35th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 4: General Debate on the human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Oral Statement Delivered by R. Iniyan Ilango on behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Friday, 16 June 2017 Mr President, FORUM-ASIA draws the Council’s attention to declining human [ Read more ]

Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2017 Time: 11:00-12:00 Venue: Room XXVII, Palais des Nations, Geneva Freedom of expression continues to be under threat in South Asia. Restrictive legislation, criminal defamation, abduction, digital surveillance, killings and threats from rising extremism are some of the trends that plagued have freedom of expression in South Asia. The side event will [ Read more ]

Islamabad, May 25, 2017: It has been less than a year since the controversial Pakistan Electronic Crime Act (PECA) was passed by the Parliament. However, the concerns of misuse of this partially unconstitutional act are fast becoming true with criminalisation of political dissent and other forms of free speech (which should not be confused with [ Read more ]

Lahore, 19 May: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has voiced serious alarm over arbitrary curbs on freedom of expression, a climate of intimidation and the authorities’ stated intent to act against any perceived slight to the armed forces through the social media. In a statement issued on Friday, the Commission said: “HRCP notes with [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Kathmandu/Islamabad, 15 May 2017) – Bytes for All, Pakistan (B4A), the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), and other undersigned organisations express deep concern and condemn an incident during a parliamentary committee meeting, which undermines the independence of the National Commission for Human [ Read more ]

Lahore, 11 May 2017 :The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has welcomed the removal of 47 individuals’ names from a list under 4th Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act in Gilgit-Baltistan, and called for a fair hearing for those remaining on the list. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Commission said: “HRCP welcomes as [ Read more ]

‘Far from the standard of holding someone innocent until proven guilty, those accused of blasphemy in Pakistan are usually not even given a fair chance to prove their innocence as they become victims of mob justice or street violence. For some time now, I have been restricting my speech — which may otherwise be perfectly [ Read more ]

Islamabad, May 03, 2017: On this World Press Freedom Day, the world stands at its lowest state of press freedom in 13 years. In particular, the state of press freedoms in Asia is increasingly becoming enveloped in a climate of fear, with blatant violations of fundamental rights and authoritarian controls taking over the journalistic missions [ Read more ]

(Bangkok/Islamabad, 18 April 2017) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Bytes for All, Pakistan (B4A) and Association for Progressive Communications (APC) strongly condemn the gruesome killing of 23-year-old Mashal Khan by a vigilante mob at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan for purported blasphemy[1]. The horrific incident is yet another case [ Read more ]

The National Commission for Justice and Peace, a rights based organization of Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, strongly condemned the horrific incident of bombing at the Shrine of Sufi Saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif. As per the reports up to 88 devotees were slain in the attack but the death toll is increasing by [ Read more ]