Rule of law

INDIA: Unprepared authorities let Encephalitis kill more than 172 children

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding continued deaths of children by Encephalitis in Eastern Uttar Pradesh from Manoj Singh, a local journalist working with a reputed Hindi newspaper. The toll has gone up frighteningly and now stands at 172 and counting. Sadly this is the state of affairs despite […]

SRI LANKA: Focus on civilian policing

by Basil Fernando Within just a few days of the announcement of the new ministry, the Ministry of Law and Order, a rather unusual level of interest has emerged, judging by the many articles that have appeared in response to the government’s move. Though such quick responses are unusual, they are not surprising. If anyone […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව: නව ‘නීතිය හා සාමය අමාත්‍යාංශය මිලිටරීකරණය වෙත තවත් පියවරකි

2013 අ‍ගෝස්තු 23 ජනාධිපතිවරයා යටතේ නීතිය හා සාමය අමාත්‍යාංශයක් ස්ථාපිත කරන බව නිවේදනය කර තිබේ. මේ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් වන්නේ, වාර්තාවන්ට අනුව විශ්‍රාමික හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකු වන මේජර් ජනරාල් (විශ්‍රාමික) නන්ද මල්ලවාරච්චි ය. මේජර් ජනරාල් මල්ලවාරච්චි    ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුධ හමුදාවේ හිටපු කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානියා ය. පසුව ඔහු ඉන්දුනීසියාවේ සිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති බවට පත්විය. මැලේසියානු ආරක්ෂක අංශවල උදව් […]

SRI LANKA: What the High Commissioner, Dr. Navanethem Pillay will not be told

The relationship between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and member nations of the United Nations is expected to be one of cooperation for the improvement of the rights of the people of the countries. The member states are expected to have the most cordial and friendly relationship with the High Commissioner’s office so as […]

SRI LANKA: New ‘Law and Order Ministry’ is a further step towards militarization

The establishment of a Law and Order Ministry under the President has been announced. The Secretary to this Ministry, according to reports, is Major General (Retired) Nanda Mallawarachchi, a retired military officer. Maj.Gen. Mallawarachichi is a former Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army. He later became the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia. He […]

INDIA: Villagers forced to get their rations from a PDS shop 11 kilometres away

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the plight of tribal villagers residing in a forest village named Dhurkuch, Gram Panchayat Kota in Jawa block of district Rewa in Madhya Pradesh from Panchsheel Sewa Sansthan,a local voluntary organization. Sansthan found that there is no Public Distribution Shop (PDS) shop, earmarked […]

SRI LANKA: Torture and Trauma (A Book Review)

Review of Narrative of Justice: told through stories of torture victims, 400 cases of torture from Sri Lanka, By Basil Fernando, published in 2013 by the Asian Human Rights Commission. My first impression was that I was overwhelmed because of the sheer number of cases and the diversity of the ways in which people were […]

SRI LANKA: Lawyers for the 12th respondent, Hon. Vijitha Herath, replies to the Attorney General’s petition relating to the impeachment case

The lawyers for the 12th Respondent, a members of the Select Committee of Parliament appointed with regard to the charges against the Chief Justice, the Hon. Vijitha Herath, have filed their written submissions opposing the Attorney General’s appeal relating to the Court of Appeal judgement which ordered the quashing of the findings of the Parliamentary Select […]

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව : ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය ජනතාවට මාරු කිරීම — Asian Human Rights Commission

ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් English වැලිවේරිය, රතුපස්වල ඝාතන විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය තියුණු නාභිගත වීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ. හමුදාවේ කි‍්‍රයාවන් මගින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වීම හෝ සෙසු ආකාරයකින් බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය දැන් ජනතාව මතට මාරු කර තිබේ. මේ අතර හමුදාව විසින් සිදුකළ මේ හිංසාවන්ගේ ඇසින් දුටු සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වීම හේතුවෙන් […]

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව : ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය ජනතාවට මාරු කිරීම

ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් English වැලිවේරිය, රතුපස්වල ඝාතන විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය තියුණු නාභිගත වීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ. හමුදාවේ කි‍්‍රයාවන් මගින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වීම හෝ සෙසු ආකාරයකින් බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය දැන් ජනතාව මතට මාරු කර තිබේ. මේ අතර හමුදාව විසින් සිදුකළ මේ හිංසාවන්ගේ ඇසින් දුටු සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වීම හේතුවෙන් […]

