Rule of law

(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 […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 the AHRC is publishing the annual report on the State of Human Rights in South Korea in 2011. The full report is available […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 International Human Rights Day is going to be ‘observed’ in Bangladesh amidst numerous victims facing gross abuses of human rights without an access to legal remedies from the existing criminal justice system. On the eve […]

(Hong Kong, December 07, 2011) On the occasion of the upcoming International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2011, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is launching its annual report on the State of Human Rights in Indonesia in 2011. The full report is available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2011/AHRC-SPR-006-2011/view. In the report, the AHRC witnessed a […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 On the occasion of the 63rd Human Rights Day, the Asian Human Rights Commission is releasing its annual report on the state of human rights protection in Nepal through 2011. The report is available here. Given […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 the AHRC publishes its annual report on the State of Human Rights in Indonesia in 2011. The full report will be made available […]

(Hong Kong, December 1, 2011) Janasansadaya, a well-known human rights organization in Sri Lanka has produced a short interview with Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission. In the interview, the difference between what is now popularly called “law and order” and the concept of the rule of law is explained. In Sri Lanka, […]

Dear friends, Mr. Chulani Thilakarathna, (50) of Ushani Plant Nursary, Dunkannawa, Naththandiya in Putthalam District was severely tortured, illegally arrested and detained by police officers attached to the Marawila Police Station on 17 Octorber 2011. The officers were drunk at the time of the incident and attempted to steal the victim’s motorbike. He was only […]

Dear friends, Ms. E M Premawathi (53) is a widow and the mother of two children. She resides at Alikewela, Heagedara, Marassana in the Kandy District. Premawathi learned that her Brother-in-Law has provided fraudulent documentation showing that he is the lawful owner of the land and house in which she and her teenage daughters reside. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ms. Frederica Sandra Carmela Jansz, editor of the local, English-language newspaper, The Sunday Leader, received sexually violent, anonymous death threats on 27 October 2011. Ms. Frederica is a well-known journalist who has bravely and repeatedly called for governmental transparency and accountability. She was […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained details of a new complaint lodged by a group of farmers against the construction of another caustic soda factory in Kanma Township of central Burma. The factory project is an investment of an army-owned holding company. After a group of farmers in a neighbouring village […]

Dear friends, Mr. M.M. Kushantha Janaka Herath was illegally arrested, detained and severely tortured by officers of the Wattegama Police Station on 30 October 2011. Kushan was on his way home when he was stopped by three police officers who ordered him to submit to a search. Kushan voluntarily submitted showing the officers, who he […]

Dear friends, Mr. Sarath Keerthirathna (40) of No: 130, Nilgalla, Udispaththuwa in the Kandy District was illegally arrested and severely tortured by the police officers attached to the Ranagala Police Station on 15 October 2011. Sarath was arrested while he was at his sister’s house by two heavily inebriated police officers in civilian clothes and […]

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena  Central to any discussion on accountability in Sri Lanka is recognition of the fact that what happened in Nandikadal in May 2009 during the last stages of the fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and government troops needs to be part of a wider and more inclusive process of justice in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has once again received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation working in West Bengal, concerning the kidnapping of a girl, allegedly for child trafficking and enforced prostitution. The parents of the girl when approached the Swarupnagar Police Station of North 24 Parganas, it is reported that […]

The Ansar Burney Trust announces that it will take responsibility for providing medical treatment to the victim for the safe delivery of the child and their protection In the case of 16-year-old Uzma Ayub, who was kept in illegal detention and repeatedly raped for a period of one year, the Pakistan army is keeping mysteriously […]

Duminda Silva is above the law. This is not due to any constitutional status that he has, as for example, the President of Sri Lanka who is by virtue of article 35 of the Constitution, above the law. In the case of Duminda Silva he is above the law only because the president or his […]

Dear friends, A 14-year-old school child, Uve Adikarige Shashendra Sampath of Horana Thakshila Primary School was severely tortured by a teacher on 20 October 2011. This assault has happened despite the assurance of the government that violence against school children would be closely monitored. This case is yet another illustration of the fact that the […]