Enforced disappearances and abductions

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source of extra-judicial killings of two young girls and one young boy, Reena Rasaili (18), Subhadra Chaulagain (17) and Tasi Lama, by security personnel in Pokahari Chauri-4, Kavre District in Nepal on 13 February 2004. It is alleged that Reena Rasaili […]

Dear friends, Disappearance of 26 year old man after arrest and torture by Watthegama Police officers in Kandy District Victim: Saliya Padma Udaya Kumara (26 years old) Date of incident: from 26 August to 28 August 2003 Alleged Perpetrators: Police officers at Watthegama Police Station in Kandy District DETAILD INFORMATION: (based on the statement from the victim’s […]

Dear Friends The two cases below are viewed in the larger context of the deterioration of the situation for human rights activists, humanitarian workers and civil society at large. PBI (Peace Brigades International) is an international non partisan volunteer organisation dedicated to making space for peace in various conflict areas, and is particularly concerned about […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission Since 2000, the Kwangju Human Rights Award is presented yearly in honor of the 1980 Kwangju Uprising, where the Kwangju people fought against the military take over of their country and 240 Kwangju citizens were martyred for the cause.  The award  ris presented to a person who […]

SITUATION: On 21 April 2003 five Human Rights activists were abducted and two of them tortured and killed in Naujan Town, Oriental Mindoro province, Southern Tagalog. The bodies of Eden Marcellana, Secretary General of the Alyans sa Pagsusulong ng Karapatang Pantao in Southern Tagalog (Karapatan-ST), and Eddie Gumanoy, Chairperson of the peasant group, KASAMA-TK (Kasapian ng mga […]

Dear Friends Tiananmen Mothers and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) are both members of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a federation of organizations concerned about the phenomenon of involuntary disappearances in China, India (Kashmir), Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. They have started a hunger strike to press the […]

Dear Friends Disappeared Persons in Kashmir Parvez Imroz The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, since its formation in 1994, has been campaigning against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (EID) in Jammu and Kashmir State. The association from time to time has highlighted the plight of EID, but the government remains indifferent to their problems. In […]

SITUATION: Two Human Rights activists, Mukhlis Ishak, aka Choy, 27 yrs old, from Darussalam Banda Aceh, and Zulfikar, aka Joul, 24 yrs old, from Kramat Banda Aceh, have disappeared. The Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute (LBH Banda Aceh) has found proof of the kidnap and disappearance of the two men. On Thursday, 27 March, 2003, […]

Regarding our previous appeal on the case of missing after 8 days of illegal detention in police custody in Sri Lanka (see at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2003/394/), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the victim, KORALAGAMAGE Sujith Dharmasiri (23) was produced before a magistrate after frantic search by parents, a human rights organization and […]

This is an update on the attack at the office of IDAR-O-INSAF (Institute for Justice and Peace) on 25 September 2002, which left seven activists dead and one seriously injured. The sole witness of the incident, Mr. Robin Peeran Ditta (32) was kidnapped by the police and later released. Actually, Mr. Ditta had been illegally […]

A case of gang rape and sexual exploitation against Dalit minor girl INDIA: Caste based discrimination – a distinct case of racial discrimination on the basis of work and descent; right to life & fair trial and justice; abduction, gang-rape and sexual exploitation against Dalit minor girl ———————————————————– We are shocked to learn that a […]

As you may be aware the Asian Human Rights Commission together with many other organizations has been carrying out a campaign to get the Sri Lankan Government to bring to justice the perpetrators of mass disappearances from the 1988-92 period as well as the disappearances which are continuing at present.

Commemoration of “Thirteen years ago my son, who was 22 years old, left home telling me he would return in 15 minutes or so. He never did. We are still waiting. We know he will not come, but we are still waiting,” said a 57-year-old father who joined the commemoration of Disappearances Day for the […]

AHRC MEDIA Release  28 June 2001  Australia: High Commissioner Appointee responsible for atrocities  Former detainee under General Perera speaks out  Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is issuing today an eyewitness account [attached] of extreme physical and psychological torture, overcrowding and hundreds of disappearances/extrajudicial killings at an illegal military detention camp (in Wehera, Kurunegala district, 25 […]

The United Nations Human Rights Commission is currently having its annual meeting in Geneva. AHRC believes that this is an opportune time to insist that the UN establish an International Tribunal to investigate and bring to trial the perpetrators of the forced disappearances in Sri Lanka.   Even by official Sri Lankan government figures, over […]

AHRC UA990312 Sri Lanka 12 March 1999 ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION URGENT APPEAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The United Nation Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Report E/CN.4/1999/62 dated 28 December 1998 states that the Sri Lankan Government informed the Working Group it had established an inter-ministerial committee \”to examine expeditious ways of implementing the recommendations […]

Former Lance Corporal Somaratne Rajapakse has received severe injuries after being attacked by his prison guards at Colombo’s Welikade jail for alleging revealing the existence of a mass grave in the northern Jaffna peninsula according to the AFP report dated 23 August 1998. A former soldier, he revealed in July 1998, that there is a […]

The three government commissions established to inquire into disappearances, which took place in large scale in Sri Lanka, have established 16,782 cases of such disappearances. (NGOs have estimated much larger number) The commissions have spend almost three years for inquiries and published their report at the end of last year. However no action has been […]

Three commissions created by the Sri Lankan government have established the disappearances of 16,742 people. While the claim that the number of disappearances are much larger needs to be further investigated, the immediate issue now is what conclusions can be drawn from the facts already established. It should be underlined that those who have disappeared […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding to you an appeal that five student activists advocating human rights have disappeared from their dormitory on 15 August 2008 in southern Thailand. Two of whom had previously been arrested in January of this year. The disappeared victims, all are students of the Yala Rajabhat […]