ASIA: Surface the missing, punish the perpetrators, end enforced disappearances

A Joint Press Release by the May 18 Memorial Foundation, Citizens Against Enforced Disappearances, Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Wife of Sombath Somphone, Human Rights Office and the Asian Legal Resource Centre on the occasion of, 30 August 2018, International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

PAKISTAN: Human Rights in Pakistan — Perspectives from Oppressed Regions

Parallel Event on Human Rights in Pakistan: Perspectives from Oppressed Regions 14 March 2017 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM Room: XXVII, Palais de Nations, Geneva, Switzerland Moderator/Chair: Mr. Baseer Naweed, Senior Researcher, Asian Legal Resource Centre Speakers in the Panel: 1. Mr. Sharan Srinivas, Director, Research and Advocacy, Right Livelihood Award Foundation 2. Ms. Rubina Greenwood, (Chairperson), World Sindhi Congress 3. Mr. Marino Busdachin (General Secretary), UNPO 4. Mr. Sardar Shaukat Kashmiri, (Chairperson), UKPNP) 5. Mr. Lakhumal Lohano,, (General Secretary), Sindhi-Baloch Forum 6. Mr. Hammal Haider Baloch, (Designation), Baloch National Movement, BNM RSVP: Please contact Mr. Baseer Naweed, Senior Researcher, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Email: baseer.naweed@ahrc.asia. The Fundamental human rights […]

BANGLADESH: Torture victims demand justice

Torture victims Babul Akhtar and Junayed Hossain Leon shared their painful experiences of sustaining torture by law-enforcement agencies while in detention. Wife and daughter of Mr. Mahmudur Rahman Manna, a civil society activist, who remains arbitrarily detained, and has been tortured in custody, shared their dreadful experiences regarding the excruciating law-enforcement system in Bangladesh.

PHILIPPINES: UN expert held-the government violated Maguindanao massacre families rights to be free from “cruel, inhuman treatment”

A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (Hong Kong, March 17, 2015) For “failing to provide reparations to survivors and their families,” Mr. Juan E. Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, concluded: the government violated the rights of witnesses, survivors and families of the Maguindanao massacre, to be free from “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Mendez’s report  (UN Doc. A/HRC/28/68/Add.1, para. 433-434) refers to the government’s obligations under article 16 of the Convention against Torture (CAT) to prevent “other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” that do not amount to torture. In his report on the Philippines presented to the 28th Session of the UN Human Rights […]

BANGLADESH: People’s rights cannot be conceived without the existence of the rule of law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-001-2014 A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: People’s rights cannot be conceived without the existence of the rule of law (Hong Kong, September 12, 2014) “People’s rights cannot be conceived without the existence of the rule of law, in any given territory,” says the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) in a new edition of its quarterly journal, article2, examining the inexistence of the rule of law in Bangladesh. The publication titled “Special Report: Inexistent Rule of Law in Bangladesh“, Vol. 13, No. 2 & 3, June – September 2014, is now available online. This special edition focuses on the criminal justice […]

BANGLADESH: New book “Human Rights and Governance: Bangladesh” released

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-004-2013 A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: New book “Human Rights and Governance: Bangladesh” released (Hong Kong, November 6, 2013): The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has published a new book titled, “Human Rights and Governance: Bangladesh” edited by Md Shariful Islam, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Dhaka, and contributed by eleven authors, including the editor, in nine chapters. The edited volume is an outcome of an ALRC project titled, “Corruption, Torture and Extrajudicial Killing in BANGLADESH: Examining the Role of State Institutions” that took place mostly between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. As the […]

INDIA: A widow’s voice from Manipur resounds at the UN Human Rights Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-003-2013 A Joint Press Release by Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM), India and the Asian Legal Resource Centre INDIA: A widow’s voice from Manipur resounds at the UN Human Rights Council (Hong Kong, 31 May 2013) Ms. Neena Ningombam, representing the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) spoke at the 23rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Neena spoke about extrajudicial executions in India and South Asia in the context of the report filed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to the Council. The speech could […]

INDIA: Discussion on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-002-2013 A Joint Press Release by Human Rights Alert and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (Hong Kong, May 27, 2013) Human Rights Alert (HRA) and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) will hold a discussion on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) at Palais des Nations, on 29 June, 2013. The discussion will coincide with the report of the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to the 23 Session of the UN Human Rights Council. The report, A/HRC/23/47/Add.1, dated 26 April 2013, covers the Rapporteur’s visit to India. The Rapporteur’s report deals at length the ill effects of AFSPA, […]

BANGLADESH: Rights groups urge the international community to make UPR a meaningful process

(Dhaka/Hong Kong: 17 February 2013): After a series of consultations held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and Odhikar has urged the international community to participate in their fullest during the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Bangladesh. The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will hold the UPR in April, this year. The participants discussed key issues concerning democracy, rule of law and fundamental human rights in Bangladesh that should be reviewed in the UPR. The participants reviewed documents, including the state party report filed in advance to the UPR. Reiterating the importance of the UPR, the participants agreed that the process could be made more […]

BANGLADESH: Citizens and the UN deceived

Contrary to the assurance to the UN and against the domestic law in Bangladesh, negating due process, the Government of Bangladesh has thus far withdrawn 6855 cases of murder, rape, robbery, corruption, extortion and the keeping of illegal arms. The excuse cited while executing the ‘crown prerogative’ by the government is that all these cases are ‘politically motivated.’