(AHRC STATEMENT) The AHRC wishes to express its deep concern at the latest developments in the establishment of transitional justice institutions in Nepal. On 19 April 2012, the major political parties of Nepal have agreed to merge the initially proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of investigation into disappearances into one unique commission the Integrated Reconciliatory Commission, placing a heavy emphasis on Reconciliation over Justice. There are rising concerns that this unique commission would be granted the power to provide amnesty, including for human rights violations and even in cases in which the victims refuse to pardon the perpetrators.
 

(AHRC URGENT APPEALS)The AHRC is deeply concerned about the killing of an indigenous leader inside his domicile in Bukidnon province. Since 2011, the victim has been receiving threats to his life from members of a paramilitary group due to his anti-mining advocacy in their village. His murder was aggravated by lack of protection, despite him having drawn attention to the threats.

(AHRC STATEMENT) On Tuesday, May 8, a judge in Rangoon will read the verdicts in four cases brought against a young engineer, Phyo Wai Aung, for alleged involvement in a bombing attack of 15 April 2010 that killed 10 people, seriously wounded 46 and injured 27 others. The trial started on 30 June 2010. Until the end of 2011, the court heard only prosecution witnesses, after which it allowed the defendant a few short days to give his side of the story before closing the hearings, the outcome of which it must now rule upon. 

(AHRC URGENT APPEALS) The AHRC has received information regarding a police raid on the office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) in Diponegoro Street, Jakarta, following a student protest against the government’s plan to raise the price of fuel. Fifty four people were arrested by the police and several damages were reported.

(AHRC ARTICLE) It is hard to detect and substantiate emotional abuse of female child because of many reasons, including a clear lack of an accepted and consistent definition and least importance of the subject matter in feudal and patriarchal societies.  It is widely recognized that verbal abuse of girl child is much prevalent and occurs in a range of relationships and social settings, all around the world.  However, the intensity of such phenomenon is much higher in poor and developing countries, such as Pakistan.  

(AHRC STATEMENT) The AHRC has had discussions with the leaders of the Ahmadis, a religious minority community of Islam, at Lahore, Punjab province. During these discussions it was found that they are denied access to practice their religion at local mosques and that Quranic scriptures engraved or painted on the walls of their own mosques are erased by Muslim extremists in the very presence of the police. According to Islamic law no Quranic verse may be removed however, in a country that is always ready to utilise blasphemy laws to their favour no action has been taken against either the extremists or the police.

(AHRC URGENT APPEALS) The AHRC has received information that the Small Dams Organization (SDO) of Punjab Irrigation and Power Department has served 31 eviction notices on hundreds of fisherfolk living besides the Shahpur Dam in district Attock of Punjab province. The SDO is planning to forcibly remove almost 450 fishermen along with their families from their decades old land and their access to fresh water to facilitate the private companies who are acquiring the fishing contract on Shahpur Dam.
 

(AHRC URGENT APPEALS) The AHRC is deeply concerned about the arbitrary detention of five persons, including a minor, in Nueva Ecija province. The victims were illegally arrested, laid with criminal charges based on evidence taken from a search conducted under questionable circumstances. The charges have no real evidence to support the prosecution of a case against them.

(AHRC ARTICLE) I am expected to take my oaths next year, but now I have to rethink whether an attorney could work according to his or her conscience and seek justice for the aggrieved party giving the extreme political pressures the judicial process is subjected to in this country. There has to be a serious rethink about it."

(AHRC ARTICLE) Read this carefully. Our politicians are not that stupid but maybe we are? You may have different answers: we may debate for years and publish thousands of pages of our conscientious stupidity and the sincere ignorance of the politicos. But what would be the result or a decent harvest at the end of the day?  Who is going to have the last laugh? What are we weeding nowadays?
 

(AHRC STATEMENT) On 30 April 2012, the Criminal Court in Bangkok was scheduled to read its verdict in Black Case No. 1667/2553 on ten alleged violations of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. The defendant is Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the 44-year-old webmaster of Prachatai, an independent online news site. Suddenly, instead of reading the decision, 20 minutes before the proceedings were to begin court staff notified Chiranuch and her lawyers that the decision would be delayed for an additional month.