Democracy

Every associate of Fr. Tissa will undoubtedly have his/her lasting and loving memories of him. My association of him has left in me a memory of him as a spiritual guide and campaigner of social justice. One of the earliest was his talk delivered on the theme “Crisis in the Priesthood” to us as then […]

“A pack of lies” is Pakistan army’s favorite defensive phrase whenever it is blamed for committing human rights abuses or covertly sponsoring Islamic extremist organizations. On December 13, 2012, the Pakistan army described an Amnesty International report, The Hands of Cruelty, as “a pack of lies” when the London-based international human rights watchdog exposed the involvement […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti about brutal police assault on villagers who were peacefully protesting against forcible acquisition of their lands. The 12 platoon strong mobilisation that culminated in the assault started around midnight and the police finally entered the village around 4 in […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the abduction of four human rights defenders in broad daylight by persons said to be from an outlawed religious organization. The unknown armed persons abducted six workers of a NGO including, two lady workers. However, after some time they threw the two women out of the vehicle and […]

This statement was written based on the information given by daughter of the person concerned. The daughter sought our help by calling us several times. Now, the family has no interest in the matter, so we remove it from the web. We, however, stand by the authenticity of the publication based on the source mentioned […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from North East Support Centre and Helpline that a 17-year-old girl belonging to the scheduled caste was abducted, drugged and raped in Manipur. We have also learnt that, though a police First Information Report is registered in the case, there has been no further […]

1) Grant for Democracy and Human Rights Projects in Overseas 2013 For details, please click here. Introduction to the Grant for Democracy and Human Rights Projects in Overseas 2013 The Grant for Democracy and Human Rights Projects in Overseas (GDHRPO) 2013 supports work that contributes to promoting democracy and human rights and to building international solidarity. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received very disturbing information from Barwani, Madhya Pradesh regarding the administration’s continuing witch hunt against human rights defender Ms Madhuri Krishnaswami of the Jagrat Dalit Adivasi Sangthan. In the most recent attack, the District Magistrate has written a letter to the Divisional Commissioner that found its […]

Before the world, along with Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said Al Said as chief guest, and presided over by the President of India, Honourable Pranab Mukherjee, India will celebrate its Republic Day tomorrow. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates India and the people of this great nation on the 64th year of constituting […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about several elderly single women being pushed into starvation in the Ghorabandha village of the Gaibandha district of Rangpur division. Most of these destitute women have been widowed for decades with no family to bank upon and have been forced into begging to ensure […]

The systems of government in Asian countries may broadly be described under the following categories: Democratic – the government structure is based on the liberal democratic structure, and the bureaucracy functions with basic laws and rules that are in conformity with this structure; Militaristic – where the basic structure is based on military command and […]

The parliament in Sri Lanka, in defiance of the judgement of the Court of Appeal which was based on the interpretation of law provided by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, yesterday (January 10), started a debate on the impeachment of the Chief Justice. A vote on the impeachment will be taken at the end […]

Lawyers Collective Press Release 9th January 2012 Ignoring the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judgments, Parliament will debate the Impeachment against the Chief Justice tomorrow – Thursday 10th January. The Executive and Parliament have jointly decided to proceed with the impeachment, notwithstanding the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal determination holding it to be […]

AHRC declares a week of concern for threats against the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka The Asian Human Rights Commission alerts all concerned persons in and outside of Sri Lanka to the possibility that a five days from now there may not be a judiciary that can exercise judicial power with independence in […]

January 8, 2013: The Beginning of Sri Lanka’s Year Zero On the 8th of January, the President of Sri Lanka will address a proposal to parliament to remove the incumbent Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, based on a report by a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). The entire PSC process has been declared unconstitutional and null and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is greatly aggrieved to learn of the tragic death of Phyo Wai Aung in Rangoon, Burma during the early morning hours of 4 January 2013. Phyo Wai Aung was an aspiring young electrical engineer with a loving family when in April 2010 police arrested him at home late one […]

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, marking perhaps the greatest day of its 200 year history, today declared in a historic opinion that the Standing Order of the parliament, bearing no. 78/A, is null and void and has no effect in law. By this opinion, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has nullified the impeachment […]

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) is concerned at the circumstances surrounding the impeachment of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Shirani Bandaranayake, and at reports of attacks against the judiciary and the legal profession within Sri Lanka. The independence of the judiciary and the rule of law  The independence of […]

Basil Fernando The state media continues their non-stop misinformation campaign on the impeachment move by the government. Several ministers also participated in this media campaign. The central topics of the campaign are that it is the charges that are important, and not the process – meaning that whether the inquiry took place by a competent […]

“The court system is skewed against ordinary folk,” says Malinda Seneviratne, writing a comment on my last article. His argument is that the people will not defend the courts as the court system is skewed against the people. However, people do have a reason to defend even the highly inadequate and problem ridden justice system […]