Statement

SOUTH ASIA: COVID -19 – South Asian Lives Matter

India is facing a massive threat to the lives of its people as evidenced from the ever growing number of corpses that are being scattered everywhere in the country. The crematoriums cannot keep up with the huge number of these corpses and everyone is talking about someone or the other that was known to them […]

BANGLADESH: UN Rights Chief needs to act to address excessive use of force leading to extrajudicial killings and torture amidst mass arrests

The Bangladesh Government continues using dis-proportionate lethal force and brutal crackdowns on dissidents. The authorities have been using the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the excuses for denying the rights of liberties and livelihoods to the people. The Bangladesh Government, in its signature style, chose to crackdown on protesters for staging two peaceful protests. They were aimed […]

MYANMAR (Burma): People’s express mandate for greater democracy battled by military staging a coup

The military coup in Myanmar, deposing the legitimately elected Government previously led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has come under global condemnation. Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, also expressed grave concern. “This development represents a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar”. The Secretary-General has urged the Military leadership to respect the will of […]

BANGLADESH: Authoritarian repression in curbing civic space harms more than the pandemic

The Bangladesh Government continues its repressive campaigns of curtailing civic space in the country’s ever-deteriorating human rights situation. The Authorities have been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an additional excuse for encroaching on the freedoms of assembly, expression, including the freedom of the press. Bangladesh’s Law-Enforcement Agencies kept playing their predatory role in detaining the […]

SRI LANKA: Four years prison term for contempt of court violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

On 12 January 2021, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found S. V. R. P. P. A. R. L. S. Alphonsu, known also as Ranjan Ramanayake, as guilty of having committed the offence of contempt of court and sentenced him to four years of rigorous imprisonment. The accused is presently a […]

SRI LANKA: A submission on the making of a new constitution

The Minster of Justice  Room No.32 {Block 02} BMICH,  Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07 expertscommpublic@yahoo.com A submission on the making of a new constitution 1.This submission is made on the assumption that the attempt to make a new constitution is an act done in good faith, motivated solely by the attempt to address what has gone […]

INDIA: Democracy detained even as COVID is on a free run

Statement | India | 10-12-2020

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of Human Rights Day Covid has been a tragedy for 7 billion people, for the entire world. Or, perhaps, it has not been for a few. It has rather been a godsend for illiberal governments around the world. A study by Freedom House found, the condition […]

NEPAL: The Government of Nepal has been using the Covid-19 Pandemic to Exercise Control, to Commit Human Rights Violations and to Deny Justice to Victims of Human Rights Abuses

Statement | Nepal | 09-12-2020

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the international human rights day The Khadga Prasad (K.P.) Sharma Oli led Government has long been criticized for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Nepal. Despite the blanket lockdown imposed on the entire country since 24 March 2020 and the end of […]

SRI LANKA: The duty to stop murder

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of Human Rights Day In Sri Lanka, the closest event prior to the human rights day on December 10th, is the killing of 11 prisoners and injuring of over 100 other prisoners in the Mahara prisons. That incident clearly speaks about the massive contradictions […]

INDONESIA: Pretrial Detention under the Criminal Law Procedure Needs Serious Reform

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of Human Rights Day In commemorating International Human Rights Day, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional human rights organization, wishes to convey a strong message to Indonesia concerning pre-trial detention, unfair trial, and torture. The AHRC notes that pre-trial detention under the […]

INDONESIA: How serious is the Government in implementing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 16?

On 25 September 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted a Resolution entitled “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” Two years later, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia issued Presidential Decree, Number 59, of 2017, concerning the Implementation of Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal. “No one left behind” is […]

INDIA: Government must release Father Stan Swamy, 83—NOW

Statement | India | 16-10-2020

India’s federal investigative agency, the National Investigative Agency (NIA), recently arrested Father Stan Swamy, a Jesuit Priest, over alleged links with Maoists insurgents. The NIA had been probing him for over a year now in the Bhima Koregaon case in which violence had erupted between the Dalists and the so-called upper caste groups affiliated with […]

SRI LANKA: Abduction and demands for ransom by some officers of Kuda oya Police Station

Two young men named Wicramage Shanaka Chathuranga and Wicramage Eishan Chintaka Lakamal both from Ambilitiye were abducted under suspicion of the theft of four buffaloes. At the police station, they were severely tortured. According to the family, the family members were denied access to the suspects and the police denied having abducted or taken them […]

SRI LANKA: Murder at Pugoda Police Station- OIC has not yet been arrested

On October 11, a young man Gayan Pushpkumar, 21, was arrested by the officers of the Pugoda Police Station on mistaken identity. Initially, he was suspected of having robbed some money. However, later, the money had been found in the very house the money was supposed to be stolen from. In between the suspicion and […]

BANGLADESH: Termination of University Teacher Exposes Institutional Collapse

Reputation for exercising freedom of expression costs the termination of a teacher’s job at the National University of Bangladesh (NUB). The NUB dismissed its Geography Department’s Assistant Professor, A.K.M.Wahiduzzaman, on 10 September 2020 for criticizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The NUB had referred a backdated Syndicate Meeting held on 2 September. This dismissal was executed illegally as cyber-crime […]

NEPAL: Citizens’ Call to the Government to be Sensitive on Ganga Maya Adhikari’s Health

Statement | Nepal | 13-09-2020

When the main building of Bir Hospital has been designated as the dedicated hospital for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, it has come to our serious attention that Satyagrahi Ganga Maya Adhikari’s health is at high risk, as she has not been transferred to other safer place, and is still being kept at the hospital […]

BANGLADESH: Freedom is met with rigorous governmental control and violent attacks by people having impunity

Freedom of the Press currently faces a dark era in Bangladesh. The country’s print, electronic, and online media struggle to survive amid rabid abuse of draconian Laws and authoritarian control. Journalists come under physical attacks by the people having impunity under the incumbent regime. Many journalists languish in arbitrary detentions inside the country or have […]

WORLD: A manifestation of the decadence of our times?

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES There has been a great deal of lip service given out when it comes to dealing with disappearances. But beyond that, there is hardly any other attempt to do something in real time, regarding such a widely-practiced, heinous crime. Perhaps, that is an understatement. And, there is reason to wonder whether it is […]

INDONESIA: Pelaksanaan SDGs Harus Satu Nafas dengan Perlindungan Hak Asasi Manusia

Pada 25 September 2015, Sidang Umum Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa (PBB) mengadopsi Resolusi berjudul “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” Selang dua tahun kemudian, Pemerintah Republik Indonesia mengeluarkan Peraturan Presiden Nomor 59 Tahun 2017 tentang Pelaksanaan Pencapaian Tujuan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan. “No one left behind” merupakan prinsip utama pelaksanaan Tujuan Pembangunan Berkelanjutan (Sustainable Development Goals/SDGs). […]

BANGLADESH: Protecting workers against poverty requires competent Institutions, with rights and dignity, at home and abroad

Bangladesh experienced at least 400,000 migrant workers deported from the Middle Eastern oil-rich States, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The forced repatriation of migrant workers has been an additional burden. It follows the already overwhelming, un-employment crisis the people of the country are enduring. Some 200,000 laborers have lost opportunities to travel to their desired overseas destinations as migrant workers. […]