Independence of judges & lawyers

December 10 is Human Rights Day, and this year will celebrate 70 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The theme this year is “let’s stand up for equality, justice and human dignity”, a fitting exhortation for the year ahead in India. For the ordinary person in India, the High courts and the […]

In 2017, Nepal saw local elections taking place in the country after more than two decades. Federal Parliament and Provincial Assembly elections were also conducted this year. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates the government of Nepal for successfully completing the elections. Voter turnout was high in response to the lack of effective political […]

A Petition filed in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka by senior lawyer and public interest litigation activist Nagananda Kodituwakku forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) READ FULL TEXT OF APPEAL HERE The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following Petition filed in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, […]

The Specialist Doctor Wasantha Pushpakumara Herath died as a result of a fatal accident on the 22nd of September 2017. His car was being driven from Kandy to Colombo on the Kandy Road. A lorry which had tried to overtake another vehicle at a very high speed collided with the vehicle driven by Dr. Herath […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, which has been called on by the UN Security Council to end the violence in Rakhine state and allow hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya to return. In a unanimous statement backed by China, the Council strongly condemned the violence forcing more than 600,000 Rohingya to flee across […]

A Letter from article from Mr. Nagananda Kodotuwakku, Attorney-at-Law ( SL) and Solicitor( UK) and public interest Attorney, on 09th November 2017, to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission READ LETTER HERE The Secretary The Bar Association No 153, Mihindu Mawatha Colombo 12 09th Nov 2017 The need to […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court ruled that sex with a wife younger than 18 is rape. This is a much needed legal development for child rights, and will help in the fight to end child marriage in the country. Sadly, the fight against marital rape for adult women continues. […]

This week Just Asia begins with the death of 60 Rohingya in a boat capsize off Bangladesh on September 28, as they were fleeing violence in Burma. A UN spokesman said 23 people were confirmed dead and 40 more were “missing and presumed drowned”. Dozens of Rohingya have already died trying to cross into Bangladesh […]

Despite being the host country of the highest number of refugees of the world, Pakistan is still not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or to its 1967 Protocol. The result is that the issues associated with hosting refugees are being addressed arbitrarily and inequitably. Social decency and hospitality demands that a country treats […]

Twenty years ago, when the Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) Urgent Appeals Programme started, we embarked on a new venture to demonstrate the potential of the Urgent Appeals in creating a culture that respects the sufferings of the victims, and to create a counter culture of concern and protest. It is time now to assess […]

Asian Human Rights Commission is proud to announce that it is today celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its Urgent Appeals Programme. The first urgent appeal was issued on 17 September 1997. Ever since Asian Human Rights Commission’s Urgent Appeal Programme has continuously issued urgent appeals relating to human rights violations, reported from many countries of […]

A new United Nations report (A/HRC/36/31) warns that a growing number of human rights defenders around the world are facing reprisals for cooperating with the UN on human rights. The report, ‘Cooperation with the United Nations, its mechanisms and representatives in the field of human rights’, mentions Pakistan among the 29 countries that have retaliated […]

ලංකාවේ සමස්ථ අධිකරණ පද්ධතියේ ප‍්‍රතිසංස්කරණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැන් මතුවී තිබෙන විවාදය මේ පිළිබඳව පැවතී ඇති සාකච්චා වල වැදගත් අවධියක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. රන්ජන් රාමනායක මහතා හා ලංකාවේ නීතිඥ සංගමය අතර ඇතිවූ විවාදයක් සේ මෙය පටන් ගැනුනත් මේ වන විට එය පළල් ක්ෂේත්රකයක් කරා පළල් වී ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳ මහජන අවධානයද ඉතා බලවත් ලෙසින් ඉස්මතු වී ඇත. සමස්ථ […]

Perhaps for the first time in the contemporary history of Sri Lanka, an important debate is now taking place on the need for judicial reforms. This debate has come about as a result of a statement made by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka with regard to a public statement made by Deputy Minister Ranjan […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where fighting has broken out once again in the state of Rakhine. Clashes between Burmese security forces and Rohingya militants have led to some 89 people killed, including 12 security force personnel. This is the worst violence to hit the area since October 2016, when a military crackdown […]

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where there is much protest and outrage against the jailing of three democracy activists for their role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Hong Kong’s High Court sentenced Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow to six-eight months imprisonment for the non-violent protest related crime of unlawful assembly […]

A Press Release issued by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has threatened contempt of Court action being taken against a deputy minister who has made some serious criticisms against the Courts and the legal profession. While it is not our intention to defend the deputy minister, we are perturbed by such threats against anyone […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where police have arrested several persons involved in the rape and torture of a teenager, after pictures of the victim and her mother at hospital with shaved heads caused outrage. Tufan Sarkar, a unionist linked to the ruling Awami League party, has been charged with raping the 16-year-old at home on July […]

The darker side of Pakistan’s lawyers’ cartel has been exposed in the case of law student Khadija Siddiqui, who was stabbed 23 times by her class fellow, Shah Husain, the son of a senior Supreme Court lawyer. After this horrific attack, Khadija could not find a single lawyer to take up her case. Being the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to share a video clip of a speech made by Nagahawatte Kodithuwakku, a reputed lawyer on the state of judiciary in Sri Lanka. It is a thought provoking speech that should receive the attention of all who are concerned with serious problems facing democracy, rule of law and human rights in Sri Lanka. Click […]