Democracy

A Statement from Cambodian Civil Society Organisations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission We, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) underwriting this statement, condemn the repeated and ongoing violation of communities’ rights in Botumsakor and Kirisakor District, Koh Kong Province, by the Union Development Group. In 2014-2015, Civil Society documented a series of evictions conducted by […]

A Statement from Lawyers for Democracy, Sri Lanka. forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission “Lawyers for Democracy” views with deep concern the death of Marimuttu Manoj, a youth from Talawakelle, while under the custody of the Talawakelle Police as a suspect. It is reported by police that the suspect, while being transferred in a […]

A Statement from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Lahore, February 04, 2015: The international conference on disappearances in Asia, held in Islamabad on Feb 2-3, 2015, has called upon all Asian states to take effective measures to eliminate the practice of enforced and involuntary disappearances. These states […]

“The idea that after the fall of the USSR we would have this liberal democracy spreading around the world was of course naive but, in many cases, these are issues of power. We have a Western elite that isn’t really interested in democracy unless its friends win. Otherwise, they are happier with a dictator whom […]

This week’s special episode on Sri Lanka brings you an exclusive interview with Basil Fernando, Director for Policy and Programme Development at the Asian Human Rights Commission. Mr Fernando has just returned from a visit to Sri Lanka, a country in the midst of dramatic changes after the surprise electoral victory of opposition leader Maithripala […]

Today, (6th February 2015) the Rupavahini, TV channel in Sri Lanka, telecast a one hour interview with Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission in its early morning programme ‘Ayubowan Suba Dawasak”- the morning talk show. The Rupavahini morning show host, Gimananda Rajapaksa interviewed Basil Fernando on many of the current issues such as the proposed constitutional reforms and […]

An interview published in the UCA News, Thailand forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Prominent Sri Lankan rights lawyer Basil Fernando was effectively forced from his homeland amid mounting death threats. Now, 13 years after he left, Fernando has returned to Sri Lanka following last month’s surprise ouster of strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was […]

මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා සඳහන්කර තිබුණේ නව අධිකරණ ඇමති විජේදාස රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා විසින් සිදුකර තිබු ප‍්‍රකාශයක් වන අපරාධ මැඩලීම සඳහා කළ හැකි සියළුම  ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා බවත් එහිදී අවශ්‍ය නම් මරණ දඬුමව නැවත ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කරණ බවත්ය. අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ ප‍්‍රකාශනය ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂම විසින් පිළිගන්නා අතරේ, මරණ දඬුවම ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම අපරාධ මැඩලීම සඳහා වන අරමුණ ඉෂ්ඨ කරගැනීම සඳහා වන විකල්පය […]

The media has reported a speech made by the new Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapaksa wherein the Minister has stated that everything will be done to curb the increase in crime including, if necessary, the re-imposition of the death sentence. While welcoming the Minister’s announcement that all measures will be taken to curb crime, the […]

For more information or inquiries, please contact Ms. Eun-ji KANG by email (khis21[at]hanmail.net) from Korean House for International Solidarity. – Chairperson Hyun Byung-cheol should reflect on himself whether he is qualified as the head of a NHRI of A status In the Plenary Committee meeting on 12 January 2015, Hyun Byung-cheol, chairperson of the National […]

India is celebrating its 66th Republic Day today. The national capital territory is under a layered security blanket, to ensure the celebrations will not be marred by any inconvenient incident, and that the foreign as well as national dignitaries will return home safe. Some amongst the millions of Indians watching today’s celebrations may wonder why such […]

Public places in Bangladesh have become unsafe today for the people when protest rallies are held. Even without a public protest, person and property in the country does not have any guarantee to their security. The overall breakdown of law and order is of such state, that a pro-government group, or those protesting against the […]

The 100-day reform programme of the new government is an opportune moment for rebuilding the legal structure of Sri Lanka, a precondition for achieving the “good governance” that has been promised. The legal structure of Sri Lanka has suffered a great fall, due to what has been termed as “tomfooling with the constitution”. From 1972 […]

An Interview with Basil Fernando on the election in Sri Lanka by Qantara.de forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Maithripala Sirisena was the surprise winner of last week’s presidential election in Sri Lanka. He was swept to power on a platform of political reform and an end to corruption. Sirisena has promised to transfer […]

In this week’s episode of Weekly Roundup covers a wide range of events in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The episode begins with analysis of legal developments in Pakistan. Hear what AHRC experts have to say on the increase in power granted to military courts. Next, AHRC TV turns to Burma where new protests over […]

ENGLISH ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය සහ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය සඳහා ශ‍්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේ කැපවීම දැඩි ලෙස තහවුරු කරන ජනතා තීරණයේ ප‍්‍රතිඵලක් ලෙස ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන දිවියේ තීරණාත්මක නව අදියරක් උදා වී ඇත. නව ජනාධිපති මෛති‍්‍රපාල සිරිසේන සහ නව ප‍්‍රජාතාන්ති‍්‍රක සන්ධානයේ ජයග‍්‍රහණය පොරොන්දු වූ ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාමය සහ සෙසු ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සිදුකිරීම සඳහා ජනතාව විසින් ලබාදුන් වරමකි. සියල්ලටම පෙර මේ වරම,  ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ […]

A decisive new stage in the political life of Sri Lanka has arisen as a result of the people’s verdict, which overwhelmingly affirms the commitment of Sri Lankans to democracy and the rule of law. Victory to the new President Maithripala Sirisena and the New Democratic Alliance is a mandate given by the people to […]

6 January 2014 shall forever be etched in our collective concise as a sad day when we sold our souls to the devil. Senator Raza Rabbani appeared heartbroken on the floor of the assembly as he shed tears for the assembly taking its last breath “Perhaps, I never felt ashamed as much in my life […]

Three days ago, two human rights activists campaigning for one of the candidates contesting the national election received a message sent by an opposing candidate. The message arrived in the form of the heads of two freshly slaughtered dogs. This message is symbolic in more ways than one. It represents what has gone radically wrong […]

by Javeria Younes The year 2014 bids us adieu, as the government of Pakistan gears up to set up military court “come what may”. The military machinery at GHQ is at full swing these days as hurried consultation between the government and the military officials take place over amendments in the constitution to pave way […]