Civil and Political Rights

১৯৮০ সালের ১৮ই মে কেবলমাত্র দক্ষিণ কোরিয়া নয়, বরং গোটা বিশ্বের জন্য একটি অতি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ দিন। এই দিনে এক ব্যাপক গণঅভ্যুত্থান সংঘটিত হয়। গোটা কোরীয় সমাজ সামরিক অভ্যুত্থানর বিরুগ্ধে জেগে উঠেছিলো সেদিন। অনেক দিন যাবত জনগণ ঐক্যবদ্ধভাবে রুঁখে দাঁড়িয়ে ছিলো সশস্ত্র ব্যাটালিয়নগুলোর নগরীতে প্রবেশ ও নিয়ন্ত্রণ প্রতিরোধ করতে। সংহতির সে এক অভূতপূর্ব মুহুর্ত! কয়েকদিন পরে, […]

 The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted report to the UN Human Rights Council on 4th of June. It is a very comprehensive report on serious violations of Human Rights that have been taking place in the last few years. In her concluding remarks, the High Commissioner’s report says… “The legal, constitutional and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, the May 18 Memorial Foundation and three May 18 related organizations in South Korea, and International Bridges of Justice(IBJ) call for your participation to end militarism and authoritarianism. Please join us to designate May 18 as the “Universal Day for Prevention of Militarism and Authoritarianism” so that […]

බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මේ දිනවල අපේකම පිළිබදව වැදගත් සාකච්ඡාවක් නිර්මාණය වෙමින් පවතී. මෙයට එක් ප‍්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වන්නේ දැනට ලංකාෙව් සමස්ථ ජනතාව තුලම ලංකාෙව් ප‍්‍රාග් ඉතිහාසය පිළිබද ගෙව්ශණ වල සොයා ගැනීම් පැතිරීමට පටන්ගෙන තිබෙන නිසාය. මෙය අතිශයින් වැදගත් වන සාකච්ඡාවක මුල් අවධියකි. මේ නිසා අපේකම යන්න පිළිබද අදහස ලංකාෙව් විකාශනය වී ඇති ආකාරය පිළිබදව කල්පනා කිරීම වටී. […]

Phnom Penh, 13 May 2020 – Without urgent and substantial amendment, the new Law on the Management of the Nation in State of Emergency (“State of Emergency Law”) grants the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) powers to restrict the fundamental freedoms of the Cambodian people without limit. The recently promulgated State of Emergency Law was impulsively […]

The Bangladesh government has resorted once again to its notorious Digital Security Act-2018to muzzle freedom of expression, suing 11 individuals and arresting four of them following criticism of in the governments’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four people have been detained since 5 May 2020 under the draconian digital law, including cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, writer Mushtaq […]

By Basil Fernando For the purpose of this short essay, I use ‘folk school’ to mean the ideas of the folk school which were developed in Denmark by NFS Grundtvig and the folk school movement. The same methodology was also followed by Myles Horton of the United States. After spending several years in Denmark visiting […]

The Pakistan Government has failed to improve its pattern of muzzling the Press and overall civic space. It is under the leadership of cricketing superstar/turned politician, Imran Khan. The Authorities have been using the same old abusive techniques with the State agencies. In the previous military and civilian regimes they criminalized the critics of the […]

By Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi Francis Fukuyama in his Identity: Demand for Dignity and Politics of Resentment (2018) from particular perspective is a ‘soft apology’ for a ‘ miscalculated and misinterpreted’ narrative in his End of History and the Last man (1992). Some argue that he more or less provided the ideological foundation to the basically unsubstantiated […]

By Basil Fernando I have borrowed the title of this article from the immortal work of Robert Lewis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This novel is about a mysterious and tragic transformation caused by the use of certain chemicals. By the use of such chemical concoctions, Dr. Jekyll, an amiable, […]

By Avinash Pandey Despite all the claims of them too being “atoot ang” or unbreakable part of the country, news from the North Eastern states of India seldom make it to the national headlines, with The Telegraph, published from Kolkata being an exception, perhaps because of its proximity. So there were no surprises on national […]

By Basil Fernando This article is about the manner in which unscrupulous lawyers could manipulate delays in the law to their personal advantage. This type of behavior is now a permanent feature in Sri Lanka’s legal system. Analysis of the methods used for such manipulation are based on experiences from actual cases. Reflections on the […]

A Written Submission to the 43rd Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) draws attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council and its Special Procedures about the institutionalised practice of torture in Bangladesh, which is an incumbent member of the […]

In many countries in Asia, it has become common for the state to use ultra-violent methods to control or deny the civil rights of people. Several countries used enforced disappearance as such method of ultra-violently suppressing civil rights. Extrajudicial killings are justified under various pretexts, such as control of the drug trade; or achieving constitutional […]

Bangladesh’s incumbent government, headed by Sheikh Hasina, continues curbing civic space and muzzling freedom of expression. The latest target has been Netra News – an investigative news portal launched from Sweden on 26 December 2019. Bangladesh government blocked access to the news portal within 72 hours of its launching with a report entitled “A wrist of luxury”. The […]

By Basil Fernando The 2019 election has not generated any real enthusiasm among the people. There have been the usual rituals of meetings, distribution of rice parcels, promises of other little santhosom (gifts) – those are what the sovereign people of Sri Lanka have been offered. In reality, they have been left with a beggar’s […]

A comment on the memoir of Former Chief Justice Dr Shiranee Bandaranayake entitled “Hold Me in Contempt” Basil Fernando Attorney-At-Law This memoir by former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake on the (now nullified) impeachment is a significant contribution to the cause of promoting the independence of judiciary in Sri Lanka. Its significance lies in the […]

By Basil Fernando Legalistically speaking, a nation is a people living together in a particular geographical region. But legal definitions do not create a nation. The meaning of nation is far deeper than any legal definition of it. Often politicians define a nation in terms of ideologies. For example, if a nation at a given […]

  By Basil Fernando  The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka is an outstanding example of how meaning can be manipulated through the weaponisation of ambiguity. It uses language that gives the appearance of a liberal democratic constitution of a republic while also putting in place various devices that severely undermine all the basic norms and standards […]

Affirming something through a declaration and denying the same in actual practice happens everywhere, but the real test of affirmation is the degree to which something is practiced. When what is affirmed and what is actually practiced is virtually divorced then the very act of affirmation becomes a mockery. That, unfortunately, is the situation regarding […]