Police negligence

BANGLADESH: Surge of Arbitrary Detention under Digital Security Act Leads to Deepening Crisis

It is well-known that systemic abuse of draconian Laws is an established practice in Bangladesh. The incumbent Government has weaponised a number laws, including the Digital Security Act-2018, to intensify its campaign of curbing freedom of expression and opinion. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has compiled publicly available information obtained from the mainstream media. The data shows […]

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව: පොලීසියට වධහිංසාවට එරෙහි නීතිය උගන්වන ලෙසට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විධාන කරයි

 ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම – හදිසි අභියාචනා වැඩසටහන ලංකාවේ  මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් පිළිබද නඩුවක් විභාග කර එහි තීන්දුව දුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරනයේ ත‍්‍රිපුද්ගල විනිශ්චය මණ්ඩලය ලංකාවේ බලධාරීන්ට පහත සදහන් නියෝගයද කරන ලදී.  ‘මෙම අධිකරණය ඉදිරියේ ගොනුකර ඇති මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් නඩු ප‍්‍රමාණය අනුව පොලිස් ප‍්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය, අත්තඩංගුවේදී  වදහිංසා පැමිණවීම හා මරණ හෙළිදරව් වී ඇත. මෙයින් පෙනී යන්නේ රජය මෙම ප‍්‍රශ්ණය විසිදීම සදහා හෝ එය අඩු […]

WORLD: Global protests demanding police reforms

Statement | World | 25-06-2020

After the murder of George Floyd, the world has seen some of the most powerful protests demanding police reforms. The government of the United States has made some minor reforms, but also responded with force. The larger issue of police reform is now one of the most visible demands, and it calls for much more […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව: ලෝකයේ දිගම වදහිංසා නඩුව

 මේ දින වල ලොව පුරා ප්‍රචලිත පුවත වන්නේ ඇමරිකාවේ සුදු ජාතික පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු විසින් කළු ජාතික සාමන්‍ය පුරවැසියකුගේ බෙල්ල මත දණහිස තබා මරණයට පත් කිරීමේ සිදු වීමයි. එම මරණය සිදු කල ආකාරය ඡායාරූප ගත කර ඇති හෙයින් එය කාටත් දැක ගැනීමට අවස්ථාව උදාවී ඇත. මෙම සිද්ධියත් සමඟ ඇමරිකාව පුරා බලවත් විරෝධතා ඇති වීමත්, එම විරෝධතාවයන්ට […]

PHILIPPINES: POLICE REFORMS CANNOT BE ACHIEVED THROUGH ULTRA-VIOLENT METHODS

The South China Morning Post recently published a report quoting Colonel Romeo Caramat stating that the Philippines’ ultra-violent approach in curbing drugs has not been effective. He further went on to say that “shock and awe definitely did not work”. The drug supply is still widespread and illicit drugs can be obtained anywhere, anytime in […]

INDIA/SRI LANKA: Gang Rapes, Justice and Civilization in India and Sri Lanka

An incident was reported in December 2019 from India regarding the gang rape of a woman and what happened thereafter. The news of the gang rape stirred up a massive protest from many parts of India. Among those who were involved in the protest were sections of the intelligencia of India such as Professors, doctors, […]

WORLD: Affirming rights by ratification, denying rights in actual practice

Statement | World | 19-09-2019

Affirming something through a declaration and denying the same in actual practice happens everywhere, but the real test of affirmation is the degree to which something is practiced. When what is affirmed and what is actually practiced is virtually divorced then the very act of affirmation becomes a mockery. That, unfortunately, is the situation regarding […]

AHRC TV: UN urges ‘restraint’ as Hong Kong police get more violent and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 263

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where continuing protests are seeing an increase in police violence. Video footage shows police firing tear gas in enclosed areas, keeping a bleeding protester on the ground, and using batons to hit fleeing protesters. One woman suffered a ruptured eye due to a fired bean bag round, […]

AHRC TV: UN report says one of nine persons faces hunger and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 261

This week Just Asia begins with a new UN report stating that 821 million people, or one out of nine persons globally, is facing hunger. Titled ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019’, the report was launched by five UN agencies at a special event Monday, in New York. Of the world’s […]

