains, are all hyperbole. The utopian narrative of modern India overlooks the fact that it is a country that fell three places down to 100 in the 2017 Hunger […]

SRI LANKA: Eighteen girls sexually abused by male worker at an Orphanage

Dear Friends, According to reliable information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission, eighteen young girls in the Dehiwala Orphanage in Colombo District have been sexually abused by a male employee. After receiving the information, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) of Sri Lanka had taken steps to force entry into the Orphanage and arrest […]

NEPAL: Dalit family beaten after protesting overcharged fertilizer

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about Ram Kishor Harijan and his son Parikshan Harijan. They had been beaten by non-Dalits Mohan Prasad Yadav and his son Niraj Yadav. They were buying chemical fertilizer at the local cooperative, which sells at a discounted governmental price. The feud began after the […]

PAKISTAN: Teacher’s hateful remarks led to killing of a Christian student

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the death of a 17-year-old Christian student, after the continuous hateful remarks of a teacher. The student was killed for drinking water from the school’s water cooler. Police still refuse to book the schoolteacher and head master for spreading religious hate among […]

PAKISTAN: Peasant disappeared for refusing bonded labor contract as his family seeks justice

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the abduction and illegal confinement of a peasant, Nawaz. He was abducted by a local influential man, Umer Farooq, of Kot Momin District Sargodha. Nawaz’s wife, Amna, and her three children were forced to take refuge at the Hawa Shelter Home. Umer, […]

INDIA: Independence Day for cows as hospitals massacre children

Statement | India | 14-08-2017

How exactly can one react to a republic that lets more than 60 of its children die in just 48 hours for the want of oxygen as the company supplying oxygen to the hospital had stopped it after repeated warnings for the same over non-payment of Rs. 68 Lakhs? How exactly one must feel after […]

PAKISTAN: A tribute to Dr. Ruth Pfau: who successfully fought and controlled leprosy in country

The 87-year-old, Pakistan’s Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to control leprosy in Pakistan is no more available at his 2nd floor small room in Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC), located in a densely populated area of Karachi. Hundreds and thousands of admirers of Dr. Ruth Pfau are in great shock even the Canary bird, […]

PAKISTAN: Child and young day laborer missing after being arrested by State Agencies

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding two missing persons. A brilliant, 16 ½ year old student and a 21 year old day laborer who were picked up by uniformed Officers and others in plainclothes. The laborer’s family could not file a case because of monetary concerns. In the […]