Censorship

INDONESIA: The Prosecutor of the Haris and Fatia Case Behaves Like Luhut Binsar Panjaitan’s Attorney (LBP) and Restricts Trial Access in the East Jakarta District Court

The trial on the criminalization case against Ms. Fatia Maulidiyanti (Coordinator of KontraS) and Mr. Haris Azhar (Founder of Lokataru) entered the stage of examining the reporting witness, namely Mr. Luhut Binsar Panjaitan. At this trial, it became increasingly clear that the Public Prosecutor (JPU) no longer represented the interests of the State but behaved […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා:නීතියමතපාලනයහාප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ථවාදීපනත්කෙටුම්පත

බැසිල් ප්‍රනාන්දු නීතියමත පාලනය පිළිබදව වර්ථමාන කාලය තුල ලිය වී ඇති පොත් අතර ඉතාමත් ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් පොතක් වූයේ ටොම් බින්ග්හම් (Tom Bingham) සාමිවරයා විසින් ලියන ලද නීතිය මත පාලනය (The Rule of Law) යන පොතය. එම පොත නීතිය මත පාලනය යන නමින් සිංහලට පරිවර්ථනය කොට ඇත. එම පොතෙහි නීතිය මත පාලනය යන්න පිළිබදව ඇති නිර්වචනයය […]

SRI LANKA:The proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill amounts to a parallel Constitution and a Criminal Procedure Code

Three major ‘strategies’ have been used in this draft bill on anti-terrorism 2023.which create very great confusion about the meaning of the contents of the proposed law and its implications. Three ‘strategies’ The first of these strategies is not to define the meaning of terrorism. The meaning of the key word of this document is […]

SRI LANKA:AHRC condemns the murder of Nimal Amarasiri caused by misuse of teargas on peaceful protesters

Read the statement in Sinhala මෙම ලිපිය සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න Mr. Nimal Amarasiri, a candidate in a local government election, was killed after a tear gas attack on 26th February while participating in a protest against the attempt to postpone the local government elections.  There was no justifiable grounds at all for the use of teargas […]

SRI LANKA:Few Reflections on the Sri Lanka’s Independence Day

By Basil Fernando Read the article in Sinhala මෙම ලිපිය සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න As Sri Lanka is to celebrate its 75th anniversary of Independence on the 4th of February, the general reaction of the people around the country this year is one of despondency with serious criticisms about the failure of governance in the country.  The need […]

Indonesia: The Government must seriously consider that the enactment of the RKUHP leaves serious problems

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to the President of the Republic of Indonesia Mr. Joko Widodo President of the Republic of Indonesia Jalan Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat Indonesia Tel: +62 21 3458 595 Fax: +62 21 3484 4759 Dear Mr. President: Indonesia: The Government must seriously consider that the […]

SRI LANKA: POLICE ON TRIAL: Exercising Authority without Accountability

An article from Daily Mirror forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission • Officers are rarely prosecuted for misconduct, including the brutal use of force on citizens. In rare cases, officers found guilty are given minor disciplinary punishments or given warnings. • The NPC received a total of Rs.127, 764, 000 budgetary allocation in 2018 which was […]

INDONESIA : The non-judicial settlement team for past human rights abuses and its membership’s composition contrary to the international human rights standard

A few weeks ago, President Joko Widodo issued Presidential Decree Number 17 of 2022 concerning the establishment of a non-judicial settlement team for serious past human rights violations. We agree with the statement of the victims of past human rights abuses and their families, namely that the Presidential Decree 17 of 2022 is a means […]

INDONESIA: Stop security approach in Papua Island

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports Indonesian civil society organizations under the Coalition of the Civil Society for Security Sector Reform. The security approach in dealing with social and human rights problems in the Papua Island shows a bad impact towards efforts to resolve the social conflict in the Papua Island. Applying this approach […]

SRI LANKA: Today is the international day of democracy

Today (15th September) is the international day of democracy although in Sri Lanka we are going through very painful times. When democracy is very serious with challenge, it is very essential for us to recall the basic principles of democracy so that we could reaffirm our commitment to these principles. These principles are citizen participation, equality, […]

BANGLADESH: Independent Investigative Mechanism Needed for Affording Justice to Victims of Enforced Disappearances

A Written Statement to the 51st Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) reiterates the issue of Bangladesh’s unabated enforced disappearances with blanket impunity to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s 51st Regular Session. Halting enforced disappearances in Bangladesh has […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: අන්තර් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයීය සිසුන්ට කල ප්‍රහාරය තරයේ හෙලා දකිනවා

සාමකාමී උත්ගොෂකයන්ට කදුළු ගෑස් ගැසීම සහ පහරදීම පොලිස් රාජකාරියක් නොවේ. අන්තර් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයීය සිසුන්ට කල ප්‍රහාරය තරයේ හෙලා දකිනවා – ආසියානු මානව හිමිකමි කොමිසම වීඩියෝව මෙතනින් ලබාගන්න

SRI LANKA: An emergency means nothing less than ‘legalizing lawlessness’

By Basil Fernando A declaration of emergency means suspensions of all the laws which normally operate within a country for the protection of the people. A declaration of emergency takes away all the basic protections which are considered essential to the normal functioning of the society. Lawlessness is declared to be normal under a period […]

BANGLADESH: Dissidents and Human Rights Defenders Survive Defenselessly

Human rights defenders, dissidents, and political opposition survive in a profoundly dangerous condition of civic space in Bangladesh. The country’s government keeps weaponising draconian laws with impunity to curb civic freedoms of the people. The freedom of peaceful assembly and association and the freedom of expression and opinion are dealt with incarceration by the police, […]

INDONESIA: State Curbs Freedom of Expression amidst Non-stop Human Rights Violations in Papua

A Written Submission to the 50th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) strongly condemns all forms of police brutality against demonstrators who refused the New Autonomous Province (DOB) in Papua Island on 10 May 2022. Based on the monitoring and information […]

SRI LANKA: The intimidation of Tamil Journalist, Kumanan by the Sri Lanka Navy, and the accelerated land grab by the Navy in Mullaitivu

A Statement from People’s Alliance for Right to Land forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Click Here to See the Original Statement The People’s Alliance for Right to Land (PARL) condemns the intimidation and harassment of Tamil journalist Kumanan Kanapathipillai by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Police. The harassment took place whilst he […]

SRI LANKA: The absence of the will to do justice

By Basil Fernando Within a few days after the Rambukkana Police shooting, a large body of information has become available to the public about this incident. The attempt by the Government and also a section of the Police to give their own version about the incident has revealed a very routine pattern that exists in […]

SRI LANKA: Participatory Constitution-making – The essentials

By Basil Fernando Today, there is a consensus that Sri Lanka has entered into a period of crisis that is worse than it has ever faced in recent history. It is also agreed among most of the people who are highly knowledgeable in the field of economics and financing that this crisis will last for […]

INDONESIA: Investigate the 2014 Paniai Case: The Attorney General Needs to Examine the Involvement of the TNI Commander in the Paniai Case

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports the Commission for the Disappearances and Victim of Violence (KontraS) highlighting several things about the beginning of an investigation of serious human rights violations in Paniai, Papua that occurred on 7 – 8 December 2014 by the Attorney General’s Office. Previously, the AHRC has issued an urgent appeal […]

WORLD: Desmond Tutu: The man who revived the moral universe

Article | World | 29-12-2021

By Basil Fernando Archbishop Desmond Tutu who passed away this week will be counted among the great human beings who have contributed on the one hand for the great political transformation of his own country, and a person who has revolutionized the idea of achieving equality even under the most difficult circumstances. His great achievement […]