Minorities

PAKISTAN: A human rights activist faces terrorism charges for publicising the murder of Christians, while the mullahs who encouraged the violence remain free

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that an activist working for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Labour Party of Pakistan, has been arrested and remanded on charges of terrorism and disturbing the peace. The charges disproportionately refer to demonstrations he helped organise against the burning murders […]

BANGLADESH: Rights groups urged the government to probe human rights abuses and reform institutions

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from the Universal Periodic Review Forum of Bangladesh, a coalition of 17 human rights, women’s rights, labour and indigenous people’s rights NGOs from Bangladesh. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the Universal Periodic Review Forum of Bangladesh, a coalition of […]

GENERAL (Philippines): Soldiers burn houses, blocks food supply for over 34,000 displaced families in Maguindanao

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to draw your attention to the continuing food blockade the military has imposed in Maguindanao thereby depriving over 34,000 families of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of their food rations. The military are deliberately preventing food and relief goods that relief organizations are trying to deliver […]

HONG KONG: A Petition to abolish injustice levy against foreign domestic workers

(Sorry for cross posting, Chinese message below 中文在下) Dear all, A number of organizations and individuals, including the Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor are initiating a signature campaign to call for the complete abolition of the injustice levy in respect of foreign domestic workers. We would like to invite […]

CAMBODIA: Police allegedly extort bribes in arrest in Rattanakiri province

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the police allegedly ordered parents to pay a bribe of 150000 riels (US$37.5) each if their sons were not to be arrested after these youths had damaged a party sign in Soeung commune, Bor Keo district, Rattankiri province. On 2 July 2008, they arrested […]

CAMBODIA: Forced eviction of 229 families in Sihanoukville

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are […]

PHILIPPINES: Delays in prosecution causes prolonged detention of two farmers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the prolonged detention of two farmers in Davao Oriental province, the Philippines. Both of them have been detained for almost three years without any progress in their case because the prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court on six occasions. One of […]

INDIA: Fabricated case filed after shooting of Adivasi by Forest Department Official

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the fabricated case filed against Ramesh Narsibhai Vasava, an adivasi, after he was shot by a Forest Department Official in the District Surat, Gujarat, India on 25 July 2003. At around 3.00pm on July 25, Ramesh Narsibhai Vasava and another villager Mahesh Khotania Vasava […]

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 […]

INDIA: Caste Hindus attack tribal communities and the police connive with the upper caste and refuse to take action in Uttar Pradesh, India

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a human rights group in Uttar Pradesh, India of at least three confirmed cases involving the tribal members of the ‘Musahar’ community who were tortured and treated as slaves. Those who attempted to challenge this treatment were further tortured and intimidated by police […]

BANGLADESH: Minority community deprived from offering worships in Naogaon

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that in Naogaon, Bangladesh, attempts are underway to illegally occupy the land of a Hindu temple depriving the local Hindu community from offering worships at the temple. It is alleged that the land grabbing is attempted by a local Muslim family with the assistance […]

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 […]

HUNGER ALERT (India): Tribal people’s livelihoods threatened due to the confiscation of their land in Chitrakoot, Uttar-Pradesh

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received new information from the Social Development Foundation (SDF) in Delhi concerning a disturbing case of potential hunger and starvation amongst the tribesmen and women in the Chitrakoot district of Uttar-Pradesh. The villagers, mainly landless Kol adivasis (tribal people), were forcibly removed from their land in […]

INDIA: Gruesome murder of Dalit activist

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the National Campaign of Dalit Human Rights, (NCDHR, a Jaipur, Rajasthan based Centre for Dalit Rights) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a human rights organisation, regarding the brutal murder of Mr Mohan Lal Meghwal, a Dalit youth activist. On 1 March […]

INDIA: Assault of adivasi (tribal) person and general denial of rights to adivasi community by the upper caste of Nandav village, Gujarat

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding the assault and abuse of two adivasis by the upper caste of Nandav village, Gujarat, India on 8 and 15 December 2003, and the general denial of rights and dignity to the entire adivasi community. Jayeshbhai Vasava (22) was […]

SRI LANKA: A man tortured and prosecuted with false charges by the Samanalaweva Police Post

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Heeralu Mohottalalage Punchi Banda (39) was illegally arrested and tortured by the Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dhammika Bandara of Samanalaweva Police Post in Balangoda on 26 August 2004. Due to brutal torture, the victim still suffers from severe pain on his […]

PAKISTAN: A young woman killed by her husband on the pretext of honour killing

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 30-year-old woman named Ms. Hidayat was allegedly killed by her husband, Mr. Momin Ali Mahar in Dal village, Lakhi Ghulam Shah Town, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan on 29 February 2004. The case was registered at the Chak Police Station. However, a human […]