Migrant workers

BANGLADESH: Jibon or Jibika: The struggle for life and livelihood amid pandemic

An article from ubinig.org forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Introduction Conventional narratives, mostly nationalist, statist and GDP centered neo-liberal statistical accounts of development, outright miss or intentionally exclude certain salient facts about the stylized story of Bangladesh development. Bangladesh has been born through a bloody liberation struggle, but nationalist narrative exclude the fact that it […]

NEPAL: Covid-19 and governance, the collapse of a conscience

Statement | Nepal | 14-05-2021

Nepal on 13 May 2021 reported 8,842 new Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide infection tally to 431,191. Nepal on 12 May reported 9,238 new cases and 168 Covid-19 related fatalities. Similarly, 9,317 new cases and 225 Covid-19 related deaths were recorded on 11 May and 9,127 new cases and 139 […]

BANGLADESH: Protecting workers against poverty requires competent Institutions, with rights and dignity, at home and abroad

Bangladesh experienced at least 400,000 migrant workers deported from the Middle Eastern oil-rich States, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The forced repatriation of migrant workers has been an additional burden. It follows the already overwhelming, un-employment crisis the people of the country are enduring. Some 200,000 laborers have lost opportunities to travel to their desired overseas destinations as migrant workers. […]

SRI LANKA: Female migrant-worker expresses harassment in Saudi Arabia

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding Mrs. K A Nilanthi Karunarathna. A resident of Baddegama Police Division, she migrated to Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper on 19 January 2015. Within several months at her employer’s house she started to experience severe harassments and complaints. She requested her family members […]

INDIA/BANGLADESH: Stop the Unlawful Detention of Bangladeshi Migrants

In May 2017, a young boy was apprehended by Border Security Force(BSF) officers in Dinajpur, West Bengal. MASUM, our partner organisation in West Bengal conducted a fact-finding mission and discovered that almost 18 months before the incident, his father had come to India, searching for a job, with the help of a middleman. The boy, […]

INDIA/WORLD: Release female Indian Migrant Worker and others of various nationalities trafficked and illegally Confined in Abu Dhabi

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Alternate Law Forum (ALF), Bangalore, concerning the plight of migrant workers in Abu Dhabi, particularly an Indian woman. Thousands of Indian migrant workers in the Middle East region suffer from deprivation of liberty and inhuman working conditions, and often do not have […]

PAKISTAN: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)–Havoc for the Sindhi people

by Lakhumal Lohano There are numerous dimensions to CPEC, economic, geo-political and geo-strategic, environmental, sustainability, human rights, and regional and global security and peace. However, I will focus on its implication for the Sindhi people and why we oppose it. According to information available in the public domain, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) comprises thousands […]

AHRC TV: Madhesi activists arrested from workshop in Nepal and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 145

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where 22 Madhesi activists were arrested on October 23 while participating in a Leadership Development workshop. Affiliated with Dr. C.K. Raut and his campaign, the activists from Nawalparasi District were meeting at a local hotel. A group of around 40 police officers abruptly closed the workshop, hit the […]

PAKISTAN: Labour Day meaningless for country’s working class

Labour Day in Pakistan is oxymoronic, because the day is just another holiday for the nation’s better off population, while the labour class toils under the blazing sun. Perhaps on no other day does the class difference between the haves and have nots manifest itself as clearly as it does on this day. Throughout the […]

THAILAND: Ranong Courts to Review Case of Alleged Murder by Migrant Workers

A Press Releasefrom the Lawyers Council of Thailand, Human Rights and Development Foundation,The Foundation of Education and Development, Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation and Diocesan Social Action Cantre of Souratthani Catholic Foundation forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) The Provincial Court of Ranong and the Juvenile and Family Court of Ranong have accepted to […]

PAKISTAN: No place for slum dwellers

In urban planning, slums are thought of as a tumor; an alien growth that can risk the overall development of an urban mega project. The notion ignores the fact that the labor force needed to materialize the urban dream often comes from this underbelly, which provides shelter to lives lived in the shadow of ostentation. […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 83

This Week’s Roundup begins in Indonesia, where, despite a murderous attack by the police and military against indigenous Papuans in Paniai Regency, the National Commission on Human Rights has yet to conduct an investigation, as it claims have insufficient funds. Since then, the Independent Student Forum has managed to collect IDR 608,000 so that Commission […]

WORLD: Gross Adulteration of the US TIP Report

A Statement from TENAGANITA Women’s Force forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The U.S Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report has, for the past few years, been seen by many organizations tackling modern-day slavery as a tool for governments to undertake structural changes that would end the trafficking and enslavement of persons in their […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 74

In this week’s Roundup, AHRC TV reports on the refugee crisis in the Andaman Sea, where thousands of Rohingya people have languished in rickety boats for weeks, fleeing persecution in Burma. Finally, this week, after much international pressure, Malaysia, Indonesia, and The Philippines have allowed the boatpeople to come ashore for temporary shelter. A long-term solution […]

THAILAND: Public statement on the discovery of dead Rohingya migrants: the state is obliged to take serious legal action against the concerned human trafficking ring and facilitate aid delivery based on human rights and humanitarian principles

A Statement from the Migrants Working Group forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission It was reported that on 1 May 2015, that police officials from Sadao District, Songkhla, uncovered a concealed camp at which they found 26 dead bodies in Ban Taloh, Tambon Padang Besar, Sadao District, Songkhla. It is almost certain that the […]

INDONESIA: Exploited Migrant Worker to be executed by firing squad

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the imminent execution of a Filipina migrant worker. She was unwittingly used as a drug mule by her employer and now faces execution by a firing squad. Mary Jane Veloso is a 30 year old mother of two, exploited by an international drug […]

ASIA: Modern Slavery in the Southeast Asian Sea

Statement | Asia | 24-04-2015

On 19th to 24th of April 2015, the Asian-African Conference has been held in the Republic of Indonesia, with representatives of more than a hundred countries participating on the theme of “Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity”. During the event, several bi-national meetings have also been held. The host country President, Joko Widodo, has […]

PHILIPPINES: Authorities plan to forcibly relocate Parola Fire victims to faraway places

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from Defend Job Philippines about the planned relocation of the victims of Parola Compound Fire. The National Housing Authority is planning to relocate 1,000 families to places located faraway from their sources of livelihood in Parola, Tondo. The AHRC has also learned that […]

PHILIPPINES: Immediately stop the planned eviction drive against Luneta vendors.

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Defend Job Philippines about planned eviction of vendors from the Luneta Park in the wake of impending Papal visit to the capital city. The threat is not a new one (previous hunger alert), however the current eviction follows an amicable settlement between the […]

PHILIPPINES: Immediately stop the planned eviction drive against Luneta vendors.

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Defend Job Philippines about planned eviction of vendors from the Luneta Park in the wake of impending Papal visit to the capital city. The threat is not a new one (previous hunger alert), however the current eviction follows an amicable settlement between the […]