Land rights

INDONESIA: Police are still at the Konawe Islands Regency and residents are frightened

(Hong Kong, March 25, 2022) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from local network about police are still at the Konawe Islands Regency. After Gema Kreasi Perdana Company grabbed the land of residents who objected to mine on Tuesday (1/03) and last Thursday, (3/03), the Konawe Islands Regency Government through its Deputy […]

INDONESIA : The Gema Kreasi Perdana Company forcibly entered the land of the local community who refused mining in the Wanoii Island

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the President of the Republic of Indonesia Mr. Joko Widodo President of the Republic of Indonesia Jl. Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat INDONESIA Tel: +62 21 3458 595 Fax: +62 21 3484 4759 Dear Mr. President: INDONESIA : The Gema Kreasi Perdana Company forcibly entered […]

INDONESIA: Urging inquiry and investigation related to the death of Mede Nurlatu at the mining area of the Botak Mountain

February 09, 2022 An Open Letter from the Asian Legal Resource Centre to the Chief of National Police General of Police LISTYO SIGIT PRABOWO Chief of National Police (KAPOLRI) Jl. Trunojoyo Number 3 Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan 12110 INDONESIA Tel: +62 21 384 8537, 726 0306 Fax: +62 21 7220 669 E-mail: info@polri.go.id Dear General: INDONESIA: […]

SRI LANKA: Colombo Port City Economic Commission – An authority without any real authority

By Basil Fernando The Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill has been passed. However, the Bill that was passed was not what the Government wanted. The decision of the Supreme Court which held that 25 of the proposed Clauses contravened the provisions of the Constitution and that 9 of them require a referendum meant that […]

INDIA: जनता की असुविधा बनाम प्रतिरोध का अधिकार: क्या किसान जनता नहीं हैं

Article | India | 05-02-2021

भारत में एक नया जिन्न पैदा हुआ है- जनता की असुविधा का. कहीं कोई अपने हक़ के लिए सड़क पर उतरे तो ये जिन्न उसके सामने खड़ा कर दो. कभी कभी तो बंदूक वगैरह के साथ, गोली तक चलवा के. पर सबसे पहले पूछते हैं कि ये जनता क्या है? कौन है? किसान भी जनता […]

INDIA: The Bogey of Public Inconvenience to Snatch the Right To Protest

Article | India | 04-02-2021

Democracies across the world are defined by the virtue of the right to protest. Yet, in India, that fancies itself as the largest democracy of the world, the governments are seen to be chipping off that very right by raising the bogey of public inconvenience. They have mobilised people, mostly their party members, to even […]

AHRC TV: Bangladesh deadly fire kills 78 and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 248

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where a fast-moving fire in the historic district of Chawkbazar in the country’s capital city of Dhaka has killed 78 persons and injured 55. The death toll and the number of victims is expected to increase as more bodies are found from the wreckage. The 400-year-old Chawkbazar district […]

INDIA: Future Imperfect-Hungrier and indebted than ever before

Article | India | 15-05-2018

Despite all the tall claims of development by authorities in India, the data from Government bodies shows that there are little, if any, improvements in tackling alarmingly high levels of malnutrition. Add to this the worrisome fact of a sharp increase in the indebtedness of households and the situation becomes even bleaker. The data from […]

AHRC TV: Death penalty for sexual assault of children in India and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 220

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the government has cleared an ordinance introducing the death penalty for those committing sexual assault of children younger than 12 years. The ordinance has come under fire as such a serious change in the law has been attempted without proper debate and consultation in parliament. Furthermore, the […]

INDONESIA : Villagers shot arbitrarily by West Sumba police in land dispute

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), a credible national civil society organization, about a land dispute and police violence in East Nusa Tenggara Province. One villager was killed after police officers arbitrarily opened fire on villagers protesting against the Sutera Marosi Company’s […]

INDONESIA: Residents of Sumberanyar Village Fight For Land Rights But Are Criminalized And Intimidated

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the following information. It comes from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), East Java Province branch office, a national human rights organization. The information is related to a land dispute case with local residents of Sumberanyar village, Nguling sub-district, Pasuruan Regency, […]

INDIA: Farmers in border areas must be allowed access to their lands

Statement | India | 04-12-2017

The border regions of India are manned by members of the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, who are always heavily armed, and wield significant power over the residents of these border villages. Recent events have demonstrated the highhandedness of these personnel in dealing with civilians. The primary occupation of the residents of the village is […]

INDIA: Continuous harassment by Police forces Pardhi woman to commit suicide

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Shahri Mazdoor Sangthan about a continuous harassment by Police. They forced Indramal Bai, a tribal woman from the Pardhi community, (earlier listed by the British as a habitual criminal tribe), to commit suicide by immolating herself. The cops, identified as Rameshwar Yadav, Sandeep […]

INDIA: Protesting Farmers hold their Parliament, passing bills as real one looks away

Article | India | 22-11-2017

by Avinash Pandey More than 3 lakh (300,000) suicides in thirty years and millions of other lives ruined, would qualify as a national disaster, forcing the Government to tackle it all guns blazing in any democracy. Alas, it does not in the one that claims to be the largest democracy of them all-India. In fact […]

INDIA: Authorities demolish 100s of houses in Kathputali Colony, resulting in death of infant

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Countercurrents and other media regarding the demolition of more than a thousand houses in Kathputali Colony in New Delhi. The demolition rendered thousands of people homeless just before the onset of winter. Also, the use of brutal force by the police during the […]

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Stop shelling the Dharamsal village and other areas on the Line of Control in Jammu Kashmir

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 […]

PHILIPPINES: Ming John Plastic Ware Workers dismissed from work and evicted from their homes after forming a union

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Defend Job Philippines (DJP), a social movement working to promote the human rights of the urban poor in Manila, about the dismissal of the workers of Ming John Plastic Ware. The AHRC has also been informed that the workers were evicted from their […]

WORLD: (BURMA/MYANMAR) A statement calling to end the violence committed against the Rohingya community in Myanmar, and urging the Government of Myanmar to recognise the human rights of the Rohingya people

Statement | World | 18-09-2017

1. Today, on 15 September 2017, a group of 58 Asian human rights defenders, including the Chairpersons of the National Human Rights Commissions of: Indonesia, Nepal, Timor Leste, and the Philippines, having converged in the global human rights city of Gwangju, hereby expresses our deep concern about the on-going violence committed against the Rohingya people […]

INDIA: Enclave dwellers continue to be neglected; the Indian State must prioritise and provide them their entitlements

The plight of enclave dwellers and the status of enclaves in India is something that rarely catches the attention of the media and is therefore an issue that few know or understand. The history of enclaves in India, its origin and continued existence is complex and fascinating, dating back to the 18th century. After Partition in 1947, the hurried redrawing […]

INDIA: Natural resources must be protected, indigenous people consulted before commissioning large-scale development projects in Manipur

Statement | India | 08-09-2017

The floods that took place in mid-June in northeast India severely impacted the lives and livelihood of over 17 lakh persons, many of whom were displaced from their home villages. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) had earlier noted that the damage caused by the floods was heightened by the construction of numerous dams and hydropower projects, […]