Corruption

By Basil Fernando A discussion on the statement made by the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner (HC) for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, at the 48th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on 13th September 2021, was held on the same day in a television programme, and it is now available on YouTube. The moderator […]

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. […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to Inspector General of Police, Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne Inspector-General of Police, Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne New Secretariat, Colombo 01. SRI LANKA Fax: + 94 11 2 440440 / 327877 Email: igp@police.lk Dear Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne SRI LANKA: The Complaint by a young mother of […]

An article from Thuppahi’s Blog, written by Michael Roberts forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Basil Fernando: A Short Abstract re the book Body, Mind, Soul, Society: An Autobiographical Account This book (176 pages) is an attempt to contribute towards an understanding of the impact of violence on human persons and the society. It […]

By Basil Fernando The Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill has been passed. However, the Bill that was passed was not what the Government wanted. The decision of the Supreme Court which held that 25 of the proposed Clauses contravened the provisions of the Constitution and that 9 of them require a referendum meant that […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to IGP Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne Inspector General of Police New Secretariat Colombo 1 SRI LANKA Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877 E-mail: igp@police.lk Dear Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne: SRI LANKA: Letter to IGP on the police failed to take proper […]

The Bangladesh Government continues its repressive campaigns of curtailing civic space in the country’s ever-deteriorating human rights situation. The Authorities have been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an additional excuse for encroaching on the freedoms of assembly, expression, including the freedom of the press. Bangladesh’s Law-Enforcement Agencies kept playing their predatory role in detaining the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you about an interview with the Commissioner of Aceh Truth and Reconciliation (Aceh TRC), Mr. Muhammad Daud Beureuh. Mr. Daud is also a former intern at the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in 2012. During the internship, he worked with the Indonesian Desk, he got experiences […]

Freedom of the Press currently faces a dark era in Bangladesh. The country’s print, electronic, and online media struggle to survive amid rabid abuse of draconian Laws and authoritarian control. Journalists come under physical attacks by the people having impunity under the incumbent regime. Many journalists languish in arbitrary detentions inside the country or have […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු ලාංකිකයාගේ ජන ජීවිතය තුළ දිනපතාම වැඩෙන ඛේදවාචක තත්ත්වය එක් සිද්ධියකින් කෙටියෙන් සදහන් කළ හැකිය. දැන් රෝහලකට ශල්‍යකර්මයක් සඳහා යන පුද්ගලයෙකුට වෛද්‍යවරුන් නියම කරන්නේ ඔහුගේ ශල්‍යකර්මයෙන් පසු දැමෙන මැහුම් වලට උඩින් දමනු ලබන ප්ලාස්ටර් පටියත් පුද්ගලික ආයතනයකින් ගෙන එන ලෙසය. මේ සා ප‍්‍රමාණයකට රජයේ රෝහල් තුළ සේවයක් පතා එන සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාව පිටම වෛද්‍ය ප‍්‍රතිකාර […]

By Basil Fernando The one of the most frequent practices in the public hospitals now is that patients have to pay for everything. For example, a patient undergoing an operation has to buy everything from outside shops, even the plaster that is used to cover the wound caused by the operation. This explains to the […]

Written by Chrisbiantoro1 Introduction As a member of the United Nations (UN)2, Indonesia has ratified at least six major international human rights treaties3. Currently, Indonesia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council [HRC]4, therefore, it has obligations to increase the standard of human rights protection in its territory under the resolution of the […]

According to Sri Lankan Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake, the present security crisis facing the country was a result of the failures of many government institutions. In a television interview available on YouTube, he cited foreign exchange control failures to monitor money coming into the country, Customs Department failures, and intelligence coordination failures. Aside from these […]

Late Mr. Tarzie Vittachithe, winner of many prestigious awards for journalism, had a favourite saying that, “Everything is about something else”. In a similar manner, the parliamentary discussion on two no-confidence motions is also clearly about other issues, rather than the brutal carnage that took place on Easter Sunday and the causes thereof. The government […]

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the government will not drop the controversial amendment to the territory’s extradition laws, despite 12,000 people marching against it last Sunday. The amendment allowing Hong Kong to extradite to other countries, including China, on a case by case basis, was to […]

A well-functioning legal system can be measured by its response to daily crimes and complaints. This is a much better test in fact, rather than a country’s constitution (in Sri Lanka’s case, the 1978 constitution still remains a major barrier to the functioning of a legal system), or statutes, or judicial presence, all of which […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where investigations are ongoing into the abduction and murder of two businessmen from Rathgama. Until now, two police officers have already been arrested. Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has revealed that the two businessmen, Manjula Asela and Rashin Chinthaka were abducted and murdered, and their bodies were […]