Censorship

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 […]

NEPAL: THE STATE IS FAILING ITS CITIZENS

Statement | Nepal | 10-12-2021

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the 73rd International Human Rights Day Nepal underwent its third cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva in January 2021. Nepal has ratified over 24 various human rights conventions and declarations but has been weak in its implementation. […]

BANGLADESH: Sweeping Empowerment of Executive Authorities with Impunity in Personal Data Protection Bill will Endanger Rights Activism and Research

Bangladesh’s incumbent Government is about to adopt a new law titled “Personal Data Protection Bill” (PDP Bill). Citing the excuse of protecting the right to protection of citizens’ personal data the Bangladesh Government copied the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) of 2016. They revised it, fitting to the conveniences of an authoritarian rule. It has drastically […]

SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka’s rapidly shrinking public space

by Basil Fernando The freedom of association In the past few months, the Sri Lankan Government intensified its pressure against associations who are contributing to defend the rights of people against a series of serious attacks by the Government. Government attacks centre round the passing of several laws that affect the right to education, the […]

BANGLADESH: Pro-government entities create copyright disputes over virtual contents critical of the regime

Governmental repressions continue as Bangladesh keeps curbing the civic space of the people with impunity. The Sheikh Hasina government has systematically using multiple technics and spying technological tools to curb the freedom of expression in online and off-line. The pro-regime cyber-worriers have launched a trend of creating fake copyright disputes over the contents that criticise the government. […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: මනෝමය රාජ්‍ය හා හිතුවක්කාර ආණ්ඩුක්‍රමය

බැසිල් ප්‍රනාන්දු මේ දිනවල ප්‍රසිද්ධ සාකච්ඡාවේ මූලිකම තේමාවක් බවට පත්වී තිබෙන්නේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ ආයතන භාරව කටයුතු කරන නිළධාරීන්ගේ ස්වාධීනතාවය පිළිබදව ප්‍රශ්ණයය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් රටේ උද්ධමනය පිළිබදව කතා කිරිමේදී උද්ධමන පාලනය පිළිබදව මධ්‍යම රාජ්‍ය බැංකුවේ අදාල නිළධාරීන් මෙම උද්ධමනය පාලනය කිරීමේ වගකීම් භාරය දරන්නෝ වෙති. කොරෝනාව මර්ධනය කිරීමේදී එය පාලනය කිරීමේ වගකීම පැවරෙන්නේ වෘතීමය වශයෙන් සුදුසුකම් ඇති […]

MYANMAR: International Community needs decisive actions to end militarism for establishing democracy and human rights

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: As there are profound concerns over the latest military coup in Myanmar and subsequent violence offends the conscience of humanity, the urgent questions before the international community should be what to do […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Myanmar Situation Update (3 to 9 May 2021)

A Statement from ANFREL forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Download the Full Statement Here The pro-democracy protests continued across the country in different townships despite the continuing lethal attacks by the junta forces and arrets of protests and the youth. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) figures showed that as of 9 May, […]

INDIA: The Bogey of Public Inconvenience to Snatch the Right To Protest

Article | India | 04-02-2021

Democracies across the world are defined by the virtue of the right to protest. Yet, in India, that fancies itself as the largest democracy of the world, the governments are seen to be chipping off that very right by raising the bogey of public inconvenience. They have mobilised people, mostly their party members, to even […]

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 […]

INDONESIA: Prospect and Problem of the Transitional Justice in Indonesia after 32 years Political Injustice under the Soeharto Regime

Paper | Indonesia | 28-07-2020

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you about a paper on “Prospect and Problem of the Transitional Justice in Indonesia after 32 years Political Injustice under the Soeharto Regime.” The paper is written by Chris Biantoro, a human rights lawyer and Indonesia desk officer at the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Hong Kong. […]

PAKISTAN: Activist languishing in jail a month after his arrest on trumped up charges

One month since Professor Muhammad Ismail was arbitrarily detained, he is still languishing in prison on trumped-up charges of ‘hate speech’, ‘spreading false information’ and ‘cyberterrorism’. CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls on the Pakistan authorities to halt his persecution and release him immediately and unconditionally. In […]

ASIA: Human Rights Mechanisms need practical actions on domestic institutional developments for administration of justice

An Oral Statement to the 42nd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Mr. President. The effectiveness of the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms for protection of rights depends very much on the compliance of the State parties to implement Article 2 of the International Covenant on […]

WORLD: The launching of a new journal, SDG 16

Hong Kong, July 30, 2019 The journal with focus on the SDG 16 in particular which is “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” One of the targets of the SDG 16 is the achievement of rule of law. SDG 16 poses a serious challenges […]

NEPAL: Current problem of human rights violations in Nepal

A request/attention letter from Mr. Ghanshyam Chamlagain & Mr. Chetanath Chaulagain forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) We, as independent citizens, have deeply studied and evaluated the situation of human rights violations committed by the Government of Nepal and being borne by the Nepalese people. We wish to stop Nepal from the critical […]

AHRC TV: Clashes in Hong Kong legislature over extradition bill and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 258

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where clashes occurred at the legislature on Tuesday morning over vetting the controversial extradition bill. Opponents and supporters of the bill have been trying to lead the bills meeting after a split over the legitimacy of the temporary chairperson of the bills committee. Since Hong Kong’s government […]