Right to life

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, […]

BANGLADESH: Defending rights requires unified resistance

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, and Odhikar on the occasion of International Human Rights Day Dhaka/Manila/Hong Kong, 10 December 2019: On International Human Rights Day, the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), and Odhikar pay tribute to and stand in […]

WORLD: Competent judicial professionals needed to administer justice to victims of international crimes

An Oral Statement to the 18th Session of the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, and Excellencies: First of all, please allow me to reaffirm that the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) stand by the International Criminal Court […]

INDIA: Borewells and potholes kill more Indians than terror

Article | India | 28-10-2019

By Avinash Pandey Efforts to rescue 2-year-old Sujith Wilson, trapped in a borewell for over 3 days in a village in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamilnadu now have entered fourth day. Rescue teams, including those from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) have confirmed that Sujith has […]

WORLD: Thai judge survives shooting himself in the chest in open court as a protest against interference with judicial independence

By Basil Fernando In a Thai courthouse on 4th October 2019, Judge Khanakorn Pianchana shot himself in the chest as a protest against interference with the independence of judges in their decision-making process. Fortunately, he survived the suicide attempt – made in open court – and is reportedly out of intensive care. Regarding the issue […]

WORLD: International Statement of Solidarity on Assassination of Derk Wiersum

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Lawyers for Lawyers, and 30 other civil society organisations of the world 4 October 2019 – We, the undersigned organizations, are deeply shocked by the brutal killing of our Dutch colleague Derk Wiersum. We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Wiersum’s family, friends, colleagues and all […]

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 […]

PHILIPPINES: Extrajudicial killing of jurists as part of a pattern of widespread and systematic violations of human rights

A Joint Written Submission to the 42nd Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada 1. Introduction Since 30 June 2016, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (the Philippines) has engaged in a campaign of extrajudicial killing in violation of the […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: මානව හිමිකම් හා ජන ජීවිතය

බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු ලාංකිකයාගේ ජන ජීවිතය තුළ දිනපතාම වැඩෙන ඛේදවාචක තත්ත්වය එක් සිද්ධියකින් කෙටියෙන් සදහන් කළ හැකිය. දැන් රෝහලකට ශල්‍යකර්මයක් සඳහා යන පුද්ගලයෙකුට වෛද්‍යවරුන් නියම කරන්නේ ඔහුගේ ශල්‍යකර්මයෙන් පසු දැමෙන මැහුම් වලට උඩින් දමනු ලබන ප්ලාස්ටර් පටියත් පුද්ගලික ආයතනයකින් ගෙන එන ලෙසය. මේ සා ප‍්‍රමාණයකට රජයේ රෝහල් තුළ සේවයක් පතා එන සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාව පිටම වෛද්‍ය ප‍්‍රතිකාර […]

MYANMAR: Protect rights, ensure dignified repatriation and justice of the Rohingyas

A Joint Written Submission to the 42nd Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre and Odhikar The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and ODHIKAR – Coalition for Human Rights draw special attention of the Human Rights Council and the Special Procedures to the acts of violence, persecution, […]

SRI LANKA: How the poor pay for the national debt and for corruption?

By Basil Fernando The one of the most frequent practices in the public hospitals now is that patients have to pay for everything. For example, a patient undergoing an operation has to buy everything from outside shops, even the plaster that is used to cover the wound caused by the operation. This explains to the […]

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, […]

SRI LANKA: An interview on crisis of Law with Mr. Basil Fernando

(Colombo Sri Lanka, August 09, 2019) We are sharing an interview with Mr. Basil Fernando in the National Television Station (Rupavahini) regarding the Crisis of Law in Sri Lanka in their 99 Minutes Program.       Please Click here See the Full Interview

AHRC TV: Legal profession calls for inquiry into police inaction and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 262

In this episode Just Asia begins with Hong Kong, where there have been new developments arising out of an attack at Yuen Long MTR station on ordinary citizens. A group of people wearing white shirts, generally believed to be thugs, attacked protesters and ordinary commuters with knives and batons on July 21st. The Hong Kong […]

WORLD: The launching of a new journal, SDG 16

Hong Kong, July 30, 2019 The journal with focus on the SDG 16 in particular which is “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” One of the targets of the SDG 16 is the achievement of rule of law. SDG 16 poses a serious challenges […]

SRI LANKA: Launching of a new book in Sinhala titled Neethiya and Vinaya (Law and Discipline).

Hong Kong, July 28, 2019  Launching of a new book.  Neethiya and Vinaya (Law and discipline) By Basil Fernando Publisher: Wijaysooriya Publishers, 98 pages. The AHRC announces the publication of a new book in Sinhala titled Neethiya and Vinaya (Law and Discipline). The book deals with political science theories and legal theories relating to the state duties for […]

NEPAL: Current problem of human rights violations in Nepal

A request/attention letter from Mr. Ghanshyam Chamlagain & Mr. Chetanath Chaulagain forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) We, as independent citizens, have deeply studied and evaluated the situation of human rights violations committed by the Government of Nepal and being borne by the Nepalese people. We wish to stop Nepal from the critical […]

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 […]

SRI LANKA: මරණ දඩුවම අහෝසි කිිරීම පිළිබඳ නීති කෙටුම්පත

 බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු. මරණීය දණ්ඩනය අහෝසි කිරීම පිළිබඳව නීති කෙටුම්පතක් ගැසට් කරන බවට ඇති අනාවරණය සතුටට කරුණකි. එය ලෝකයේ බොහෝ රටවල් අශිෂ්ඨ යැයි පිළිගන්නා ක‍්‍රමවේදයක් ලංකාව තුළද පිළිගැනෙන බවට ප‍්‍රකාශයකි. ඒ නිසා මෙය ලංකාවේ නීති ක‍්‍රමය සම්බන්ධයෙන් තීරණාත්මක වෙනසක් ඇති කළ හැකි අවස්ථාවකි. එහෙත් මෙම අවස්ථාවේදී සලකා බලා පිළියම් යෙදිය යුතු තවත් බරපතල ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් ඇත. එනම් […]