Administration of justice

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Defend Job Philippine regarding eviction notice served on 250 families living along the R-10 or Road 10 in Tondo, Manila by the government authorities. The planned forced eviction, without compensation, will not only jeopardize living conditions of the people but also expose them […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that police officers attempted to arrest a labor activist despite a court order revoking the warrant. The policemen went to the victim’s house, harassed his wife and demanded that she disclose his whereabouts. UPDATED INFORMATION (Based on the information received from Tambuli ng Mamamayan […]

Today, 30 August 2013, is the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance. According to the UN Resolution A/RES/65/209 adopted in the Sixty-fifth Session of the General Assembly, the 30th day of August has been declared, and has been so observed since 2011, as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance every year. This Resolution […]

After 22 years of advocacy and lobbying, the Philippines enacted the Anti-Torture Law in November 2009. This law is not an ordinary law. The Philippines became the first country in Southeast Asia to enact a domestic law on torture. In effect, this law means the country commits itself legally to the international community to enforce […]

On July 3rd 2013, President Mahinda Rajapaksha published a gazette that authorized the armed forces to engage in “the maintenance of public order”. Last week, he announced a new ministry under the title “the Ministry of Law and Order”. By these two acts, the Sri Lankan civilian police have been virtually reduced to nothing, and […]

On June 21, we reported that Alfredo Lim, the former Mayor of Manila, had tortured a rape suspect in full view of the public, while the senior police officers present did nothing to prevent him. We rightly demanded that Lim, who perpetrated the torture and the policemen, who did nothing to stop the torture, be […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that one of the two fabricated complaints of murder laid on human rights activists has been cancelled by the court. The court held that the victims were denied due process when they were indicted in court without their knowledge and were not given […]

by Basil Fernando Within just a few days of the announcement of the new ministry, the Ministry of Law and Order, a rather unusual level of interest has emerged, judging by the many articles that have appeared in response to the government’s move. Though such quick responses are unusual, they are not surprising. If anyone […]

2013 අ‍ගෝස්තු 23 ජනාධිපතිවරයා යටතේ නීතිය හා සාමය අමාත්‍යාංශයක් ස්ථාපිත කරන බව නිවේදනය කර තිබේ. මේ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් වන්නේ, වාර්තාවන්ට අනුව විශ්‍රාමික හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකු වන මේජර් ජනරාල් (විශ්‍රාමික) නන්ද මල්ලවාරච්චි ය. මේජර් ජනරාල් මල්ලවාරච්චි    ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුධ හමුදාවේ හිටපු කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානියා ය. පසුව ඔහු ඉන්දුනීසියාවේ සිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති බවට පත්විය. මැලේසියානු ආරක්ෂක අංශවල උදව් […]

By Basil Fernando There is nothing in a name, of course. A thing cannot be made sweet-smelling or foul-smelling merely by changing its name. However, sometimes a name can indicate a new direction, a new policy. As far as responding to the present state of nationwide unhappiness and frustration on the law enforcement, if there […]

The relationship between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and member nations of the United Nations is expected to be one of cooperation for the improvement of the rights of the people of the countries. The member states are expected to have the most cordial and friendly relationship with the High Commissioner’s office so as […]

The establishment of a Law and Order Ministry under the President has been announced. The Secretary to this Ministry, according to reports, is Major General (Retired) Nanda Mallawarachchi, a retired military officer. Maj.Gen. Mallawarachichi is a former Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army. He later became the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia. He […]

Food Security Bill, a rather ambitious though inadequate measure to eradicate hunger from India, was supposed to be tabled in the parliament yesterday. It was not. Despite the claims of supporting the bill, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition party, stalled the parliament over allegations about the government’s efforts to shield those responsible for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the postponement of the scheduled executions of condemned prisoners in Pakistan which were to take place from August 20, 2013. A temporary stay on the hangings was announced on Sunday, August 18 in response to protests from outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari and various international human rights organizations. This […]

At a recently held seminar, a group of 20 lawyers made the following recommendations for the improvement of court proceedings, particularly on human rights matters. 1. When an FR (Fundamental Rights) application is supported for Leave to Proceed, and the Respondents have not yet filed any objections, none of the Respondents (which include the Attorney […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information regarding the recent spurt in cases of starvation deaths in Odisha from a fact finding team. The team comprising of one member each from Regional Centre for Development Cooperation and the AHRC visited the Jalpankel village of Khaparakhol block, Balangir district on 25th […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the arrest and detention of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of Odhikar. The police arrested Adilur on 10 August at around 10:20 p.m. And on 11 August, at around 8 p.m., the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police raided Odhikar’s office, seizing documents and computers. The arrest and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has arrested Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, one of most respected human rights defenders in Bangladesh and the Secretary of Odhikar. A group of plain clothed men picked up Mr. Adilur from his residence at 10:20 p.m., […]

The horrible military killings at Ratupaswala are nothing but mean and horrible killings. Nothing in the military terminology or strategic manuals could ever justify the horrible acts that happened at Rathupaswala. If there is some decency left in the military establishment in Sri Lanka, the first step that should be taken is to arrest the […]

The newly elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to do away with the Ministry of Human Rights and merged it with the Ministry of Law and Justice. Through this act of federal government the human rights portion of the new ministry is to be relegated to a unit of small unit of […]