Child rights

On 21 January, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics has unanimously adopted a draft anti-torture bill. PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar moved The Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape Bill, 2014, last August and the Chairman Senate referred it to the Committee. The objective of this Bill is to prevent and protect all persons from […]

More than a month after the deadly attack on Army Public School Peshawar, the tragedy is still under thick impenetrable clouds. The uncertainty about what the Prime Minister termed ‘a national tragedy’ persists with no one even making an effort to fathom. According to umpteen media reports about the December 16th attack, all one could […]

Police excess is quiet a norm in Pakistan but on January 23 police transcend their authority and baton charged school children who were demanding that their school run by trust be reopened and administration not handed over to government. The students of Government Islamia High School near Bhati Gate Lahore along with their parents were […]

2014 was the deadliest year yet, for the children of Pakistan. The year began with the killing of 19 school children on 15th January 2014 – all pupils of the Bright Future High School in Daulatpur, in the Sindh Province. They were returning home after winning a quiz competition, when their van was crushed under the […]

Since 15 January 2015, the Bangladesh government has deployed “Joint Forces”, comprising the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), and the police to conduct operations against the opposition. Houses and shops of those identified as opposition supporters in northern Bangladesh are ending up demolished. Hundreds of people, including women and children, have been […]

Schools across Pakistan reopened on 12th January 2015 following the horrors of the Peshawar carnage that was unleashed on 16th December 2014, on the innocent school children at the Peshawar Army Public School (APS). Parents and teachers along with the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Shareef attended the sombre morning assembly where the surviving students vowed […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on Human Rights Day 2014 Speaking about the rule of law in Pakistan is fatuous. This is a state where “might is right” and anarchy, in its worst connotations, rule supreme. Corruption, nepotism, red tape, and a dishonest bureaucracy pollute the “land of the pure”. In terms […]

17-year-old Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work promoting young people’s rights. Here she is, accepting that honour. In the name of God, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful. Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, Respected President General Assembly Vuk Jeremic Honourable UN envoy for Global education Mr Gordon […]

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 […]

by Jamil Junejo Universal children’s day is being observed globally on 20th November every yearwhen theUN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This year, it is the 25th anniversary of UNCRC. A wider galaxy of international rights community has planned to mark this day in order to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a horrifying incident of a Christian couple being burnt alive on charges of Blasphemy in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. According to information, the couples’ legs have been broken so that they cannot escape the burning. The young Christian couple has been severely beaten and were […]

(The following article was originally published in the Ethics In Action, a bi-monthly publication devoted to discussing how movements and leaderships claiming to uphold ethics and morality have failed to promote and protect human rights. Click here to read the latest issue of the journal   ) The word ‘rights’ very often seem so wrong—politically,  socially […]

Dear friends, The Terai Human Rights Defenders (THRD) Alliance in Nepal has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that Juglal Tharu, a 15-year-old, and Mr. Maneshor Tharu, a 28-year-old, both residents of ward 5, Binauna Village Development Committee (VDC), Banke District, have been arrested unlawfully on 14 October 2014 and tortured while in custody. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that Mujahiddain Khan (alias Kahis Ansari), a 14 year old minor and resident of ward 6, Jaisapur Village Development Committee (VDC), Banke District, has been imprisoned unlawfully since 21 August 2014.The Police Sergeant for the Mid-Western Regional Police Office, Banke, Mr. Netra Bahadur Rana, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the Manila City government for its apparent outright neglect to improve conditions at the Reception and Action Center (RAC), a public child care institutions. The AHRC has obtained a copy of a photo, taken on October 12, showing a naked and severely malnourished boy lying on the […]

Malala Yousafzai; the epitome of the fight against religious oppression of women The Asian Human Rights Commission takes the greatest pleasure in congratulating Malala Yousafzai on the occasion of being awarded the Nobel Prize for female education.   Malala in her struggles which she began as a child, defied religious extremism of the worst kind in […]

A tribute by Bushra Khaliq Well done, Malala! Every Pakistani is proud of you. Today you have made our head high. After Dr. Abdus Salam, Malala is second person who has shown other side of Pakistan and introduced terror-torn Pakistan’s soft face to the world and provided us a moment of real joy. For all […]

The fifth Congress of Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), held in Manila from 22-25 September and attended by participants from ten countries – Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jammu and Kashmir in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand and Timor-Leste renewed its commitment to fight against impunity and build a world without disappearances. AFAD […]

Conference Statement September 17-20, 2014, Manila, Philippines– We, the participants in the conference on “Sharing Best Practices in Advocating for Legislation Against Enforced Disappearances” coming from organizations fromArgentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and the United States of America are convened in Manila, Philippines, the […]

by Bushra Khaliq The 2014 floods in Pakistan is the fifth in series of floods since 1973, 1988, 1992 and 2010. This time the late monsoon rains [in the early part of] September unleashed terrific floods in Central Punjab. Swollen rivers, particularly the Chenab breached floodwalls, sweeping away thousands of villages and the Government despite […]