Right to remedy

The successful United Nations Resolution on reconciliation and accountability should pave the way for a new period of commitment to cure the wounds of a long conflict, caused upon individuals as well as on the institutional structure of democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka. A responsible approach to dealing with the past […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Our lives are spinning out from world to world; the shapes of things are shifting in the wind. What do we know beyond the rapture and the dread?- Stanley Kunitz* “They finished off my husband after two days of torture, and then took me to Hambantota where a number of women were […]

The value of the rupee came down to 131 for a US dollar. This is the highest point reached relating to the value of a rupee ever. In all likelihood, it will go up further even though by artificial means, it may be brought down a little now and then. Thus, the high devaluation of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to condemn in the strongest possible terms the decision of the government, made on February 27, 2012, to recommend the withdrawal of nearly 425 criminal cases. It is now up to the judiciary to exercise due diligence over the cases under their jurisdiction, to ensure that the reasons for […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Speech after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were […]

The suicide of police officer, P G Haridath, on 15 March 2012 brings again to the limelight, issues that adversely affect criminal investigations in India. Haridath was an Additional Superintendent of Police working in the Central Bureau of Investigation. It is reported that the deceased officer was investigating the infamous Sampath murder case in Kerala […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a city prosecutor in San Fernando, Pampanga, had dismissed the complaint of torture by five torture victims against a police colonel and other policemen due to “insufficiency of evidence” because their identification of the accused were ‘dubious’ since they were ‘blindfolded’. The five complainants filed a […]

The judiciary is that branch of the state which adjudicates on conflicts between state institutions, between the state and the individual and between individuals. The judiciary is independent of both legislature and the executive. This is a feature of judicial independence which is of prime importance, both in relation to the government according to law […]

The murder of an Indian Police Service officer Mr. Narendra Kumar on 8 March in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh has again brought to light the criminal nexus between the mining mafia operating in the country and their patrons in power who have political interests. The young, 2009-batch police officer, stationed as the Sub-Divisional Police […]

The government of Bangladesh on Monday blanked out three satellite television channels – Ekushey Television, Bangla Vision and Islamic TV – almost an hour before the leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia started her speech at a four-party grand rally today, March 12, 2012. According to a Daily Star report, viewers could not watch these TV […]

The people of Bangladesh are living in a tense situation prior to a mass rally in Dhaka on March 12, 2012 called by the opposition parties against the ruling regime. The opposition political parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have organised a march towards Dhaka, on March 12 which is aimed at showing their […]

INDIA: GHE fear at New Delhi Reading the proposed draft resolution mooted at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) concerning human rights in Sri Lanka, one cannot help wonder why India did not propose such a resolution before? Today by delaying in arriving at a decision, whether to support the resolution or not, India has once […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. JP Samson Kulatunga (62) of No: 23, Ihala Haththiniya, Marawila in the Puttalam District, was tortured by two officers from the Marawia Police Station who attempted to force him to sell his property. When he reported the matter to the Assistant Superintendent […]

One of the sad truths that we have to live with today is that the people’s struggles for human rights are highly fragmented in India. Equally disheartening is the fact that whenever or wherever human rights comes up for discussion, it is addressed in piecemeal, ignoring and leaving far behind a comprehensive approach to rights […]

All Sri Lankans will wish that the coming year will not be like the last one and, in fact, that it be different from previous years also, years in which deep insecurity has been prevailing due to the failure of the political system, resulting in serious problems in the legal system. People reduced to powerlessness […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today published its 25-page report containing its analyses on what it has observed as the irreparable ‘social and systemic impact’ of the ongoing violations of human rights in the […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The international community, including leading human rights agencies and organisations, has failed to understand the depth of collapse of rule of law in Sri Lanka and have failed to make any effective intervention in this […]

(Hong Kong, December 9, 2011) Despite signs of political change and the easing of restrictions on freedom of expression in Burma, rights abuses remain “systemic, deeply entrenched and vast in scale”, the Asian Human Rights Commission said today in its annual State of Human Rights in Asia report.   The 17-page Burma report, entitled “From blinkered […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The state of human rights in a country is directly proportional to the extent of justice achieved in that jurisdiction. Justice is not a physically quantifiable concept. It is “truth in action” as held by […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The full report is available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2011/AHRC-SPR-008-2011/view. The state has become dysfunctional in providing basic human rights to the people. Though the parliament exists it either cannot assert its constitutional duties or does not […]