Statement

Human Rights Day: A challenge to the conscience of the international human rights community

Statement | World | 10-12-2024

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of Human Rights Day The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) joins the rest of the international community today to celebrate and at the same time to reflect on the challenges faced by the global human rights project at this very crucial moment.  We welcome […]

SRI LANKA: Thinking with colors: Young persons kidnapped and killed inside a navy camp in Sri Lanka

The picture produced below shows how the kidnapping for ransom and killing of 11 young person’s inside a navy camp has become a problem troubling the conscience of the entire nation. This incident had a profound effect on the minds of everyone. On the one hand, there is a demand for justice. This demand has […]

ASIA: Civic Space – lessons learnt from three Asian countries – Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

We are sharing a short video commentary on the context between authoritarianism and democracy in three Asian countries, which are facing unprecedented struggles between the forces which represented authoritarianism of various forms and those of the opposition who are making extraordinary efforts to transform their societies into democracies based on the rule of law and […]

SRI LANKA:The most important step in the fight against corruption

Due to the recent elections, there is now a great expectation for some decisive change. Everybody agrees that the election results show a very definite rejection of the old way, the old leadership, and the traditional style. People want something very different. What is the most important change that the people are expecting, which can […]

SRI LANKA: Election Result 2024 – An Opportunity for Democracy

Decisive Opportunity for Democracy- Rule of Law- Protection of Human Rights and End Corruption. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Congratulate the Sri Lankan People for their BOLD DECISION to Protect Democracy- Rule of Law-Human rights and to End Corruption

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවඃ 2024 මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිපලය

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය -නීතියමත පාලනය -මානව හිමිකම් සුරුකීම හා දූෂණය නැති කිරීම සදහා තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවක් සාමකාමී මැතිවරණයක් මගින් තීරණාත්මක වෙනසකට මග පාදාගත් ලංකික ජනාතාවට ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසfම් සුභ පැතුම්

INDONESIA: A finding report on the allegation of brutality of the authorities in the peaceful public protest on 22 August, 2024

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD) regarding finding report on the allegation of brutality during peaceful public protest in front of the office of the House of Representative (DPR RI).  On Thursday, August 29, 2024. the TAUD announced findings in the handling of the peaceful public protest on […]

INDONESIA: Stop Police brutality against the democratic Indonesian masses

Click here to see a video of the protest A massive peaceful public protest took place in several cities today as a form of public reaction to the House of Representatives (DPR) efforts to thwart the Constitutional Court’s decisions numbers 60/PUU-XXII/2024 and 70/PUU-XXII/2024. This peaceful protest was the peak of public anger over a series of […]

BANGLADESH:Moment of hope and a new beginning for Bangladesh

The people of Bangladesh have created an opportunity for themselves by way of a mass intervention in order to oust the rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and as a result, she has fled the country after resigning from her position. The people were mostly led by students and independent movements of people rather […]

SRI LANKA: Respect the decision of the Supreme Court: The Honourable Speaker is not infallible

In a speech read to the Parliament today, the honourable Prime Minister challenged the validity of the interim order issued by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, stopping the incumbent Inspector General of Police (IGP) from functioning in his official capacity till a final decision is made by the Supreme Court on several petitions filed […]

INDONESIA: Condemns the Shooting of Human Rights DefenderMr.Yan Christian Warinussy

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional human rights organisation, has received information from the Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform. Based on information from Manokwari, Papua collected by the Coalition, it is known that Yan Christian Warinussy, the Director of the Legal Aid Research, Study and Development Institute (LP3BH), was shot. The case […]

ශ්‍රීලංකා:ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේඅතුරුනියෝගයෙන්පසුපොලිස්නායකත්වයේඇතිවියයුතුවෙනස

පොලිස්පතිගේ වැඩ තහනම් කිරීමේ අතුරු නියෝගය තුලින් අතිශයින් අනාගතය කෙරෙහි බලපෑ හැකි වෙනස්කම් ගනනාවක් වහාම ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවා ගැනීමේ ඉඩකඩක් දැන් පහලව පවතී. රටෙිම දැඩි විරෝධයට හේතුවූ මෙම පොලිස්පතිවරයාගේ පත්කිරීම තුලින් රටේ නීතිය හා සාමය පවත්වාගෙන යාමට ඉතා බරපතල අවහිරයක් පැනනැගුනා පමණක් නොව, රටේ අරාජිකත්වය වැපිරීමට හා බරපතල අපරාධ පැතිරී යාම වැඩි වීමටද තත්වයක් පහල විය. […]

