An Oral Statement to the 11th Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization in general consultative status
ASIA: Concerns about the freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary
Thank you Mr. President,
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) welcomes the reports of the Special Rapporteurs on the freedom of expression and on the independence of judges and lawyers.
Mr. La Rue, the ALRC strongly condemns attacks on your work, which have nothing to do with rights and everything to do with mob politics. We note that your mandate has a large number of outstanding requests for country visits, many of which are in Asia, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Will you be re-iterating the above requests for visits, as attacks on journalists and human rights defenders are ongoing in these countries? We are concerned that your mandate has only rarely been able to visit South, South-East or East Asia, considering the many barriers to the freedom of expression that exist there.
We welcome the concerns expressed in your report, in particular the need to create a culture of protection of media workers, including at the legislative, administrative and judicial levels, and for violations to be investigated and prosecuted. Your report covers a range of important issues, including, violent suppression of candlelight vigils and demonstrations in the Republic of Korea, where increasing censorship and monitoring of the internet are also growing concerns. Your report also highlights the many cases of attacks on the media in Sri Lanka. Are you aware of the abduction and severe assault in Colombo, on June 1st, 2009, of Poddala Jayantha, the Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association? It is imperative that your mandate conduct a visit to Sri Lanka as a priority, as those working to shed light on violations of humanitarian and human rights law remain under grave and growing threat in the post-conflict era.
Mr. Despouy, the independence of the judiciary is fundamental to the protection of human rights and we thank you for all your work on this issue during your tenure. In many Asian nations, the lack of a functioning and independent judiciary enables impunity for even the gravest of violations by State-agents. We therefore welcome your suggestion for a comprehensive set of principles in order to ensure and further the independence of the judiciary. We also note that your mandate has numerous outstanding requests for county visits, notably to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and hope that your mandate will re-iterate these requests.
The need for greater scrutiny by your mandate is evident in Bangladesh, where, despite pledges to this Council that the judiciary would be separated from the executive, the current government has amended the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2009 to allow “executive magistrates” to arbitrarily take over trials of any cases they deem fit, greatly undermining any notion of independence of the judiciary, in particular concerning cases of human rights violations allegedly committed by the State.
Finally, we welcome the joint statement by ten special procedures, on February 9, 2009, including both those in question here, concerning the “unabated impunity for human rights violations” in Sri Lanka.1 Mr. Despouy, the justice delivery mechanisms in the country remain dysfunctional, making a visit by your mandate an urgent need, if the many allegations of gross violations are to be successfully brought to light, investigated and prosecuted. Will you be indicating this as a priority concern to your successor?
Thank you
