Police negligence

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where continuing protests are seeing an increase in police violence. Video footage shows police firing tear gas in enclosed areas, keeping a bleeding protester on the ground, and using batons to hit fleeing protesters. One woman suffered a ruptured eye due to a fired bean bag round, […]

This week Just Asia begins with a new UN report stating that 821 million people, or one out of nine persons globally, is facing hunger. Titled ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019’, the report was launched by five UN agencies at a special event Monday, in New York. Of the world’s […]

A Statement from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission   Analysis of the Head of the NCPO Order no. 9/2562 that repealed some Announcements/Orders that are no longer necessary Click here to read the Original Statement On 9 July 2019, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha in his capacity as the Head of […]

A Joint Statement from The Cambodian Center for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 9 July 2019 (Bangkok, Thailand) — Today, on the third anniversary of the killing of prominent political commentator and human rights defender Kem Ley, the 24 undersigned organizations renew calls on the Cambodian government to establish an independent and impartial […]

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre Under the Indonesian Constitution (UUD) of 1945, the right to peaceful assembly and association is fully protected and guaranteed without any distinction. Moreover, Indonesia also has national laws that govern and ensure protection of […]

2007 අංක 56 දරන ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී සමාජවාදී ජනරජය මගින් ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත් කර ඇති ICCPR පනත පිළිබඳ මහජනතා සාකච්ඡුාවක් ඇති වෙමින් පවතින්නේ නුදුරු කාලයක් තුළ එම පනත කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමක් සිදු වන නිසාය. එම පනත ක‍්‍රියාත්මක වීමේදී මතුවී ඇති ගැටලූ රාශියක් ඇත. එම ගැටලූ පිළිබඳව දළ විස්තරයක් පහත සඳහන් වේ. එම පනතේ අරමුණ වී ඇත්තේ යම් මානව හිමිකම් කඩකිරීම් අපරාධයක් සේ […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Human Rights Office Kandy that Sri Rangaraja Sudan (29) of No: 34/57, Wilfradpura, Hatton, was kidnapped by a group when he was 19 years old. While he was under the control of this group, they forcibly used him for various types of […]

According to Sri Lankan Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake, the present security crisis facing the country was a result of the failures of many government institutions. In a television interview available on YouTube, he cited foreign exchange control failures to monitor money coming into the country, Customs Department failures, and intelligence coordination failures. Aside from these […]

Late Mr. Tarzie Vittachithe, winner of many prestigious awards for journalism, had a favourite saying that, “Everything is about something else”. In a similar manner, the parliamentary discussion on two no-confidence motions is also clearly about other issues, rather than the brutal carnage that took place on Easter Sunday and the causes thereof. The government […]

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith Archbishop’s House, Colombo – 8, Sri Lanka Phone: +94 11-2695471-2-3 / 2696054 Fax: +94 11-2692009 Email: archbishop@sltnet.lk / cardinalmalcolm@gmail.com  Dear Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, On behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, as well as the entire Sri Lankan people, who have […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, which has been traumatized by a series of coordinated bombings on Easter Sunday. More than 350 people were killed and at least 500 wounded in the deadliest attack in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war 10 years ago. The dead included at least 45 […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the brutal attacks on several churches in Sri Lanka, which killed a large number of persons attending Easter Sunday mass. There were also attacks on several tourist hotels, killing about 32 foreign tourists. This tragedy has shocked and distressed the entire nation, with lamentations heard from so many […]

A well-functioning legal system can be measured by its response to daily crimes and complaints. This is a much better test in fact, rather than a country’s constitution (in Sri Lanka’s case, the 1978 constitution still remains a major barrier to the functioning of a legal system), or statutes, or judicial presence, all of which […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where the Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the acquittal of Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges. After repealing her conviction and death sentence last October, the Court was petitioned by Islamists to review the acquittal. That petition was dismissed on Tuesday, and Asia Bibi is finally free. […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Advocacy Forum (AF) that police officers attached with the Police Post in Hatiya, Baglung District thrashed Mr. Som Bahadur Bista for speaking in English. Som Bahadur received life threatening injuries due to the police torture, and has been receiving treatment for his […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where the overruling of Asia Bibi’s blasphemy conviction and death sentence last week has mired the country in protests. To end the protests, the government made a deal with the Islamist hardliners, where Asia Bibi would remain in Pakistan while a final review of the Supreme Court ruling […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where police arrested a prominent government critic on Monday. Police said Moinul Hosein, a top lawyer and publisher of an English daily, was detained after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina slammed him for his comments against a pro-government female journalist. His arrest comes in the wake of a recent government […]

This week Just Asia begins with Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, which was hit by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake last Friday, followed by a tsunami. Official figures are reporting the deaths of 1,234 people. Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) has faced criticism over its handling of a tsunami warning. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is accepting international help for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the custodial death of Ram Manohar Yadav, 30, a resident of Janaki Rural Municipality, Banke district. Yadav died in Police custody while on the way to Kathmandu for medical treatment. Police had admitted him to the Bardiya District Hospital in Gulariya and subsequently to the Bheri Zonal […]

This week Just Asia focuses on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, marked annually on August 30. Enforced disappearance is frequently used to spread terror within society. Many states use counter terrorist activities as an excuse for overlooking or perpetrating disappearances. Not only is there widespread impunity for enforced disappearances, but those […]