Enforced disappearances and abductions

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the enforced disappearance of a Shia man, Muhammud Bilal, by officials of a Law Enforcement agency. He has been disappeared twice and indicted on murder charges under frivolous grounds. A few days before his disappearance, Bilal had a hernia operation. To date his […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding three missing females in the Wellampitiya Police Division on 14 October 2017. According to relatives they have lodged a complaint with the Wellampitiya and the Grand Pass Police Stations. They requested an urgent investigation to ensure the safety of the young women. On […]

By Basil Fernando This article is a response to an article titled “International Convention on Enforced Disappearances violates the Constitution” published in a reputed newspaper The Island of 22nd October 2017, written by Neville Ladduwahetty. The crux of the argument in that article is that the definition of enforced disappearances as contained in the International Convention on […]

Dear Friends, Mr. Lalsiri Sampath Sugathapala (33) of Meehonda Wewa, Horowpathana was a resident of Horowpathana Police Division. He went missing on 14 April 2017. He was a regular soldier attached to the Sri Lanka Army. After resigning from the military he joined a company in Colombo. He was happy in his job. On 11 […]

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 […]

Dear Friends, Mr. S H Pushpakumara (32) of Uragasmanhandiya Police Division was a resident of Galle District. He went missing on 12 August 2017. He was a regular soldier attached to the Gajaba Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army. He visited his home on a one day pass. He had permission to visit his mother […]

A strong resentment from the people of Pakistani held Kashmir against the enforced disappearances, torture, and other criminal activities of Pakistani intelligence agencies, have led to a series of protests throughout the territory known as Azad Kashmir. On September 26, a big demonstration and rally was held in Neelam valley, which divides Indian and Pakistani […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is very disappointed at the Indonesian government’s irresponsible denial of human rights violations in Papua and West Papua province. Far from taking steps to improve the human rights condition there, the government consistently denies the existence of any problem. At the recent 72nd session of the United Nations General […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has taken note of reports about the disappearance of a young man from Manipur in New Delhi. There have been many instances of youth from the northeast going missing in the National Capital Region (NCR), which is significant in light of the numerous reports of violence and […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding Mrs. Jaysekara Mudiyanselage Ramani Kumari permanent resident of Kantale Police Division. Kumari is a mother of Milan Saman Wickramasinghe (21). On 13 June 2017, Milan was tortured by the police officers attached to the Kantale Police Station. After taking treatment, the victim’s son […]

Despite being the host country of the highest number of refugees of the world, Pakistan is still not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or to its 1967 Protocol. The result is that the issues associated with hosting refugees are being addressed arbitrarily and inequitably. Social decency and hospitality demands that a country treats […]

This week Just Asia begins with two shocking judgments in India, in two different cases of sexual assault. In the first, the Punjab and Haryana High Court suspended the sentences of three law students convicted of raping and blackmailing their female classmate, on the basis of unrelated and irrelevant aspects of the survivor’s lifestyle. In […]

Asian Human Rights Commission is proud to announce that it is today celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its Urgent Appeals Programme. The first urgent appeal was issued on 17 September 1997. Ever since Asian Human Rights Commission’s Urgent Appeal Programme has continuously issued urgent appeals relating to human rights violations, reported from many countries of […]

Dear Friends, Gorakaduwa Gamage Maleesha Nalinpriya (10) of Mahagedara Watte, Bataduwa, Galle, was a resident of Galle District. Maleesha went missing on 10 August 2017. He was residing and training to be ordained at Yatagala Raja Maha Viharaya Buddhist Temple at Unawatuna Galle. On 10 August, Maleesha with four other monks and a young boy […]

By: Javeria Younes In the face of the world pointing accusatory fingers at the State for harbouring terrorists and militants, plus US President Trump’s threat of sanctions against Pakistan, State Officials are denying the existence of militancy in the country. The timing of the world’s most dangerous militant organization ISIS to announce its presence in […]

An article from Voice of Baloch Missing Persons forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission By Naser Ullah Baloch Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) is a non-political organization. It initiated campaigning to recover Enforced Disappeared Persons in Balochistan. As an organization, VBMP set its parameters to work within the State’s constitutional limits. Everything is […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where many Rohingya are suffering horrific injuries and loss of limbs by landmines along the Burma-Bangladesh border in their attempt to flee the violence. After the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) attacked several police posts on August 25, the Burmese government carried out a brutal counter-insurgency clampdown. […]

The mysterious death of 35-year-old Dev Bahadur B.K.on 30 August 2017 seems to involve the Ghorahi Sub-metropolitan police, Dang District. Dev was arrested at around 6 p.m. on August 29 by police officers attached to the Ward Police Station, Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan. Dev was drunk at the time of arrest, and was taken to the police station in […]

A Statement from Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Darker and more dangerous: High Commissioner updates the Human Rights Council on human rights issues in 40 countries Human Rights Council 36th session Opening Statement by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High […]

By: Salman Ali The executive and judicial branches of Pakistan’s state must take serious actions against enforced disappearances and on cases of missing persons As a citizen of Pakistan, I am very much concerned about the increase in cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. The state has utterly and miserably failed to restrain law enforcement […]