Extrajudicial killings

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from MASUM, concerning the case of gruesome murder of four teenagers by the Border Security Force at Harudanga Mini BSF Border Outpost Camp, near Golpak (a rivulet of Padma) situated at Nirmal Char under the jurisdiction of Ranitala Police Station, in West Bengal […]

The Fisherfolk community in Pakistan is considered the poorest of the poor, dwelling in slum settlements along the 1129 kilometres coastline with no basic amenities. A high level of poverty prevails in all the capital assets and makes a sustainable livelihood for the fishermen in Pakistan extremely difficult. Human poverty, social poverty, financial poverty and […]

The Fisherfolk community in Pakistan is considered the poorest of the poor, dwelling in slum settlements along the 1129 kilometres coastline with no basic amenities. A high level of poverty prevails in all the capital assets and makes a sustainable livelihood for the fishermen in Pakistan extremely difficult. Human poverty, social poverty, financial poverty and […]

Nilantha Ilangamuwa “Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of their senses.” – Euripides The government has about an year to improve governance in terms of human rights, instead of selling racial nihilism and isolating itself from the world and the people. Next March (2013 March) the High Commissioner for Human Rights would […]

The successful United Nations Resolution on reconciliation and accountability should pave the way for a new period of commitment to cure the wounds of a long conflict, caused upon individuals as well as on the institutional structure of democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka. A responsible approach to dealing with the past […]

The National Human Rights Commission is a specialised statutory body mandated to protect, promote and fulfil human rights. Set up by virtue of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC is the result of India’s pre-emptive commitment to United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993, also known as Principles relating […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from a group of Sri Lankan human rights defenders. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from a group of Sri Lankan human rights defenders forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Civil society urges government to stop hate campaigns […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Our lives are spinning out from world to world; the shapes of things are shifting in the wind. What do we know beyond the rapture and the dread?- Stanley Kunitz* “They finished off my husband after two days of torture, and then took me to Hambantota where a number of women were […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Speech after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with grave concern that the children of Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, one of the 32 journalists murdered in the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre, have been subjected to overt surveillance in their home in General Santos City. The AHRC is deeply concerned by the targeting of Reblando’s widow […]

The national debate regarding India’s position about the proposed resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council concerning Sri Lanka is limited to a Tamil view of the issue. The views exchanged in both houses of the country’s parliament and in the media reflect this. This parochial view about the resolution exposes the widespread lack […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from [Name of the Organisation/Media]. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from Lawyers for Democracy forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 13th March 2012 ‘Lawyers for Democracy’ (LfD) is gravely concerned with […]

The murder of an Indian Police Service officer Mr. Narendra Kumar on 8 March in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh has again brought to light the criminal nexus between the mining mafia operating in the country and their patrons in power who have political interests. The young, 2009-batch police officer, stationed as the Sub-Divisional Police […]

Freedom of expression is one of the essential pre-requirements for the practice, protection and promotion of democracy. If we are to speak of a democratic Pakistan we need to examine, whether the media is free. Each and every day media professionals are facing threats of kidnapping or murder for telling the truth. The truth about […]

After intense public pressure the police have revealed that they have identified the culprits behind the assassination of a mother and daughter at Kahawatta which took place one month ago. The failure of the police to take action so far has been attributed to political interference which has prevented them from carrying out their duty. […]

“…..you dislike doctrines, you have a horror of systems, as for principles, you deny that there are any in political economy; therefore we shall call it your practice — your practice without theory and without principle.” Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) [Open letter to the French Parliament, originally published in 1845]   The operation in Geneva has […]

In a cold blooded attack by men in uniforms of the Pakistan Army, 18 persons from the Shiite community of Islam were targeted and killed. The incident occurred in the Khyber Pakhtunkha province close to the border of Gilgit and Baltistan area where Shias reside almost in good numbers to the Sunni population. On February […]

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි AHRC-STM-034-2012-SI පෙබරවාරි 22, 2012 ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ නිවේදනයයි සාමකාමී ලෙස උද්ඝෝෂණය කරන උද්ඝෝෂකයින්ට වෙඩි තැබීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය සාමාන්‍යයෙන් සිදුකරන දෙයක් බව ධීවර සහ ජලජ සම්පත් සංවර්ධන කැබිනට් අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා  හලාවතදී ධීවරයෙකුට වෙඩි තබා මරාදැමීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් බී.බී. සී. සිංහල සේවයේ වාර්තාකරුවෙකු ඇසූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.  මෙලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පොලිසිය […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa “As your attorney general I’m sorry to have to tell you that the present picture of crimes in the United States is far from good. In fact I would say it is shocking – particularly so in regard to the percentage of juveniles involved in law breaking”. Tom C. Clark, Former Attorney […]

Mr. Rajitha Seneratne, the Cabinet Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, when answering a question to a BBC Sinhala Service correspondent regarding the shooting of a fisherman at a peaceful demonstration in Chilaw stated that the shooting of demonstrators is a usual practice of the Sri Lankan police. Sri Lankan policemen have shot demonstrators […]