THAILAND: Military authorities can still arbitrarily detain civilians

A Statement from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission   Analysis of the Head of the NCPO Order no. 9/2562 that repealed some Announcements/Orders that are no longer necessary Click here to read the Original Statement On 9 July 2019, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha in his capacity as the Head of […]

CAMBODIA: Three years and still no effective investigation into Dr. Kem Ley’s killing

A Joint Statement from The Cambodian Center for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 9 July 2019 (Bangkok, Thailand) — Today, on the third anniversary of the killing of prominent political commentator and human rights defender Kem Ley, the 24 undersigned organizations renew calls on the Cambodian government to establish an independent and impartial […]

INDONESIA: Protection of peaceful assembly and association needs serious evaluation

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre Under the Indonesian Constitution (UUD) of 1945, the right to peaceful assembly and association is fully protected and guaranteed without any distinction. Moreover, Indonesia also has national laws that govern and ensure protection of […]

SRI LANKA: ICCPR පනතේ ඇති අඩුපාඩු

2007 අංක 56 දරන ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී සමාජවාදී ජනරජය මගින් ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත් කර ඇති ICCPR පනත පිළිබඳ මහජනතා සාකච්ඡුාවක් ඇති වෙමින් පවතින්නේ නුදුරු කාලයක් තුළ එම පනත කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමක් සිදු වන නිසාය. එම පනත ක‍්‍රියාත්මක වීමේදී මතුවී ඇති ගැටලූ රාශියක් ඇත. එම ගැටලූ පිළිබඳව දළ විස්තරයක් පහත සඳහන් වේ. එම පනතේ අරමුණ වී ඇත්තේ යම් මානව හිමිකම් කඩකිරීම් අපරාධයක් සේ […]

SRI LANKA: Male Prisoner needing urgent medical treatment for heart ailment severely tortured by Police

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Human Rights Office Kandy that Sri Rangaraja Sudan (29) of No: 34/57, Wilfradpura, Hatton, was kidnapped by a group when he was 19 years old. While he was under the control of this group, they forcibly used him for various types of […]

SRI LANKA: Extinct legal system caused security crisis resulting in Easter Sunday carnage

According to Sri Lankan Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake, the present security crisis facing the country was a result of the failures of many government institutions. In a television interview available on YouTube, he cited foreign exchange control failures to monitor money coming into the country, Customs Department failures, and intelligence coordination failures. Aside from these […]

SRI LANKA: Debate on restoring security is diverted to suit political ends

Late Mr. Tarzie Vittachithe, winner of many prestigious awards for journalism, had a favourite saying that, “Everything is about something else”. In a similar manner, the parliamentary discussion on two no-confidence motions is also clearly about other issues, rather than the brutal carnage that took place on Easter Sunday and the causes thereof. The government […]

SRI LANKA: AHRC’s Letter to Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith on Sri Lanka Easter Sunday Attacks on Churches and Hotels

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith Archbishop’s House, Colombo – 8, Sri Lanka Phone: +94 11-2695471-2-3 / 2696054 Fax: +94 11-2692009 Email: archbishop@sltnet.lk / cardinalmalcolm@gmail.com  Dear Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, On behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, as well as the entire Sri Lankan people, who have […]

AHRC TV: Sri Lanka mourns worst attack since civil war and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 256

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, which has been traumatized by a series of coordinated bombings on Easter Sunday. More than 350 people were killed and at least 500 wounded in the deadliest attack in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war 10 years ago. The dead included at least 45 […]

SRI LANKA: Expression of solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the brutal attacks on several churches in Sri Lanka, which killed a large number of persons attending Easter Sunday mass. There were also attacks on several tourist hotels, killing about 32 foreign tourists. This tragedy has shocked and distressed the entire nation, with lamentations heard from so many […]

SRI LANKA: Recognising the missing legal system

A well-functioning legal system can be measured by its response to daily crimes and complaints. This is a much better test in fact, rather than a country’s constitution (in Sri Lanka’s case, the 1978 constitution still remains a major barrier to the functioning of a legal system), or statutes, or judicial presence, all of which […]