Institutional reform

Three major ‘strategies’ have been used in this draft bill on anti-terrorism 2023.which create very great confusion about the meaning of the contents of the proposed law and its implications. Three ‘strategies’ The first of these strategies is not to define the meaning of terrorism. The meaning of the key word of this document is […]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility has approved a fund to assist Sri Lanka at this time of terrible economic crisis. While there are many things to talk about that issue, we wish at the very beginning to highlight what we think is the most important issue that should be brought to the […]

IMF ආයතනය විසින් ලංකාවට විස්තීරණ ණය පහසුකම (Extended fund facility), කියන කොන්දේසිය යටතේ ණයක් දීම පිළිගෙන තිබීම, අද දින තුල වාර්තා වුනා.  මේ අවස්ථාවේ දී, ඊට අදාලව ඉතාම ප්‍රධාන කාරණාව ක අවධානය යොමු කල යුතු යැයි අපි කල්පනා කරනවා.  IMF ආයතනය, මෙම මුදල් දීමට එකඟ වීමත් සමඟම, ඒ සදහා කොන්දේසි ගණනාවක් පිළිබද ව බරපතලව සාකච්ඡා […]

The debate on who should be the next Inspector General of Police (IGP) is part of the public debate these days. The focus of this debate is more on who should be the “person” rather than what is the expectation from the new IGP in terms of the challenges faced on the one hand concerning […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to the Chief of National Police  General of Police Listyo Sigit Prabowo Chief of National Police (KAPOLRI) Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan 12110 Indonesia  Tel: +62 21 384 8537, 726 0306 Fax: +62 21 7220 669 E-mail: info@polri.go.id Dear General,  INDONESIA: The police […]

By Basil Fernando Read the article in Sinhala මෙම ලිපිය සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න As Sri Lanka is to celebrate its 75th anniversary of Independence on the 4th of February, the general reaction of the people around the country this year is one of despondency with serious criticisms about the failure of governance in the country.  The need […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the Federation of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (FEDERASI KontraS) wish to inform you about Preliminary Report on Monitoring and Investigation of the Kanjuruhan Stadium Case I. The condition and capacity of the Kanjuruhan Stadium The Kanjuruhan Stadium is a football Stadium owned by […]

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 […]

By Basil Fernando At the moment, the general discussion in Sri Lanka is about the formation of a new Government. Practically speaking, that is the most immediate and urgent task. As there are many views expressed on that issue, we will not comment on it, and we assume that this issue will be resolved soon. […]

By Basil Fernando Politics in Sri Lanka mostly consists of the making of speeches at every place. There is lot of talk in the Parliament and there is also a lot of talk in the media shows. However, no real form of governance is taking place in the country. There is no direct relationship between […]

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 […]

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 […]

A Written Submission to the 50th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has for over 40 years carefully studied, documented and reflected upon the actual possibilities for protection of human rights in many countries of Asia, in particular South Asia […]

In commemorating the 24th year of the student shooting in Trisakti and Semanggi, and with two years to go before the General Election in 2024, the Minister of the State Owned Company (BUMN), Mr. Erick Thohir appointed the Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) to provide houses for the four families of the victims of the student […]

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 […]

Can Sri Lanka rise from its constitutional limbo? When Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe accepted to take over as the Head of the Central Bank, in one of his early statements, he said that he would be able to do the expected job if there is no interference from outside. The demand for non-interference is today one […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the President of Republic of Indonesia Mr. Joko Widodo President of the Republic of Indonesia Jl. Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat INDONESIA Tel: +62 21 3458 595 Fax: +62 21 3484 4759 Dear Mr. President: The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports statement of the […]

An article from Victor Ivan forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission I have penned this article with the view to enlightening the political leaders of the country and those who express ideological views and are interested in the subject, the need for having an objective and pragmatic program for overcoming the crisis facing Sri […]

By Basil Fernando  The Sri Lankan delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) suffered a great setback when its promise to amend the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 as amended (PTA) was responded to by the 16 UN special experts calling on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) […]

By Basil Fernando In two occasions, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) held in two separate cases decided by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court related to contempt of court that the punishment imposed by the Court amounted to disproportionate punishment and that such punishment amounted to illegal detention. The UNHRC held that on both […]