Statement

The leading members of the legal profession and judiciary of Sindh Province in Pakistan are being continuously victimized and harassed for protesting against the holding of presidential elections and also for initiating legal action against the government and a ruling party for the killing of two lawyers. Accordingly, presidential elections in Pakistan were conducted on […]

A proposed European Union-India bilateral trade and investment agreement is expected to be different from its predecessor in that it will likely have been stripped of conditionality clauses on human rights. This is a surprising and significantly negative new position on the part of the European Union (EU), which has traditionally placed human rights elements […]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently in Sri Lanka having arrived for a country visit for a period of five days. In September Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur against torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment was also in Sri Lanka for about ten days. Both visits highlight one […]

A Dutch journalist, Jon Bottis, learned a lesson about Sri Lankan policing when he made a complaint about the theft of his personal belongings from his apartment in the holiday town of Hikkaduwa recently: “One policeman called him outside the station and asked him whether he needed a woman to have sex with.” Having arrived […]

Thank you Mr. President, The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) welcomes the holding of a special session on the human rights situation in Myanmar. This initiative is timely, vital and a significant opportunity for the Council to prove its worth. However, the session must deliver tangible and constructive outcomes if it is to be considered […]

The numbers of persons and Buddhist monks and nuns who have been taken into custody in Burma during recent days remains unknown. This is largely because none of them have been taken in accordance with any law. There has not even been the pretence of law as normally exists in Burma. Hundreds have been rounded […]

On October 1, 1965, a period of oppression started in Indonesia, when the Indonesian government entered into a violent conflict that resulted in years of human rights abuses. In a joint effort, today, a group of non-governmental organizations urged the National Commission for Human Rights in Indonesia (Komnas HAM) to start inquiries into the human […]

As of yesterday, at least 700 monks and 500 other citizens have been taken away by security forces in every part of the country. They include prominent persons, such as comedian Par Par Lay in Mandalay, and staunch human rights defenders such as lawyer U Aye Myint in Pegu. They also include many members of […]

On September 25, the Supreme Court has announced that it adopted the Rule on the Writ of Amparo. The new rule, which takes effect on October 24, provides “remedies to any person whose right to life, liberty and security is violated and threatened”. It covers the unlawful acts or act of omission by public officials […]

On the morning of 27 September 2007 people around the world were wondering if the protestors in Burma would back down in the face of heavy force that is believed to have left five monks and one civilian dead on the previous day, two monasteries looted and hundreds arrested. They did not. Throughout the day, […]

The Buddhist monks in Burma have been on the streets for several days now, falling upon the last resort under their disciplinary code (Vinaya Pitaka), in calling upon the military regime of the country to step down and to respect the people. The people of Burma are facing extremely difficult times. The cost of basic […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 27, 2007 AL-030-2007 A Joint Statement submitted by the World Council of Churches, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development and the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) to the 6th Human Rights Council PHILIPPINES: Extrajudicial killings Thank you Mr. President. This statement is supported by the World Council of […]

Thank you, Mr. President. I wish to address the Council as both a human rights defender and a victim of human rights abuses in Pakistan. The situation in the country is not gaining the attention it deserves here. The media are being silenced, human rights defenders face grave reprisals, torture is endemic and the country […]

The Delhi High Court on September 21, 2007 sentenced the editor, the resident editor, the publisher and the cartoonist of English daily Mid-Day guilty in a contempt of court case. The charge against the convicted journalists was that they published a report and a cartoon concerning the former Chief Justice of India, Mr. Y.K. Sabharwal. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information direct from Rangoon to confirm reports that this morning, 25 September 2007, government vehicles manned by the personnel of township councils, quasi-government officials, government-organised thugs, police and others have since around 10am been patrolling the streets warning that there are to be no further protests or […]

Item 3: Children in armed conflict – Ms. Coomaraswamy, Under-Secretary-General, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Thank you Mr. President, The ongoing use of child soldiers in many of Asia’s armed conflicts remains a serious concern for the Asian Legal Resource Centre. We welcome the work of the Special Representative on child soldiers in […]

September 24 is Constitution Day in Cambodia; a public holiday called to celebrate the anniversary of promulgation of the country’s new constitution on the same day in 1993. This constitution was adopted by a constitutional assembly elected under the auspices of the United Nations, which administered the country in 1992 and 1993 pursuant to the […]

The protests that began in Burma during August to voice public frustration and discontent over sharp price rises have in the last week fast accelerated–under the guidance of the Buddhist clergy, the Sangha–towards an uprising to end the country’s military dictatorship. The monks leading the latest events have declared the formal “overturning of the alms […]

It was in August of this year that Indonesia’s draft revised Penal Code Bill was to be submitted to the President for parliamentary debate. Predictably, this did not take place. No one knows  when, or even if, this draft, which has been in revision for the last twenty years, will reach the hands of the […]

At the United Nations Human Rights Council several European Union countries attempted to assist Sri Lanka out of its present serious crisis by suggesting human rights monitoring by the United Nations to buttress the local mechanisms of law enforcement, which have suffered a serious collapse. While the Sri Lankan government, for reasons which are difficult […]