Freedom of expression

SRI LANKA: UN human rights experts condemn repeated use of emergency measures to crackdown on protests

GENEVA (8 August 2022) – UN human rights experts* today condemned the extensive, prolonged and repeated use of state of emergency measures since 2 April 2022 by Sri Lankan authorities to crackdown on peaceful protesters and prevent them from voicing their grievances amidst an economic collapse in the country. On 15 July, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned […]

BANGLADESH: Independent Investigative Mechanism Needed for Affording Justice to Victims of Enforced Disappearances

A Written Statement to the 51st Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) reiterates the issue of Bangladesh’s unabated enforced disappearances with blanket impunity to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s 51st Regular Session. Halting enforced disappearances in Bangladesh has […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: අන්තර් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයීය සිසුන්ට කල ප්‍රහාරය තරයේ හෙලා දකිනවා

සාමකාමී උත්ගොෂකයන්ට කදුළු ගෑස් ගැසීම සහ පහරදීම පොලිස් රාජකාරියක් නොවේ. අන්තර් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයීය සිසුන්ට කල ප්‍රහාරය තරයේ හෙලා දකිනවා – ආසියානු මානව හිමිකමි කොමිසම වීඩියෝව මෙතනින් ලබාගන්න

නීතිය මත පාලනය හදුන්වාදීමක්

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to share with you the following video regarding current Sri Lankan situation. Click here to view

SRI LANKA: Illegal arrests and illegal detentions damage the legal system

By Basil Fernando Illegal arrests and illegal detentions do not only harm individuals, they also cause irreparable damage to the legal system as a whole. The recent wave of arrests of those who have participated in peaceful demonstrations has not only caused serious damage to the life and liberty of these individuals but they have […]

INDONESIA: Result of the Selection Process of Ad Hoc Judges for the Human Rights Court of 2022 for the Paniai Papua Human Rights Case

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a prominent national human righs organization about the selection process of judges for the Paniai Human Rights Court. Responding to the declaration of the 2022 Human Rights Court Ad Hoc Judge who decided the eight […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: 2022 ජූලි 9 – 13 සිදු වූ විපර්යාසය

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to share with you the following video regarding current Sri Lankan situation. Click here to view

SRI LANKA: An emergency means nothing less than ‘legalizing lawlessness’

By Basil Fernando A declaration of emergency means suspensions of all the laws which normally operate within a country for the protection of the people. A declaration of emergency takes away all the basic protections which are considered essential to the normal functioning of the society. Lawlessness is declared to be normal under a period […]

BANGLADESH: Dissidents and Human Rights Defenders Survive Defenselessly

Human rights defenders, dissidents, and political opposition survive in a profoundly dangerous condition of civic space in Bangladesh. The country’s government keeps weaponising draconian laws with impunity to curb civic freedoms of the people. The freedom of peaceful assembly and association and the freedom of expression and opinion are dealt with incarceration by the police, […]

INDONESIA: Human Rights Court for Paniai Case in Papua must Apply International Human Rights Standard

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Indonesia Supreme Court Professor. Dr. Muhammad Syarifuddin, SH., MH The Chairperson of the Indonesian Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung RI) Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara No 9-13 Tel: +62 21 3843348, +62 21 3810350, +62 21 3457661 Fax: + 62 21 3453553, +62 21 3454546 Jakarta […]

SRI LANKA: The crisis of criminal justice in Sri Lanka

Kindly see below an interview with Basil Fernando published by xposure Media group on the present crisis of criminal justice in Sri Lanka. Click here to see the video

SRI LANKA: A New Era Of Politics Begins In Sri Lanka

By Basil Fernando A peaceful mass uprising on 9th July 2022 has brought about the end of a political era which started with the promulgation of the 1978 constitution of Sri Lanka: that constitution completely undermined democracy, the rule of law and human rights in the country. During a period of continuous protests over 3 […]

SRI LANKA: Journalists and Protesters Face Arrests, Assaults, and Interrogations as Government Fails to Tackle Economic Crisis

The crisis of major magnitude is taking place in Sri Lanka. The world has not yet taken adequate notice of the impact of an economic downturn as a result of the inability of the government to pay the foreign loans as a result of which it is suffering from the worst financial crisis ever faced […]

SRI LANKA: Two big lies told about the 1978 Constitution

By Basil Fernando Two great lies have been propagated about the 1978 Constitution. When a lie is repeated many times by many persons, often such a lie begins to be treated as a conventional truth. The first of these lies is that the 1978 Constitution was created on the model of the French Constitution and […]

SRI LANKA: Parliamentarians’ Inability to Mourn

By Basil Fernando What happened on the 9th of May was a tragedy. It is a tragedy that the entire nation should genuinely mourn. Such genuine mourning has a capacity to generate reflections that could transform the thinking and practices of all those concerned about how to avoid such tragedies in the future. Such genuine […]

INDONESIA: New Commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights Must Be Professional and Credible!

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports the standing point of the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS) highlighting the process of selecting candidates for the Commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). On 27 May 2022, the Selecting Committee, in the written test, has passed the candidate for the […]

SRI LANKA: What HRCSL can do to assist SL fight debt crisis

By Basil Fernando The debt crisis, or what is known better as the US dollar crisis, is what is threatening the stability of Sri Lanka right now. In a very clear message to the nation, given by way of a press interview, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe on 11 May […]

SRI LANKA: People’s Uprising for System Change

By Basil Fernando April and May 2022 will be remembered as the most important months in the post-independence era. During this short period the much hoped for people’s awakening expressed itself powerfully. People who wielded authority failed to see the writing on the wall although the wall was just next to the Presidential Secretariat and […]

SRI LANKA: The changing meanings of system change

By Basil Fernando One of the most popular phrases that is being talked about in Sri Lanka is the need for a system change. Often in media interviews, various people are asked about what they mean by a system change. Varying answers are given by persons depending on their ideologies, perspectives and above all, on […]

SRI LANKA: The absence of the will to do justice

By Basil Fernando Within a few days after the Rambukkana Police shooting, a large body of information has become available to the public about this incident. The attempt by the Government and also a section of the Police to give their own version about the incident has revealed a very routine pattern that exists in […]