Rule of law

As young journalists in Sri Lanka we are concerned that the government that silenced one of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups is unable to apprehend the killers of one journalist, the abductors of another, or those who launched violent attacks on media institutions. Today we are not in a position to speak the truth to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt about the imminent threat to lives of thousands of families in the Narmada Valley which encompasses large tracts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh through an urgent action alert issued by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). The NBA has learnt about an impending meeting of the […]

(Hong Kong, 25 January 2013) The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its effort to gain popularity with the fundamentalists, has admitted a petition filed against Islamabad’s ambassador to the United States of America for committing blasphemy by demanding the withdrawal of the death sentence from the blasphemy laws. The petition was filed by a business […]

Before the world, along with Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said Al Said as chief guest, and presided over by the President of India, Honourable Pranab Mukherjee, India will celebrate its Republic Day tomorrow. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates India and the people of this great nation on the 64th year of constituting […]

(Hong Kong, January 24, 2013) Dean Jose Manuel Diokno of the College of Law at De La Salle University will host a lunchtime seminar at the University of Hong Kong from 12:30pm – 1:30pm on “Civic Education During Martial Law in the Philippines and Beyond”.  He will analyse the extent to which civic education was […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about several elderly single women being pushed into starvation in the Ghorabandha village of the Gaibandha district of Rangpur division. Most of these destitute women have been widowed for decades with no family to bank upon and have been forced into begging to ensure […]

Speaking at a function held in Kolkata yesterday, the President of India, Honourable Pranab Mukherjee has asked the country’s judiciary to: “ensure that those who are in the wrong side of the law are dealt with swiftly and effectively to maintain social balance.” Iterating further, Mukherjee said: “though the Indian judiciary has preserved its pre-eminent […]

The systems of government in Asian countries may broadly be described under the following categories: Democratic – the government structure is based on the liberal democratic structure, and the bureaucracy functions with basic laws and rules that are in conformity with this structure; Militaristic – where the basic structure is based on military command and […]

(Hong Kong, January 18, 2013) Dozens of Hong Kong-based migrant workers, including Sri Lankans; migrant and human rights groups, protested today the execution of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan maid, in Saudi Arabia. (Photos courtesy of APMM) Nafeek was executed on January 9 for the death of her employer’s child. The Government of the Kingdom […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) adds its voice to the protests which have been taking place in Bulatawar for several weeks now denouncing the overarching impunity stemming from an extreme state of decay of the rule of law, which allows violence and violations of rights to go unabated and unchecked. The case […]

15 January 2013, 6:03 am We, the undersigned, condemn in the strongest terms the beheading of Rizana Nafeek, the Sri Lankan domestic migrant worker convicted aged 17 in 2005, for the accidental death of an infant, in Saudi Arabia on the morning of 09 January 2013. We are shocked at the decision of Saudi Arabia’s […]

As the Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake left her official residence under duress from the heavy police squad that surrounded her and tried to prevent her from making any statement, she still managed to say a few words reaffirming her innocence and telling that all that she did was according to the law and that […]

This morning, according to reports, the main gates leading to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka remained closed and heavily guarded in order to prevent the Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake from entering in order to continue to function as the legitimate holder of the post of Chief Justice. She has rejected the ouster by […]

(Note: We reproduce below the text of the letter written to the UN High Commissioner and the President of Sri Lanka requesting to cause an inquiry into the verdict and the execution of Rizana Nafeek who was executed in Saudi Arabia on January 9.) The AHRC requests all concerned persons to write to the UN […]

The ensuing debates after the rape in Delhi has thrown up several opinions, some poignantly valid and others ridiculous, about what changes are to be made to the criminal justice process to effectively address the scornful menace of rape and forms of sexual violence in India. An alarmingly large proportion of the population, if the […]

At 2pm today, the Philippines Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging the Constitutionality of the newly approved law, Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10175). The law was approved in September 12, 2012, but the SC issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) after petitions were filed questioning the conformity of the law to the […]

On January 10th 2013, the New Year in Pakistan started with a gruesome bang of a continuing holocaust of sectarian cleansing in which Quetta witnessed 4 bomb blasts targeting Hazara Shias. The death toll of the day was 102 dead and hundreds injured. The day has been labeled as Black Thursday. Ali Dayan Hasan of […]

Today, with the President of Sri Lanka signing the removal notice of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, the 1978 constitution came to be fulfilled. The 1978 constitution is a representation of the conflict between the rule of law and the absolute power of the executive president. The historical circumstances in 1978 […]

An article from The Sunday Times forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission As the sun went down this Friday on barebodied ruffians raucously celebrating Parliament’s spectacularly unjust impeachment of the country’s Chief Justice with crackers and kiribath, judgment fled to brutish beasts and Sri Lanka entered its darkest phrase since independence. This Government with […]

A Statement from the Lawyers Collective, Sri Lanka, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission H.E President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s purported letter of removal has been received by the Chief Justice. The Lawyers Collective states that this removal affects the very foundation of independence of the Judiciary, the Rule of Law and all basic norms of […]