Administration of justice

The successful United Nations Resolution on reconciliation and accountability should pave the way for a new period of commitment to cure the wounds of a long conflict, caused upon individuals as well as on the institutional structure of democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka. A responsible approach to dealing with the past […]

The National Human Rights Commission is a specialised statutory body mandated to protect, promote and fulfil human rights. Set up by virtue of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC is the result of India’s pre-emptive commitment to United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993, also known as Principles relating […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Our lives are spinning out from world to world; the shapes of things are shifting in the wind. What do we know beyond the rapture and the dread?- Stanley Kunitz* “They finished off my husband after two days of torture, and then took me to Hambantota where a number of women were […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to condemn in the strongest possible terms the decision of the government, made on February 27, 2012, to recommend the withdrawal of nearly 425 criminal cases. It is now up to the judiciary to exercise due diligence over the cases under their jurisdiction, to ensure that the reasons for […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Speech after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were […]

The suicide of police officer, P G Haridath, on 15 March 2012 brings again to the limelight, issues that adversely affect criminal investigations in India. Haridath was an Additional Superintendent of Police working in the Central Bureau of Investigation. It is reported that the deceased officer was investigating the infamous Sampath murder case in Kerala […]

The national debate regarding India’s position about the proposed resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council concerning Sri Lanka is limited to a Tamil view of the issue. The views exchanged in both houses of the country’s parliament and in the media reflect this. This parochial view about the resolution exposes the widespread lack […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from [Name of the Organisation/Media]. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from Lawyers for Democracy forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 13th March 2012 ‘Lawyers for Democracy’ (LfD) is gravely concerned with […]

The judiciary is that branch of the state which adjudicates on conflicts between state institutions, between the state and the individual and between individuals. The judiciary is independent of both legislature and the executive. This is a feature of judicial independence which is of prime importance, both in relation to the government according to law […]

The people of Bangladesh are living in a tense situation prior to a mass rally in Dhaka on March 12, 2012 called by the opposition parties against the ruling regime. The opposition political parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have organised a march towards Dhaka, on March 12 which is aimed at showing their […]

INDIA: GHE fear at New Delhi Reading the proposed draft resolution mooted at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) concerning human rights in Sri Lanka, one cannot help wonder why India did not propose such a resolution before? Today by delaying in arriving at a decision, whether to support the resolution or not, India has once […]

“…..you dislike doctrines, you have a horror of systems, as for principles, you deny that there are any in political economy; therefore we shall call it your practice — your practice without theory and without principle.” Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) [Open letter to the French Parliament, originally published in 1845]   The operation in Geneva has […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following report published in Prothom Alo, a national Bangla language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 1 March 2012. The original story can be read at: http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2012-03-01/news/228930 . Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the Prothom Alo, a national Bangla language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, […]

If a girl sits badly, it is up to her mother to cover her thighs. – Orma (Kenyan) Proverb Again, it works, doesn’t it? But for how long you are going to trap the public with this same strategy which has different faces? When the person who has abused power and undermined the basic rights of […]

The President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Md. Zillur Rahman has once again exercised his power of clemency. This time his office has commuted the sentence of a convict formerly given a life sentence to that of a ten years’ imprisonment.  It is not surprising that the same person has received two commutations in […]

One of the sad truths that we have to live with today is that the people’s struggles for human rights are highly fragmented in India. Equally disheartening is the fact that whenever or wherever human rights comes up for discussion, it is addressed in piecemeal, ignoring and leaving far behind a comprehensive approach to rights […]

One of the advisors to the Sri Lankan president went to Vavuniya last Saturday (February 25) to talk to the people displaced by ‘the war’ and was interviewed by a BBC correspondent. The presidential advisor told the correspondent that the displaced people in Vavuniya had not received as much benefit as the people in the […]

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි AHRC-STM-034-2012-SI පෙබරවාරි 22, 2012 ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ නිවේදනයයි සාමකාමී ලෙස උද්ඝෝෂණය කරන උද්ඝෝෂකයින්ට වෙඩි තැබීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය සාමාන්‍යයෙන් සිදුකරන දෙයක් බව ධීවර සහ ජලජ සම්පත් සංවර්ධන කැබිනට් අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා  හලාවතදී ධීවරයෙකුට වෙඩි තබා මරාදැමීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් බී.බී. සී. සිංහල සේවයේ වාර්තාකරුවෙකු ඇසූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.  මෙලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පොලිසිය […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa “As your attorney general I’m sorry to have to tell you that the present picture of crimes in the United States is far from good. In fact I would say it is shocking – particularly so in regard to the percentage of juveniles involved in law breaking”. Tom C. Clark, Former Attorney […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Maria Otero Under Secretary, Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520 United States of America Fax: + (202) 647-1579 Dear Ms. Otero, NEPAL: […]