Land rights

CAMBODIA: Authorities use state power to plunder lawfully owned land

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the Municipality of Phnom Penh continues to implement its so-called city development and beautification plan with its intention to yet again forcibly evict 146 families living in Group 78, Village 14, Tonle Bassac commune, Chamcar Mon district, near the centre of Phnom Penh and […]

PHILIPPINES: Thousands of villagers displaced due to renewed fighting in Maguindanao, Mindanao

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you regarding fears of a possible escalation in violence as a result of ongoing fighting in the province of Maguindanao, Mindanao. At 9pm on June 28, around one hundred armed militias attacked a rebel claimed area in Sitio Lab, Barangay (village) Meta in Shariff […]

CAMBODIA: Army unlawfully evicts villagers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that on 15 June 2006 Colonel Neou Ol, Deputy  Director of the Development Centre of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces located in Kompong Speu province, sent some 40 fully armed soldiers to evict over 40 families from their lands in Tuk Chenh village, Treng Tro-Yoeung commune, […]

UPDATE (Cambodia): Lives of homeless people destroyed in order to beautify the city of Phnom Penh

[RE: UA-148-2006: CAMBODIA: Poor tenants brutally forced out of homes; UP-108-2006: CAMBODIA: Inhumane treatment of poor tenants forcibly displaced; UP-116-2006: CAMBODIA: Misery of homeless tenants continues unabated] ———————————– CAMBODIA: Forced eviction; denial of right to housing; inhumane treatment ———————————– Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the Cambodian authorities are going […]

SRI LANKA: Sixth day of mourning against executive interference into the judiciary and other independent institutions — Sri Lanka is ceasing to be a law based society

The numerous appointments to key national commissions by the executive president, contravening constitutional requirements, are a very clear indication of Sri Lanka’s drift from a law-based society to one in which the law plays a significantly reduced role.  While criticism against presidential actions has pointed to matters including the fact that no person is above […]

UPDATE (Cambodia): Misery of homeless tenants continues unabated

[RE: UA-148-2006: CAMBODIA: Poor tenants brutally forced out of homes; UP-108-2006: CAMBODIA: Inhumane treatment of poor tenants forcibly displaced] ———————————– CAMBODIA: Forced eviction; denial of right to housing; inhumane treatment ———————————– Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the continued cruel and degrading treatment of poor homeless tenants by the Cambodian authorities […]

UPDATE (Pakistan): Karachi Government has announced to make way for Lyari Expressway at all cost

[Re: HA-01-2006: PAKISTAN: City Government forces eviction leaving thousands homeless and without food in Karachi; UP-073-2006: PAKISTAN: Violence imminent over Lyari Expressway construction in Karachi] ——————————————- UP-104-2006: PAKISTAN: Karachi Government has announced to make way for Lyari Expressway at all cost PAKISTAN: Forced eviction; right to housing; right to life; abject poverty ——————————————- Dear friends, […]

CAMBODIA: Poor tenants brutally forced out of homes

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the brutal eviction and destruction of homes and property of over 1000 families by the authorities in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The eviction began on May 3 and has continued today, May 4. Humanitarian groups have been denied access to the evicted persons, who have been […]

NEPAL: Supreme Court ruling on the Royal Commission for Corruption Control and the release of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba welcomed

Statement | Nepal | 14-02-2006

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) unconstitutional and ordered it to be scrapped immediately. This has paved the way for the release of ousted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in Chapainawabganj

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

PAKISTAN: City government forces eviction leaving thousands homeless and without food in Karachi

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the forced eviction of thousands of households in Rehmatya colony by Karachi City Government officials. The colony, which also houses one Hindu community, was destroyed without warning to make way for the construction of the Lyari Expressway. Only a small number of families […]

INDONESIA: Forced eviction renders hundreds homeless and threatens security of others

Dear friends, It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that on 11 January 2006, approximately 125 semi-permanent houses were bulldozed by the local authorities, evicting 140 families from their homes in Kampung Melayu, Jatinegara, East Jakarta, Indonesia. This incident is the latest in a series of forced evictions related […]

INDONESIA: Hundreds of villagers forcibly evicted in Southeast Sulawesi

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the forced eviction of hundreds of villagers and the destruction and burning of houses in Kontu Village, Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi. On 29 November 2005, police began forcibly evicting people in Kontu village despite their protests. On November 30, police destroyed three village […]

SOUTH KOREA: Police brutality against protesting farmers must end

In recent weeks, there have been numerous protests by Korean farmers against the government’s liberalization policies. These have been dealt with by riot police in a brutal and violent manner, causing severe injuries. One farmer has even died due to the seriousness of his injuries: 43-year-old Jeon Young-Cheol died on November 24, 2005 after being […]

UPDATE (Saudi Arabia/Sri Lanka): Renewed plea for commuting the death sentence of Sri Lankan men to the new King of Saudi Arabia

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Please send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia urging his intervention to commute the death sentence of three Sri Lankans; UP-34-2005: Death […]

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Police’s deliberate inaction in a labour case is in violation of court orders

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002. The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust […]

INDIA: Human rights defender physically assaulted, threatened and detained by government officials

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through its local partner MASUM in West Bengal that Mr. Gopen Sharma, a human rights activist was illegally detained, threatened and assaulted by the officers at the Block Development Office in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, West Bengal. Mr. Sharma was, at the time of the […]

UPDATE (India): No compensation to family of adivasi, murdered by forest official, despite a four year wait

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on the case of Manishbhai Motibhai Vasava (30), an adivasi who was murdered by an Indian […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor requested Davao city government to take action for 127 families forcibly evicted in the city

[RE: UA-152-2004:  PHILIPPINES: 127 families lost their homes due to illegal demolition in Davao City on 15 November 2004] Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the continuous inaction of the City government of Davao to comply to its ‘certification (proof) of availability of resettlement and relocation’ for the 127 […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Updates on the 127 families forcibly evicted in Davao City, Mindanao

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you that no action has yet been taken to compensate or relocate victims of the illegal demolition that took place in Dacudao Compound in Davao City last October and November 2004 (see further: UA-152-2004). Under the Philippines domestic law, executive order no.152 states, “designating the […]