Institutional reform

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to inform you about an incident on 10 October 2017. Police used excessive force against protesters in a peaceful Public Protest at Kollupitiya Junction in Great Colombo Area. The protest was organized by the ‘Peoples Wall Against the Private Medical College SAITM.” Thousands of people, […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where a man was shot dead Monday by the Special Task Force of the police while travelling with his friends in a car. The police later claimed that they only began firing after the vehicle fired on them first, but there is no evidence to support this […]

A Sinhala translation of a Statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission, published by Lankanewsweb.net මාස 10ට ජීවිත 10 ක්! පහත දැක්වෙන වගුවෙන් දැක්වෙන්නේ 2017 ඔක්තෝබර් මාසය වන විට ගතවූ මාස 10කට ආසන්න කාලයක් මුළුල්ලේ අධිකරණයෙන් පිටත සිදුකළ ඝාතන 09 ක් සහ ඝාතන උත්සාහයන් 01 ක් පිළිබඳව ය. එම ඝාතන 09 සිදුවී තිබෙන්නේ පොලිස් ස්ථාන […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that around 500 residents in Dharamsal village, a small village on the Line of Control (dividing the State of Jammu Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian administered parts) have been living in equivocal situation since August 13, 2017. The Indian Army is unremittingly targeting […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court ruled that sex with a wife younger than 18 is rape. This is a much needed legal development for child rights, and will help in the fight to end child marriage in the country. Sadly, the fight against marital rape for adult women continues. […]

The table given below sets down 09 extrajudicial killings, 01 attempted killing – 09 of which are at the hands of the police at various police stations and the other, in a prison. These 10 incidents are the ones reported to the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong during this year. However, at […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding Pitawalagedara Chandrarathna (47), resident of Bakamuna Police Division. Chandrarathna was arrested on 4 May 2017 charged with participation in a murder. After being detained for 14 days, he was found dead on 18 September 2017–murdered inside the Polonnaruwa Remand Prison.   Prison Authorities said that they […]

On 8 October 2017, the Kerala State Public Service Commission (PSC) announced the list of candidates who have been recommended by the PSC to be appointed as priests in Hindu temples in the state. Out of the 62 persons named in the list 36 are non-Brahmins. Out of this, 6 persons are from the Dalit […]

An article from The Wire by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is home to many archaic provisions, provisions that hold India back and permit it to take refuge in the dusty annals of ancient law books. It is preposterous and embarrassing that Section 375, Exception 2, has been allowed to remain […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where a distressing case of caste discrimination saw a 14-year-old Dalit girl paraded in Belbari Municipality-2 of Morang district with shoes around her neck, soot smeared on her face, and the tag of ‘thief’ stuck on her body. She was also beaten with nettle greens, causing her body […]

Dr. Govinda KC, a senior orthopedic surgeon at Nepal’s Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), and professor at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), was compelled to start his 13th hunger strike on 5 October 2017, after the government failed to meet its agreements from the previous 12 hunger strikes. Dr. KC has been staging hunger strikes […]

ඉහතකී කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් සිදුකරණු ලබන කරුනු දැක්වීමකි. ඉහත සඳහන් කෙටුම්පතේ රීතීන්ට අනුව ඕනෑම අගතියටපත් පුද්ගලයෙකුට හෝ එම පුද්ගලයෙකු විසින් බලය පැවරූ තැනැත්තෙකුට පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු හෝ පොලිස් සේවය විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ නිල කටයුතු වලදී සිදුවු කිරaනියාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් පොදු පැමිණිලි පරීක්ෂේණ අංශය වෙත පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඒ ස`දහා සහන ඉල්ලා සිටිය හැකිය. මෙම අංශය පී සී අයි ඞී […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where a teenage student, Tania Khaskheli, was murdered for turning down a marriage proposal from an influential feudal lord in Sindh province’s Sehwan city. The Sehwan police only filed murder charges after strong civil society protest. While two persons have since been arrested, the feudal lord is still […]

By Basil Fernando The following is a presentation made at a workshop organized by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the May 18th Foundation (14-16th September 2017) on the preparations for the 20th Anniversary of the Asian Human Rights Charter 1998. This paper addresses the direction the Asian human rights movement should take in order […]

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. […]

An article from Daily Times forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Dr Rakhshinda Perveen Police is the first respondent to Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG). Their attitude and response can have a dramatic impact on developments, including the prevention of future violent acts and the protection of victims. […]

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 […]

When thinking of police officers in Pakistan, inept, corrupt and intimidating are some of the first thoughts that come to mind. Their attitude towards complainants and victims of crime are particularly devoid of civility. In fact, complainants are harassed for daring to report crimes and demanding justice. The country’s justice delivery mechanisms largely fail victims, […]

ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ අධිකරණ පද්ධතියේ ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැන් මතුවී තිබෙන විවාදය මේ පිළිබඳව පැවතී ඇති සාකච්චා වල වැදගත් අවධියක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. රන්ජන් රාමනායක මහතා හා ලංකාවේ නීතිඥ සංගමය අතර ඇතිවූ විවාදයක් සේ මෙය පටන් ගැනුනත් මේ වන විට එය පළල් ක්ෂේත්රකයක් කරා පළල් වී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳ මහජන අවධානයද ඉතා බලවත් ලෙසින් ඉස්මතු වී ඇත. සමස්ථ […]