Minorities

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from the Human Rights and Peace for Papua – the International Coalition for Papua (ICP) regarding harassment of a Papuan human rights lawyer by the authorities of Indonesia in Papua. For more information, please visit: http://humanrightspapua.org/ . Thank you.  Urgent Appeals Desk  Asian Human […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from the Human Rights and Peace for Papua – the International Coalition for Papua (ICP) regarding risks of persecution by the authorities of Indonesia against a French journalist and Papuan indigenous leader in Papua. For more information, please visit: http://humanrightspapua.org/  Thank you.  […]

Dear friends, The Terai Human Rights Defenders (THRD) Alliance in Nepal has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that a Muslim family of the Sunni faith, residing at the Gauri Village Development Committee in Kapilavastu District have been forced to flee their home as a result of converting to the Wahhabi sect on or […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a Muslim national from the Shia community in Pakistan, the second largest sect of Islam, who has by his own choice, converted from Islam to Ahmadi religion is now facing threats to his life.  The AHRC has also learnt that family members have […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained information that two men who live in an Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp, in Kachin State, in the north of Burma (Myanmar), have disappeared in the area where government forces are active. It has been almost one and half years since they disappeared and their families […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 65-year-old Ahmadi was shot dead in a police lockup. The victim was arrested on charges of Blasphemy without legal process. He remained in the police lock up for three days without being produced in a court of law. On May 16, the […]

(Note: this article was first published in the April 6, 2014 issue of the Sunday Examiner) Eleven years ago, I was in a small store with a friend in Pikit, North Cotabato, in central Mindanao. We were exhausted after an all day field work of interviewing people about how and why they were evacuated due to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information regarding 193 children starving to death in Thar district of Pakistan. The authorities have conceded half of the number while trying to attribute them to different diseases but independent sources have conclusive evidence that they are all caused by extreme poverty, chronic shortage […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that 32 Dalit families of Barmajhiya village development committee 2 in Saptari district of Nepal are living in fear of forceful displacement due to the ongoing construction of a drinking water pond near their village. These Dalit families have been living in their area […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding intimidation by hundreds of villagers together with members of an intolerant group against the Ahmadi congregation in Singkut, Jambi. It was reported that the intimidation is a continuation of previous threats against two Ahmadi families that took place last month, which resulted in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two scheduled caste, Hindu women were raped by their Muslim landlords before their family members. Later on, one of them was murdered in revenge for making a report to the police. She and her mother were abducted by one of the landlords from […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal coming from Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka received through the Sri Lanka Campaign Newsletter. If you wish to make inquiries into this incident kindly contact: Mr, Bashana Abeywardane Coordinator – Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka  Email: convener@jdslanka.org You may also […]

The Minority Rights Group International has published a report entitled, ‘Living with insecurity: Marginalization and sexual violence against women in north and east Sri Lanka’. The executive summary of the report is as follows: Four years since the end of the armed conflict, the situation of minority women in the north and east of Sri Lanka […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the exhumation of the body of a young Hindu artist, belonging to the scheduled caste of Bheel, after announcements were made from a Mosque to remove it from a graveyard. The mob, lead by known criminals and Muslim extremists, attacked the graveyard and […]

Cases of sexual assault on minors have increased in the country during the recent months. During the month of September alone, a number of such cases were registered, however, there are many cases which were not reported because of the fear of a backlash from powerful persons and the police, also some of the cases […]

“Badness Cannot Drive Out Badness” The following article will appear as the editorial of the forthcoming issue of ‘Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives’, a bi-monthly magazine published by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), based in Hong Kong and the Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY) based in Denmark. Nilantha Ilangamuwa “Injustice anywhere is a threat […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police officers have been exonerated (by their own internal inquiry) from charges of killing a young Christian, who was tortured to death while being kept in illegal detention. After the killing, in a bid to fool the Christian community, senior police officials announced […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the intimidation and threats on the Ahmadi community in Cianjur, west Java. Following the forced closure of their three mosques by non-tolerant groups supported by the local government on 12 April 2013, members of the Ahmadi community in the area have been […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Badwani, Madhya Pradesh state regarding the continuing witch-hunt against human rights defender Ms. Madhuri Krishnaswamy of the Jagrut Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS). Having braved an externment notice, followed by attacks from the locally elected Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and then a vilification […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received very disturbing information regarding the assault on five women human rights defenders working with Sahjani Shiksha Kendra (SSK) in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh. The women, belonging to the Dalit and backward communities, were physically and verbally assaulted while inaugurating an adult literacy centre for Dalit women. […]