Democracy

By Basil Fernando As compared to the key words and concepts which were commonly used in the social movements of Sri Lanka which were sometimes also referred to as Leftist movements, the language that is now being used has undergone a very significant change. These changes are not merely a change of words and expressions […]

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 amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure allowing the Magistrates to visit places of detention has been turned into a political issue by a section of the government and by some extreme nationalist elements. What this means is that the opposition to the amendment is supporting the continuous practice of torture in Sri Lanka. […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the Seventh (7) newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these […]

Covid-19 is a moment of beginning in terms of substantive cultural change in the poorer countries in Asia. Having closely observed the situation of societal reactions to Covid-19, which is one of the most challenging moments faced particularly in developing countries like the four countries related to this project: Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, […]

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: As there are profound concerns over the latest military coup in Myanmar and subsequent violence offends the conscience of humanity, the urgent questions before the international community should be what to do […]

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention focusing on drug policies sheds lights on the darker sides of the justice mechanisms of many States. It also indicates the attitudes of […]

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The report on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions by the immediate past Special Rapporteur Ms. Agnes Callamard has comprehensively expanded the area of normative principles with significant observations to the discourse on […]

26 June is celebrated worldwide as the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. It is a day dedicated to the victims of torture and their families. But the Police, mostly in Asian countries and Nepal, rely on confessions rather than on conducting proper investigations. In order to eliminate the practice of torture, […]

Torture is still taking place in Indonesia. There is a serious gap between national regulation and international Human Rights Laws. Indonesia is a State Party to two important international human rights instruments. They are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading […]

01. ස්ථාවර හා සෞභාග්‍යමත් සමාජයක අත්තිවාරම වන්නේ සාධාරණ නීති පද්ධතියක් හා එම නීති පද්ධතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කල හැකි ආයතන පැවතීමත් මතය. නීතිය ක්‍රියාවට දැමීමේ වගකීම පැවරෙන ආයතනය පොලීසියයි. වෘතීමය වශයෙන් නිපුණ නිදහස්ව ක්‍රියා කල හැකි දූෂණයෙන් හා අශීලාචාරත්වයෙන් තොර පොලිස් ආයතනයක් ස්ථාවර සමාජයකට අත්‍යාවශ්‍යය. 02. සිවිල් පොලිස් ක්‍රමයක් නිසි ලෙස ගොඩනගා ගැනීමේ ප්‍රයත්නය 19 වන ශත […]

২৬ জুন – নির্যাতিতদের সমর্থনে জাতিসংঘ ঘোষিত আন্তর্জাতিক দিবস উপলক্ষ্যে এশিয়ান হিউম্যান রাইটস্ কমিশনের বিবৃতি বাংলাদেশে পুলিশের মহাপরিদর্শক বেনজির আহমেদ দাবি করেছেন “সন্ত্রাস ও জঙ্গিবাদ দমনে বাংলাদেশ পুলিশের পেশাদারিত্ব, সাহসিকতা ও অভাবনীয় সাফল্য সর্বমহলে প্রশংসিত হয়েছে”। ১৪ জনু রাজশাহীর সারদায় পুলিশ সাব-ইন্সপেক্টরদের প্রশিক্ষণ সমাপনী কুচকাওয়াজ শেষে এক বক্তব্যে তিনি এমন দাবি করেছেন। যেকোনো রাষ্ট্রের আইন […]

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 […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the sixth (6) newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the fifth (5) newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these […]

By Basil Fernando One of the issues that demonstrated the approach of the Sri Lankan authorities to the problem of enforced disappearances could be discovered in a close study of the narrative of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). In essence, what it shows is the international diplomacy of deception that Sri Lankan authorities have […]

Download the Full Statement Here The protests continued in different parts of Myanmar despite the crackdown by the junta. The clashes between the junta forces and the civil resistance fighters or Ethnic Armed Organizations also emerged in several places in Myanmar, such as in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin, Shan, Sagaing and Yangon States/Regions. The Karen Peace […]

The link to the newsletter is as follows Neglect and loss is a newsletter containing reports and commentaries on current problems in several Asian countries. Today, we are issuing the fourth newsletter in this series. The purpose of the newsletter is to highlight many forms of unnecessary human suffering imposed on ordinary people in these countries […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC UAC-006-2021  28 May 2021 ———————————————————————————- NEPAL: Torture and extrajudicial killing by the duty police officer of border out-post ISSUES: Torture, excessive use of force, extrajudicial killing ———————————————————————————- Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is bringing to your notice an incident where […]

Families of victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, took to the streets across Bangladesh to demand justice. The families organised human chains and rallies in different parts of the country. In the International Week of the Disappeared, the victims defied intimidation and harassment by the agencies of Bangladesh. Parents, wives, children, and siblings of […]