SRI LANKA: Lawyers for the 12th respondent, Hon. Vijitha Herath, replies to the Attorney General’s petition relating to the impeachment case

The lawyers for the 12th Respondent, a members of the Select Committee of Parliament appointed with regard to the charges against the Chief Justice, the Hon. Vijitha Herath, have filed their written submissions opposing the Attorney General’s appeal relating to the Court of Appeal judgement which ordered the quashing of the findings of the Parliamentary Select […]

SRI LANKA: Torture and Trauma (A Book Review)

Review of Narrative of Justice: told through stories of torture victims, 400 cases of torture from Sri Lanka, By Basil Fernando, published in 2013 by the Asian Human Rights Commission. My first impression was that I was overwhelmed because of the sheer number of cases and the diversity of the ways in which people were […]

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව : ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය ජනතාවට මාරු කිරීම

වැලිවේරිය, රතුපස්වල ඝාතන විසින් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය තියුණු නාභිගත වීමකට ලක් කර තිබේ. හමුදාවේ කි‍්‍රයාවන් මගින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වීම හෝ සෙසු ආකාරයකින් බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා ඔප්පු කිරීමේ භාරය දැන් ජනතාව මතට මාරු කර තිබේ. මේ අතර හමුදාව විසින් සිදුකළ මේ හිංසාවන්ගේ ඇසින් දුටු සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වීම හේතුවෙන් ජනතාව භීතියෙන් ජීවත් වෙති. සියලූ අපරාධ […]

PAKISTAN: A student leader was extrajudicially killed in a fake encounter conducted by the state intelligence agencies

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the extrajudicial killing of a student leader by persons from the intelligence agencies. A student leader, Afzal Panhwar, who remained in the custody of the security agencies for one year, was again arrested and within some hours he was shot dead by […]

PAKISTAN: Casualties of violence remained as high as 572 died and 642 were injured during the month of July

During the month of July, casualties of violence remained as high as 1214 (deaths 572 and injuries 642). Some new trends in military operations and drone attacks also surfaced. Acts of violence kept demoralizing the population at large, and humiliating the state security apparatus (Dera Ismail Khan jail break or attack on the ISI office […]

SRI LANKA: Shifting the burden of proof on the people

The killings at Rathupaswela, Weliweriya have brought into sharp focus the crisis of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The burden of proving the allegation of being killed or otherwise seriously injured by the actions of the military has now been shifted to the people. Meanwhile the people live in fear of reprisals due […]

PAKISTAN: The AHRC welcomes the stay on executions

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the postponement of the scheduled executions of condemned prisoners in Pakistan which were to take place from August 20, 2013. A temporary stay on the hangings was announced on Sunday, August 18 in response to protests from outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari and various international human rights organizations. This […]

SRI LANKA: Shifting the burden of proof on the people — Asian Human Rights Commission

Sinhalese The killings at Rathupaswela, Weliweriya have brought into sharp focus the crisis of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The burden of proving the allegation of being killed or otherwise seriously injured by the actions of the military has now been shifted to the people. Meanwhile the people live in fear of reprisals […]

SOUTH KOREA: The authorities’ conducts to take DNA samples from those Yongsan displaced persons and SSangyong workers and to establish and use a database containing said samples are constituted the serious violation of the constitutionally protected human

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following joint statement from Catholic Human rights Committee, Jinbonet: Korean Progressive Network, Korean Metal Workers’ Union’s Ssangyong Motors Branch, MINBYUN: Lawyers for a Democratic Society and Truth-finding Commission on Yongsan Disaster in South Korea. (Please click here for Korean) For further questions or media inquiries, please contact: MINBYUN: […]

SRI LANKA: Two brothers were arrested, tortured and detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division and remain in remand as they cannot pay the amount demanded in bribes by the TID officers.

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Ganeshan Pushparaj and his brother Mr. Ganeshan Govi of Odinton Estate, Lindula, Thalawakalle in Nuwara Eliya District have been detained for more than 4 years and 10 months by the Terrorist Investigation Division. They were tortured in detention and have been laid […]