Freedom of expression

On 2 September 2016, a team of police was seen in the vicinity of the home of the human rights defender Dr. Rubina Feroze Bhatti, and questioned her house maid of her whereabouts. The previous day, the NGO of the human rights defender, Taangh Wasaib Organization (TWO) was shut down by police and 8 of […]

The 7th September is one of the darkest days in the history of Pakistan when religion was firmly inducted to be the basis of the state affairs. This laid the foundation of unprecedented discrimination, abhorrence and violence against other religions, other sects or other interpretations of religion that did not conform the religious interpretations of […]

Avinash Pandey Unable to pay the ambulance drivers INR 1500, or around USD 22, a young mother was forced to sit out the night with her child’s dead body outside a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district. This happened less than two weeks after a nationwide outrage over the ordeal of a tribal man named Dana Majhi […]

यातना सबै प्रकारका मानव अधिकार उल्लंघनको आमा हो । गम्भिर मानव अधिकार उल्लंघनको विषयमा अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय क्षेत्राधिकार समेत लागु हुने र यातना विरुद्धको महासन्धिले जहा सुकै यातना भएको भए पनि यातना विरुद्धको महासन्धिको पक्षराष्ट्रले त्यसलाई रोक्नु पर्ने दायित्व समेत तोकेकोले पनि यातनाको विषय सबैको चासोको विषय हो । तर यति गम्भिर विषयमा यातनाका पीडितहरु, अधिकारकर्मीहरु, विज्ञहरु […]

Engaging daily with the misery manufactured by Asia’s dysfunctional justice institutions was bound to result in something truly creative some day. This creativity has sprung forth in the form of biting satire and humor. And, that day is the day after, none other than this Friday. It is the pleasure of the Asian Human Rights […]

On 7 September 2016, at 10:30 a.m., the verdict in the case of Karen people forcibly relocated from the Kaeng Krachan National Park will be read at the Central Administrative Court in Bangkok. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges all concerned persons to attend the court as observers, and calls on other interested persons […]

Please read Part I – Asian Charter on Human Rights – it’s significance and purpose The Asian Human Rights Charter – a People’s Charter, was the initiative of the Asian Human Rights Commission, a regional human rights organisation based in Hong Kong. The idea of drafting the Charter emerged as a result of certain discourses on human […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a fabricated case against Mr. Dedi Sutanto. He was tagged on Face book concerning allegations of corruption involving a local businessman. His friends were also tagged. They reported to the Police and were charged with criminal defamation under Law No 11 of 2008 […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the assassination 12 years ago, of prominent human rights activist, Munir Said Thalib, has passed without any progress being made. Munir was poisoned to death on 7 September 2004 on board a Garuda Indonesian flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Recently, some movement occurred when the court […]

The dust has barely settled on the Quetta carnage and killing of lawyers that another attack has taken place against the Judiciary. On 2 September 2016, terror once again visited District Court Mardan, Peshawar, KPK Province. The modus operandi was similar: a suicide attacker lobbed a hand grenade before exploding himself at the main gate […]

On 17th March 1998, the Asian Human Rights Charter, or the People’s Charter, was launched in Gwangju City. The work for the Charter was the exclusive initiative of the Asian Human Rights Commission, supported by hundreds of organisations and a large number of individuals. All the supporting organisations were named in the back cover of […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where Ganga Maya Adhikari, an icon of justice, has resumed her hunger strike on August 11, calling for justice for her son Krishna Prasad. Krishna was brutally murdered by Maoists in 2004. Since 2013, Ganga Maya and her husband were on hunger strike. Instead of justice, 22 September […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is worried for Ganga Maya Adhikari, an icon of justice, who has resumed her hunger strike on August 11. Ganga Maya has asked Nepal’s Minister for Health, Gagan Thapa, to convey her demands seeking punishment for her son Krishna Prasad Adhikari’s murderers to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. […]

Despite a lapse of 69 years, religious minority communities of the country lack representation in mainstream politics. A true representative democracy and constitutional politics are the best institutional tools to protect and advance the interests of religious minorities in any set of social conditions. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, the political representation of minorities in mainstream politics […]

Commissioners from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) have been working to fulfil their mandate for some time now. But their work remains hobbled for a number of reasons. Most crucially, the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act that governs the transitional justice […]

Avinash Pandey Shri M.L. Khattar, Chief Minister of Haryana, finally announced the constitution of a Special Investigation team (SIT) to probe the armed robbery, double murder, and gang rapes in Dingerheri Village of Mewat that occurred on 25 August 2016. In the incident, armed robbers broke into a house, gang-raped two women of the family, […]

Arsalan Barijo The smallest ethnic and religious community of Pakistan is fighting for the survival of its culture and religious identity, in the face of religious extremism, forced conversion, migration, and climate change. Are we going to allow this rich culture to vanish from the pluralistic land of Pakistan? The Kalash people live primarily in […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding four activists and one journalist, indicted over anti-draft constitution leaflets. The Public Prosecutor has asked the Court to revoke the defendants’ right to vote for ten years. UPDATED INFORMATION: (Based on documentation by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights) On 29 August 2016, […]

August 8, 2016, will forever remain etched on the collective memory of the nation for years to come. The planned suicide attack on the lawyers, the crème de la crème of our society, shows the vindictive designs of the establishment. The State has aided and abetted non-State actors to silence the voices of dissent against […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding three young activists, one local land rights defender, and two human rights documentation officers from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), who have been summoned for charges after organizing a constitution related event in the Northeast of Thailand. According to TLHR, all […]