WORLD:An Appreciation of Sister Marya Zaborowski

Statement | World | 11-07-2024

An Appreciation of Sister Marya Zaborowski: A Close Friend and Former Colleague of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Sister Marya Zaborowski, a Maryknoll nun who dedicated her life to serving others, passed away on July 6th, 2024, at the age of 92. Sister Marya had a profound impact on the lives of many people […]

INDONESIA: Initial Findings from the Investigation of AM’s Alleged Torture: Urging Police Professionalism, Transparency and Accountability in Revealing the Truth of theCase

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports the Indonesian Civil Society Anti-Torture Coalition in condemning the acts of torture against a child victim AM (13) and 17 other children. These acts of torture were carried out by the West Sumatra Regional Police’s Directorate of Samapta on June 9, 2024, causing one child victim to die and 17 other victims […]

INDONESIA: Torture is still big homework for Indonesia

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports Indonesian civil society organisations to promote the eradication of torture. The organisations consist of the Sekretariat RFP (Aliansi Masyarakat Sipil untuk Reformasi Kepolisian), the LBH Masyarakat (LBHM), the Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI) and the Komisi untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Tindak Kekerasan (KontraS). June 26 is […]

NEPAL: Personal vendetta against the media

Statement | Nepal | 26-05-2024

First, they came for the media, and I did not speak out – because I was not a media. Then they came for the civil society, and I did not speak out – because I was not a civil society. Then they came for the lawyers and judges, and I did not speak out – […]

SRI LANKA:Economic, governmental, legal: not three crises but one

(Sharing a link to a video explaining the Sri Lankan crisis of governance, Economy and Rule of Law. This video was prepared as a part of an ongoing discussion on the need of system change) Link to the Video  The purpose of this short article is to point to the need to focus on the […]

INDONESIA:Refuse honour and bring criminal generals to justice

On February 28th, 2024, Indonesian President Joko Widodo awarded the Indonesian Minister of Defense, Mr. Prabowo Subianto the honourary promotion to the rank of General of the Indonesian National Army. A similar title has been given to a number of retired Indonesian National Military officers who once served as Ministers, starting from Mr. Susilo Bambang […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: තත්කාලීන ලාංකීය සමාජය තුල වදහිසා විරෝධී පනත හා ජීවිතයට ඇති අයිතිය ස්ථානගත කිරීම

