Right to fair trial

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena announced that he has signed four warrants for execution of persons who were convicted of crimes related to drugs. His announcement was given very wide publicity. In justifying his action, he said that in the Philippines, 27,000 people were shot on allegations of offences relating to drug possession. The Sri […]

यातनाविरुद्धको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय दिवसको सन्दर्भमा यातनाः न्यायका लागि पहलको दोस्रो संस्करण प्रकाशन गर्न पाउँदा हामीलाई अत्यन्तै खुसी लागेको छ । छोटो समयमै परिमार्जनसहित यो पुस्तिकाको दोस्रो संस्करण प्रकाशन गर्न पाउँदा हामीलाई अत्यन्तै खुसी लागेको छ । यातना हाम्रो प्रहरी कार्यालयहरूमा सर्वव्यापी अभ्यासका रुपमा पाइने गरेको छ । पक्राउ परेका संकित मानिसहरूलाई साबित गराउने सर्वव्यापी तरिकाका रुपमा यसलाई प्रयोग गर्ने […]

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has been consistently expressing its serious concerns over the dysfunctional justice institutions of Bangladesh – an incumbent Member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The victims’ right […]

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 […]

The arrest and ongoing detention of award-winning author and poet Shakthika Sathkumara on spurious charges are a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression, CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance and the Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC), said today ahead of his next court hearing on 18 June. Shakthika Sathkumara was arrested on 1 April […]

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where protests are continuing over the government’s proposed extradition bill. Thousands gathered outside the Legislative Council headquarters on Wednesday, where the bill was meant to be discussed for the second time. While the protest began peacefully, towards the latter part of the day police resorted to using […]

The sovereignty of the people is best expressed by the exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Both of these freedoms are essential to common people living with a sense of dignity. These freedoms are also essential in order to create a sense of community among all the peoples who live within the […]

A Statement from The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission 4 June 2019 In pursuance to a string of recent attacks of at least three pro-democracy activists including Aekachai Hongkangwan who was physically assaulted seven times and had his car set on fire twice since early 2018, and of […]

The government of Nepal has been repeatedly throttling the civil society, media and human rights organizations in Nepal. Even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has now come under its ambit. The present government, led by the Nepal Communist Party, does not like civil society questioning its business. In an attempt to silence critical voices, […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where criminal disdain for human life was seen again in a blaze claiming 22 young lives in a coaching institution in Surat, Gujarat, one of the country’s wealthiest states. Many of the students, trapped on the fourth floor of a building with no fire exits, were burnt alive […]

Written by Chrisbiantoro1 Introduction As a member of the United Nations (UN)2, Indonesia has ratified at least six major international human rights treaties3. Currently, Indonesia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council [HRC]4, therefore, it has obligations to increase the standard of human rights protection in its territory under the resolution of the […]

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 […]

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 […]

This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where two Reuters reporters have been freed by a presidential amnesty. Wa Lone, 33 and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29 had spent more than 500 days in prison, after being convicted under the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in jail last September. Their jailing was seen […]

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 […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-005-2019  April 24, 2019 ——————————————————————— INDONESIA: Peaceful public protest attacked and dispersed ISSUES: Freedom of expression and opinion, human rights defenders, fair trial, legal aid  ——————————————————————— Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a national human rights organization, the […]

Regional human rights groups mapped key strategies targeting that the Rohingya people are at the centre of moves. Rights activists and professionals called the international community to expedite justice for atrocity crimes including genocide and crimes against humanity that have forced most of the community to flee Myanmar. The strategic actions are believed to empower […]

This week Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the government will not drop the controversial amendment to the territory’s extradition laws, despite 12,000 people marching against it last Sunday. The amendment allowing Hong Kong to extradite to other countries, including China, on a case by case basis, was to […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-004-2019  April 10, 2019 ——————————————————————— INDONESIA: Human Rights Activist Interrogated by Police After Criticizing the Military ISSUES: Freedom of expression and opinion, human rights defenders, fair trial, legal aid  ——————————————————————— Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding criminal charges […]

This week Just Asia begins with the Philippines, where police shot dead 14 farmers in Negros island on Sunday. While rights groups called this a ‘massacre’, authorities said it was a legitimate operation against suspected communist rebels. According to the police, the 14 men shot at officers with search warrants for illegal firearms, prompting them […]