Democracy

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 […]

Lifting of moratorium from Capital punishment: punishing death with death The immediate reaction of the government to the killing of the children in Peshawar on December 16 has been to lift the moratorium on death sentences of prisoners on death row. It is most likely that the popular anger that has developed as a result […]

Whatever be the outcome of the presidential election to be held on the 8th of January 2015, Sri Lanka has already entered into the deepest political crisis it has ever faced since the adoption of the Executive Presidential system through the 1978 Constitution. Within the period of a few weeks, all the manifestations of strength […]

Reprisals against lawyers defending the right of the accused are a historical reality of past military and authoritarian regime in South Korea. Those who received either disciplinary punishment or imprisonment, and provided legal advice at that time later earned the label “human rights lawyers”. As often witnessed in developing countries under military and authoritarian regimes, […]

A Statement from the UN Human Rights Committee forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 1.         The Committee considered the fifth periodic report submitted by Sri Lanka (CCPR/C/LKA5/) at its 3098th and 3099th meetings (CCPR/C/SR3098 and CCPR/C/SR3099), held on 7 and 8 October 2014. At its 3126th meeting (CCPR/C/SR3126), held on 27 October 2014, […]

by Avinash Pandey Photo Courtesy M. Srinath, The Hindu No, the man pictured here has not entered the gutter as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much hyped Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or “clean India campaign”. Unlike the ad rush that shows posing with the broom, he could not have entered the gutter to preach the […]

(Hong Kong, October 24, 2014) The Asian Human Rights Commission announces that the International Bar Association has awarded Adilur Rahman Khan with IBA Human Rights Award 2014. The AHRC congratulates its partner, Adilur Rahman Khan, for one more Award for his struggles against state-sponsored persecutions in Bangladesh. The awards that Adilur has been receiving one […]

by Basil Fernando It must have been somebody’s idea that judicial independence in Sri Lanka must be destroyed. When the idea was first generated we do not know. It is possible that it arose more or less at the same time as the 1962 coup. Those were wild times for some people who had enjoyed […]