1994 දී ලංකාවේනීතිපොතට ඇතුලු වූ වදහිංසා පනත මේවසරේදී අවුරුදු 30ක කාලයක් සනිටුහන් කරයි. මෙතරම් දීර්ඝ කාලයක් ඔස්සේ මේ පනත තුලින් ලාංකීය සමාජය අත්පත් කරගත් ජයග්‍රහණයක් හෝ සාධාරණ භාවයක් දැක ගත හැකිද? වහිංසාව වැලැක්වීම නැමති ජාත්‍යන්තර එකගතාවයේ පදනම වූයේ යුක්තිය හා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කර වීමේදීමුලුමනින්ම බුද්ධිය හා ප්‍රඥාගෝචරත්වය පදනම් කරගත් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කර ගැනීම ස්ථාවර සමාජයක් ඇති කිරීම සදහා අතීෂයින්ම වැදගත් වන්නා වූ සාධකයක් වන බවය. වධහිංසා පනත සාර්ථකද නැද්ද යන්න සලකා බැලිය යුතු වන්නේ එවනි ස්ථාවර සමාජයක් ලංකාව තුල පවතීද යන්න ගැන සලකා බැලීම තුලිනි.  අද ලංකාවේපොදුවේපවතින මතය නම් මෙතරම් අස්ථාවර කාලයක් කොයි කලකදීවත් පැවතී නැති බවය. මේපිළිබදව ප්‍රධානම සාධකය නම් රට පුරාම පැතිර පවතින නිතරම අසන්නට ලැබෙන මිනී මැරුම් හා ඝාතන තර්ජන තුලින් ඇතිකර ඇති භීතියයි.  මිනී මැරුම් පිළිබදව දිනපතාම ඇසෙන්නට ලැබෙනවා පමණක් නොව විවිධාකර වූ ආකාර වලින් ඝාතන සිදුවීමට ඉඩ දෙන වාතාවරණයක්ද දැකගත හැකිය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් බෙහෙත් යැයි පෙන්නුම් කරමින් පාටකල වතුර බරපතල ලෙඩ රෝග ඇති රෝගීන්ට එන්තනත් කිරීම දක්වා මෙම ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය පළල් වී ඇත.ඉමියුනොග්ලොබින් ෂපපමබදටකදඉමකසබ නැමති ඉතා බලවත් ඖෂධය වෙනුවට පාට කල වතුර එන්ත් කිරීම සම්බන්දයෙන් හෙලිදව් වී ඇති කරුනු දැන් ප්‍රසිද්ධ නඩුවකට පවා හේතු ගත වී ඇත.  මේහැර දේශපාලන කරුනු මත වූවත් ව්‍යාපාරික කරුණක් ගැන වූවත් දෂණ හෙළිදරව් කිරීමක් ගැන වූවත් මත්ද්‍රව්‍යය ජාවාරම පිළිබදව විරෝධය පෑමක් වූවත් හුදෙක්ම ආගමික මතවාදයකට ඇතිවන ගැටීමක් වූවත් බොහෝ විට තුඩු දෙන්නේ ඝාතන තර්ජන වලටය.  මෙවනි වාතාවරයක් තුල වදහිංසා පනත අර්ථකථනය කල යුතු වන්නේ සුවිශේෂ සමාජයක පවතින ප්‍රචන්ඩත්වය හා හිංසාකාරී බව පිළිබදව ඇති දැනුවත් කම හා අවබෝධය ඔස්සේය. වධහිංසා පණත දියුණු සමාජයන් තුල යොදා ගනු ලබන්නේ විනයානුකූලව කටයුතු කරන පොලීසියක්, නීත්‍යානුකූලව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ පවත්වන අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ පද්ධතියක්, අපක්ෂපාතී වූ නිතිපති ක්‍රමයක් මෙන්ම ස්වාධීනව කටයුතු කිරීමට ඉඩ ඇති අධිකරණ ක්‍රමයක් පවතිනතාක් දුරටය. එහෙත් මේකිසිදු කොන්දේසියක් පසුගිය කාලය තුල ලාංකීය සමාජය තුල පවතින්නේ නැත.  වදහිංසා ඇතිවීම මෙන්ම ඝාතන සංස්කෘතියේ පසුබිමද ඉහත කී ආයතන වල පවතින බරපතල කඩා වැටීම් හා බද්ද වී ඇත.  මෙම බද්දවීම පිළිබද අවබෝධයෙන් තොරව කොපමණ පැමිණි කලත්, නඩු තීන්දු ලබා ගත්තත් ඒ මගින් සැබෑ සාධාරණයක්වත්, සමාජ ස්ථාවරත්වයක් ගොඩනගා ගැනීමක්වත් කල නොහැකිය.  මේනිසා වදහිංසා පනත පිළිබද 30 සංවත්සරය සනිටුහන් කිරීමේදී අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ ලාංකීය සමාජය තුල වධහිංසාව නොකඩවා පැවැත්මටත්, ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය පළල් වීමටත් යුක්තිය පසදලවා ගැනීම වඩ වඩා අමාරු කාලයක් වීමටත් හේතු වී ඇති රාජ්‍ය ආයතනික ගැටලුව තෝරා බේරාගෙන, හදුනාගෙන ඊට පිළියම් සදහා යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමය.  මේනිසා නීති වෘතිය මෙන්ම යුක්තිය පසදලීමේයෙදෙන සියලුම කාර්යංශ තුලත් සිවිල් සමාජය තුලත් විශේෂයෙන්ම මාධ්‍ය තුලත් පැන නැගිය යුතු වාතාවරණය වන්නේ මෙම අතිෂයින් වැදගත් සමාජ සාකච්ඡාව ඉස්මතු කොට ගෙන ඉදිරියට ගෙය යෑමය.  ඉදිරියේදී එනවාය කියන මැතිවරණ කාලය තුල මෙම වදහිංසා හා ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය පිළිබද ගැටලු වඩ වඩාත් උග්‍ර වනු ඇත. එවනි තත්වයක් යටතේ මෙම සාකච්ඡාව ඉස්මතු කර ගැනීම වඩ වඩාත් කාලෝචිත වන්නේය. 

INDONESIA: Shrinking of public space on expression, association and peaceful assembly

PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY  Discussion at Yogyakarta State University Critics against the Regime Forcibly Dispersed by the Rector          Discussion and gathering that was planned by the students of Yogyakarta State University (UNY) and other academics, such as lecturers and professors, were forcibly dispersed by the Rector due to the committee of the discussion did not have permission from the rector. Previously, […]