Civil and Political Rights

By – Basil Fernando With to the 20th amendment, once again Sri Lanka will return to the 1978’s constitution in its original form. From the making of that constitution up to now has been a wasted time for Sri Lanka from the point of view of the development of an organized society capable of meeting […]

Let us pray that the planet’s resources will not be plundered, but shared in a just and respectful manner Vatican City September 1, 2020 Pope Francis, in his prayer intention for the month of September 2020, asks everyone to pray that we learn to respect the planet’s resources. It has become the custom of Pope […]

Written by Mr. Gugus Elmo Ra’is1 Dalam sebuah diskusi ringan secara virtual antara saya, dengan Asian Human Rights Commission, Mr. Basil Fernando serta aktivis HAM, Mr. Bejo Untung, serta aktivis HAM sekaligus akademisi, Mr. Crisbiantoro diperoleh sebuah benang merah jika penegakkan HAM serta supremasi hukum (law enforcement) menjadi bagian tak terpisahkan dalam tujuan pembangungan berkelanjutan […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC UAC-002-2020  16 July 2020 ———————————————————————————- SRI LANKA: Case of alleged torture, illegal arrest and detention of Liyanage Pasindu Yasantha Perera by some officers of Kalutara District Crime Division ISSUES: Torture, Illegal arrest and detention  ———————————————————————————- Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) […]

By: Ma. Hazel Joy Faco Out of breath from running around the city with a big placard in one hand and a heavy, borrowed tripod on the other, I stood in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul with eighty other activists demanding for an official apology and reparation from the Japanese government. After that […]

A Written Submission to the 44th 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 to the realities regarding access to justice in Bangladesh, an incumbent member of the Human […]

(Jakarta, 17 June 2020) – The Thai government’s inadequate response to the enforced disappearance of pro-democracy activist Wanchalerm Satsaksit demonstrates its failure to protect human rights defenders and other dissenting voices, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and Asia Democracy Network said today. Unidentified assailants abducted Wanchalerm in front of his residence in […]

नेपाल सरकारले साउदी अरबलगायतका मध्यपूर्वी देशहरुका कार्यरत आफ्ना नागरिकहरुको स्वास्थ्य र जीवनरक्षाका लागि प्रयाप्त पहल गर्न सकिरहेको छैन । साउदी अरेबीयाको रियादस्थित एक कम्पनीमा कार्यरत पाल्पा रैनादेवी छहरा–३ का रामप्रसाद (३५)लाई जुन १२ मा कोभीड–१९ संक्रमण प्रमाणित भएको थियो । उनी रियादको आग्री न्यू खर्ज सडकस्थित एक उद्योगमा सवारी चालकका रुपमा कार्यरत थिए । संक्रमणका […]

सन् १९८०, १८ मे कोरीयाका लागिमात्र नभएर संसारका लागि एउटा गौरवपूर्ण दिन हो, जुन दिन सिँगैं सहरहरू र दक्षिण केरियाली नागरिकहरू सैन्य कुका विरूद्द उभिएका थिए । यो यस्तो किसिमको दुर्लभ एक्यवद्दता थियो कि धेरै दिनसम्म नागरिकहरू एकाकार भएर सहरकब्जा गर्न हिँडेको शैन्य बटालियनलाई सहरभित्र पस्नबाट रोक्न सफल भएका थिए । धेरै दिनपछि, सैन्य बटालियनहरू […]

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 […]