Right to life

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from North East Dialogue Forum, a coalition of human rights organisations, and North East Research & Social Work Networking, a civil society organisation based in Kokrajhar, Assam, regarding the extrajudicial execution of two school children and the injuring of another by a joint team […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) concerning the death of a man in police custody in Bau-Bau. KontraS and Buton Raya Legal Aid Institute (LBH Buton Raya) reported that bruises were found on the victim’s body, raising the strong […]

Nilantha Ilangamuwa The truth has been placed before us that the passing of laws does not mean people will benefit from them without proper implementation through the criminal justice system in the particular country. In the words of the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, “facts are many, but the truth is one.” Recent violence in Bangladesh […]

With the change in Army command on November 27, a crackdown against the people in Balochistan started. A prominent lawyer, Mr. Haider KB son of Khuda Bux age 33, resident of Koshkalat, was arrested by plain clothed persons riding in a non registered two door jeep. The police stations in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, […]

Dear friends,  We wish to share with you the following article from the Lawyer’s Weekly. Asian Human Rights Commission  Hong Kong ————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-FAT-025-2013 November 28, 2013 An article from the Lawyer’s Weekly forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA/AUSTRALIA: LCA condemns country’s worsening rule of law The Law Council of […]

Nine journalists suffered the worse kind of suppression with assassinations and attacks ( Graphic Courtesy: pakistanfoemonitor.org ) With the successive governments the reality of freedom of expression grows thinner and thinner as the right guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan is further constricted. Apart from blatant interference by the government, freedom of expression is also being […]

Dear friends,  We wish to share with you the following article from the Financial Times (Daily FT), written by Ashwin Hemmathagama. Asian Human Rights Commission  Hong Kong ————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-FAT-024-2013 November 27, 2013 An article from the Financial Times (Daily FT) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Eran drops bombshell […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to announce the launch of its weekly video news bulletin, the Human Rights Asia – Weekly Roundup. The seventh episode, released today, 27 November 2013, features a special focus on police torture for the purpose of extortion. Several examples from countries in Asia, such as the Philippines and Bangladesh, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from Sri Lanka Brief. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- FORWARDED PRESS RELEASE AHRC-FPR-052-2013 A Press Release from Sri Lanka Brief forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) SRI LANKA: The truth and torture of commissions […]

As we begin this second meeting let us start with a short reflection on the overall aims of the project to promote the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) and our progress in working to prevent torture in Asia. In this regard, there have been some historically important achievements this year in the Asian region. The adoption […]

Irom Sharmila Chanu’s story is a bizarre, almost schizophrenic, tale of absurdities. It has a woman who has not eaten a morsel for a full 13 years. It has a state that has kept her incarcerated for most part of all these years and is force feeding her through a tube in her nose. The […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to express grave concern about the current state of the draft amnesty bill in Thailand. The draft amnesty bill (in full, the Draft Amnesty for Those Who Committed Offences as a Result of the Political Protests and Political Expression of the People B.E…..) is broad, vague, and […]

The fact that every third child of Gujarat is malnourished comes as no revelation. It cannot be for a state whose Chief Minister Narendra Modi, now Prime Ministerial Candidate of the main opposition party in the country, had infamously blamed the growing malnutrition in his state on ‘beauty conscious girls’ trying to maintain slim figures. […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission ASIA: Watershed legislation criminalising torture & custodial violence enacted in Bangladesh The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates the people of Bangladesh for the enactment of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Act, 2013. The Jatiyo Shangsad (National Parliament) enacted the draft law, the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Bill, […]

The government of Pakistan has – within a short period of less than two weeks – promulgated two draconian laws, ostensibly, to combat terrorism. The first ordinance was promulgated on October 11. It has amended the Anti-Terrorist Act, 1997, and curtailed fundamental rights of citizens. Now the government has gone ahead and promulgated another ordinance […]

The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), the largest bar association of the country, in a general body meeting has passed a resolution against the conduct of three judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan including the Chief Justice, Iftekhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The resolution has demanded that a reference be filed against them before the […]

In his message for the world peace day, the Secretary-General of the United Nations said: “On this International Day of Peace, let us pledge to teach our children the value of tolerance and mutual respect. Let us invest in schools and teachers that will build a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity. Let us […]

The following interview was originally printed in the latest issue of the Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives. An Interview with Dr. Sunil Cooray on Torture in Sri Lanka Dr. Sunil Cooray is a senior lawyer who is very well known in Sri Lanka. He has been in legal practice for 46 years. He is the […]

Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, globally known to have critiqued the incumbent government of Bangladesh against its human rights abuses, has been released from prison today, October 11, 2013, after 62 days of prolonged arbitrary detention. It was back in August 10 that officers from the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrived at Adilur’s Dhaka […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information. It has come from the Citizens Concern for Dams and Development, Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur, North East Dialogue Forum and the Centre for Research and Advocacy. It has to do with threats to the life and person of […]