Rule of law

AHRC declares a week of concern for threats against the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka The Asian Human Rights Commission alerts all concerned persons in and outside of Sri Lanka to the possibility that a five days from now there may not be a judiciary that can exercise judicial power with independence in […]

January 8, 2013: The Beginning of Sri Lanka’s Year Zero On the 8th of January, the President of Sri Lanka will address a proposal to parliament to remove the incumbent Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, based on a report by a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). The entire PSC process has been declared unconstitutional and null and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is greatly aggrieved to learn of the tragic death of Phyo Wai Aung in Rangoon, Burma during the early morning hours of 4 January 2013. Phyo Wai Aung was an aspiring young electrical engineer with a loving family when in April 2010 police arrested him at home late one […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 19-year-old tea vender was sodomised and poisoned, and that he later died in hospital. The rapists threw him in the mud after sodomising him, intending that he should die on the roadside. Police have still not arrested any perpetrator; instead, they have […]

The government’s claim is that the case against the Chief Justice is an open and shut case, a foolproof case. It claims that the charges are extremely grave and that the evidence possessed by the government is monumental and black and white. If this is in fact the case, then the government has vast political […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that military units have bombarded more than a dozen villages in three districts of Balochistan based on information about the presence of a guerilla fighter fighting for the independence of Balochistan. Independent sources claim that more than 50 persons, including women and children, were […]

In a morning programme on SLBC today (29th December) Minister Rajitha Senaratne was interviewed. Here are some of the basic points from what he stated in this interview: That the independence of the judiciary recognized within the 1978 constitution is only for the purpose of hearing cases; citing articles of the constitution, he took time […]

Tamils living in the North and East have a complained of the loss of all their rights. Most people in the South ignored these complaints. Some even said that such deprivations are punishments for what the LTTE was. The assumption was that such treatment would not be extended to the South. However this has proved […]

An article from The Sunday Times forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission This week, newspaper reports quoted Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother accusing foreign elements of ‘using the judiciary to destabilise Sri Lanka’ (Daily Mirror, December 29th 2012). This is a classic instance of doublespeak. It is abundantly clear that, […]

“The court system is skewed against ordinary folk,” says Malinda Seneviratne, writing a comment on my last article. His argument is that the people will not defend the courts as the court system is skewed against the people. However, people do have a reason to defend even the highly inadequate and problem ridden justice system […]

As the joy of Christmas dawned worldwide from Manila in the east to Managua in the west, and places in between, the spirit celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace bypassed Pakistan. Most of the country was distracted by the frenzy of a cricket match against rival India, while its tiny Christian population was […]

When the impeachment proposal was announced, the immediate reaction of many was that the outcome was pre-determined as the government has a two thirds majority in Parliament (acquired as this was even by foul means). It was therefore predicted that this would be the end of the matter. There will be rituals, like the PSC […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was burned alive by an enraged mob while he was in the custody of the police, held on the charge of blasphemy. The man was taken into the custody of the police and was kept in a police station overnight. The […]

The construction of a government that prevents one person becoming the prey of another can be said to be the aim of constitutionalism. Ever since Montesquieu, the greatest of political thinkers and statesmen have struggled to develop principles to achieve this aim of preventing citizens becoming prey of rulers who rule not for the purpose […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Sindh provincial government has not taken any action against police officers who killed two young persons in a police encounter to settle personal issues with a high ranking police officer. The government has also closed down the inquiry that it promised through […]

The inaction of the Laotian Government with regard to the enforced disappearance of Mr. Sombath Somphone on December 15th is worrying. The Asian Human Rights Commission joins the request made by civil society groups and the diplomatic groups inside Laos, and echoed by numerous international groups and institutions, including the European Union and the United […]

We, the undersigned note with extreme concern, the proceedings related to the impeachment hearing of the first woman Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Banadaranayake by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). Any hearing, regardless of the person, must adhere to principles of natural justice and rule of law. In the case of the Chief Justice all those […]

เผยแพร่วันที่ 17 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2555 ใบแจ้งข่าว เมื่อวันที่  17 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2555 องค์กรด้านสิทธิมนุษยชนได้ส่งหนังสือร้องเรียนเรื่อง  การตรวจเก็บดีเอ็นเอชาวบ้านของเจ้าหน้าที่ทหารโดยอำนาจกฎอัยการศึก ไปยังแม่ทัพภาคที่ 4 ผู้อำนวยการกองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายในภาคสี่  เลขาธิการศูนย์อำนวยการบริหารจังหวัดชายแดนภาคใต้   นายกรัฐมนตรี ผู้อำนวยการกองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายใน (กอรมน.) และ คณะกรรมการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งชาติ ระบุว่าขอให้ยุติการตรวจเก็บดีเอ็นเอชาวบ้านของเจ้าหน้าที่ทหารโดยอำนาจกฎอัยการศึกเป็นการละเมิดสิทธิมนุษยชนขั้นพื้นฐาน เมื่อวันที่ 16 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2555 ที่อำเภอไม้แก่น  เวลา 8.00น. ถึง 17.00 น. มีปฎิบัติการของเจ้าหน้าที่ทหาร ไม่ทราบสังกัด แต่ทราบว่ามาจากค่ายอิงคยุทธฯ ได้ดำเนินเรียกตัวชายอายุตั้งแต่ 16 ปี ถึง 35 ปี ที่เดินทางผ่านพื้นที่อำเภอไม้แก่น  และได้บังคับให้ขึ้นรถของเจ้าหน้าที่ไปที่ว่าการอำเภอไม้แก่น ซึ่งมีพื้นที่จัดไว้สำหรับการตรวจเก็บดีเอ็นเอของบุคคลดังกล่าว   รวมทั้งมีเจ้าหน้าที่อีกจำนวนหนึ่ง สนธิกำลังระหว่างเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจทหารฝ่ายปกครอง เข้าไปในหมู่บ้านเพื่อนำตัวชายอายุ 16 ปี ถึง 35 ปี ในพื้นที่ตำบลไทรทอง […]

For immediate release on 17 December 2012 On 17 December 2012, human rights organizations submitted a letter of petition concerning the invoking of Martial Law to impose DNA profiling by military officers in the Southern Border Provinces to the Army Area Region 4 Commander, Secretary General of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased that Leila de Lima, secretary of the Department of Justice (DoJ), has recommended to President Benigno Aquino III the granting of a “conditional pardon” to the Abadilla Five. The Abadilla Five: Lenido Lumanog, Augusto Santos, Cesar Fortuna, Joel and Rameses de Jesus, are serving terms of life […]