Administration of justice

By Basil Fernando The release of the convicted murderer Duminda Silva is a reckless act which will have lasting consequences on the social organization of Sri Lanka and the social consciousness of the Sri Lankan people. The damage this will do to the functioning of a system of administration of the country is incalculable. In […]

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The report on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions by the immediate past Special Rapporteur Ms. Agnes Callamard has comprehensively expanded the area of normative principles with significant observations to the discourse on […]

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President The report of the Special Rapporteur has comprehensively focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to justice, guaranteeing the right to fair trial, administration of justice as well as […]

Even as the world commemorated the International Day in support of Victims of Torture as per the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), there seems to be no end of torture for the foreseeable future in India. In fact, forget urgency, authorities in India seem to […]

26 June is celebrated worldwide as the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. It is a day dedicated to the victims of torture and their families. But the Police, mostly in Asian countries and Nepal, rely on confessions rather than on conducting proper investigations. In order to eliminate the practice of torture, […]

Torture is still taking place in Indonesia. There is a serious gap between national regulation and international Human Rights Laws. Indonesia is a State Party to two important international human rights instruments. They are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading […]

01. ස්ථාවර හා සෞභාග්‍යමත් සමාජයක අත්තිවාරම වන්නේ සාධාරණ නීති පද්ධතියක් හා එම නීති පද්ධතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කල හැකි ආයතන පැවතීමත් මතය. නීතිය ක්‍රියාවට දැමීමේ වගකීම පැවරෙන ආයතනය පොලීසියයි. වෘතීමය වශයෙන් නිපුණ නිදහස්ව ක්‍රියා කල හැකි දූෂණයෙන් හා අශීලාචාරත්වයෙන් තොර පොලිස් ආයතනයක් ස්ථාවර සමාජයකට අත්‍යාවශ්‍යය. 02. සිවිල් පොලිස් ක්‍රමයක් නිසි ලෙස ගොඩනගා ගැනීමේ ප්‍රයත්නය 19 වන ශත […]

২৬ জুন – নির্যাতিতদের সমর্থনে জাতিসংঘ ঘোষিত আন্তর্জাতিক দিবস উপলক্ষ্যে এশিয়ান হিউম্যান রাইটস্ কমিশনের বিবৃতি বাংলাদেশে পুলিশের মহাপরিদর্শক বেনজির আহমেদ দাবি করেছেন “সন্ত্রাস ও জঙ্গিবাদ দমনে বাংলাদেশ পুলিশের পেশাদারিত্ব, সাহসিকতা ও অভাবনীয় সাফল্য সর্বমহলে প্রশংসিত হয়েছে”। ১৪ জনু রাজশাহীর সারদায় পুলিশ সাব-ইন্সপেক্টরদের প্রশিক্ষণ সমাপনী কুচকাওয়াজ শেষে এক বক্তব্যে তিনি এমন দাবি করেছেন। যেকোনো রাষ্ট্রের আইন […]

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) welcomes the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to this Council. Madam High Commissioner, Your report has explained us on how your office – […]

By Basil Fernando On the universal day for torture victims, this year, a book will be launched by The Right to Life organization working in collaboration with the AHRC on a long standing case, which is continuing in courts, regarding a man who was killed extra-judicially, inside a Police station. The author of the book […]

An article from Thuppahi’s Blog, written by Michael Roberts forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Basil Fernando: A Short Abstract re the book Body, Mind, Soul, Society: An Autobiographical Account This book (176 pages) is an attempt to contribute towards an understanding of the impact of violence on human persons and the society. It […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the sixth (6) newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these […]

A Statement from ANFREL forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Download the Full Statement Here The National Unity Government (NUG) held its very first press conference on Friday 4 June. The junta shut down the internet between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m to disrupt that press conference being held by the parallel government. The NUG […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the fifth (5) newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these […]

By Basil Fernando One of the issues that demonstrated the approach of the Sri Lankan authorities to the problem of enforced disappearances could be discovered in a close study of the narrative of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). In essence, what it shows is the international diplomacy of deception that Sri Lankan authorities have […]

Download the Full Statement Here The protests continued in different parts of Myanmar despite the crackdown by the junta. The clashes between the junta forces and the civil resistance fighters or Ethnic Armed Organizations also emerged in several places in Myanmar, such as in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin, Shan, Sagaing and Yangon States/Regions. The Karen Peace […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the fourth newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these countries […]

By Basil Fernando The Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill has been passed. However, the Bill that was passed was not what the Government wanted. The decision of the Supreme Court which held that 25 of the proposed Clauses contravened the provisions of the Constitution and that 9 of them require a referendum meant that […]

The Bangladesh Government continues its ruthless campaign of gagging freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly. In the spree of muzzling the people’s freedom of expression, hundreds have been arbitrarily detained under the Digital Security Act-2018, Anti-Terrorism Act-2009, Special Powers Act-1974, Official Secrets Act-1923, the Penal Code-1860, and other draconian laws under the incumbent Government of Sheikh Hasina. Investigative Journalist […]

“No one left behind” is the main principle of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Will the principle apply in Indonesia? Will the Government include victims and families of victims of human rights violations in the implementation of SDG’s? In the Indonesian context, we can see a strong relation between SDG Number 1 on poverty […]