Freedom of assembly

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 […]

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 […]

The value of the rupee came down to 131 for a US dollar. This is the highest point reached relating to the value of a rupee ever. In all likelihood, it will go up further even though by artificial means, it may be brought down a little now and then. Thus, the high devaluation of […]

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 […]

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, are deeply disturbed by the threats faced by Mr. Herman Kumara of NAFSO and Mr. Aruna Nishantha Fernando of All Ceylon Fisher Folk Federation (ACFFF), including an attempt to abduct him, and condemn these attempts to stifle democratic rights and silence activists. According to an affidavit signed by Herman […]

Despite heavy criticism from inside and outside the country (AHRC-STM-041-2012), South Korean police have been arbitrarily arresting and detaining rights activists and villagers in Gangjeong village where a navy base is under construction. Meanwhile, several media organizations reported allegations that the Navy and construction companies are violating laws relating to the environment and cultural assets. […]

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 […]

The judiciary is that branch of the state which adjudicates on conflicts between state institutions, between the state and the individual and between individuals. The judiciary is independent of both legislature and the executive. This is a feature of judicial independence which is of prime importance, both in relation to the government according to law […]

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 […]

The government of Bangladesh on Monday blanked out three satellite television channels – Ekushey Television, Bangla Vision and Islamic TV – almost an hour before the leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia started her speech at a four-party grand rally today, March 12, 2012. According to a Daily Star report, viewers could not watch these TV […]

The people of Bangladesh are living in a tense situation prior to a mass rally in Dhaka on March 12, 2012 called by the opposition parties against the ruling regime. The opposition political parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have organised a march towards Dhaka, on March 12 which is aimed at showing their […]

INDIA: GHE fear at New Delhi Reading the proposed draft resolution mooted at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) concerning human rights in Sri Lanka, one cannot help wonder why India did not propose such a resolution before? Today by delaying in arriving at a decision, whether to support the resolution or not, India has once […]

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 […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following report published in New Age, a national English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 1 March 2012. The original story can be read at: http://newagebd.com/newspaper/detail.php?date=2012-03-01&nid=2466. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the New Age, a national English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following report published in The Daily Star, a national English language daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 1 March 2012. The original story can be read at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=224539 . Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the Daily Star, a national English language daily newspaper of […]

One of the sad truths that we have to live with today is that the people’s struggles for human rights are highly fragmented in India. Equally disheartening is the fact that whenever or wherever human rights comes up for discussion, it is addressed in piecemeal, ignoring and leaving far behind a comprehensive approach to rights […]

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 […]