Rule of law

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Head of Bukittinggi District Court Mr. Hirdin Alamsyah Head of Bukittinggi District Court Jl. Veteran No. 219A Kota Bukittinggi, Sumatra Barat INDONESIA Tel: +62 7523 4361 Fax: +62 7523 4362 Email: pn_bukittinggi@yahoo.co.id Dear Mr. Alamsyah, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from […]

The AHRC releases today the 17th Episode, of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHaCNO_VGRY) In this week’s programme, we bring you stories from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal and in our segment, Voices of Survivors, we talk to a survivor from Indonesia. In a special feature from India we talk about India’s politics and the violence […]

(Hong Kong, February 6, 2014) On January 14, the Court of Appeals (CA), Fifth Division, has concluded that Rolly Panesa, a 48-year-old security guard, could not possibly be Benjamin Mendoza, a leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), rejecting the claim of the police and soldiers as justification for his arrest. In its press release, […]

The AHRC releases today the 16th Episode, of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup.  In this week’s programme we bring you the following stories from across Asia; In the news from Kerala, India, fundamental questions are raised about the police participating in a traditional religious procession. The AHRC speaks to activists in Thrissur, Kerala, to explain […]

In an exclusive interview with Nilantha Ilangamuwa, the editor of Torture – Asian and Global Perspectives, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said, “We apply the law without distinction, fear or favour. We follow the mandate that has been given to us under the Rome Statute. Regrettably, often the lack of full […]

නිදහස් දින පණිවුඩය සිය නිදහසේ සිට වසර 66 ක් ආපස්සට සිතන රටක් වශයෙන්, ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව නිදහසේ කිසිදු අභිලාෂයක් ළඟා කර ගැනීමට අසමත් වූ ජාතියක් ලෙසට එක`ගතාවයක් තිබේ. මෙහිදී කාටත් පෙනී යන බිහිසුණු දෙය වන්නේ රටේ සිදුවන ඉතා විශාල සංඛ්‍යාවක් වූ අපරාධයන් ය. එහි ප‍්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙසට ජනතාව ජීවත් වන්නේ භීතියෙනි. රාජ්‍යය විසින් තමන් ව ආරක්ෂා කරතියි […]

Dear friends,  We wish to share with you the following statement from United Against Torture – Philippines. Asian Human Rights Commission  Hong Kong ————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-FST-011-2014 February 4, 2014 A Statement from United Against Torture (UATC) – Philippines forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission PHILIPPINES: “Wheel of torture” symbolizes culture of torture […]

Independence Day Message As the country thinks back on the 66 years since its independence, there is unanimous agreement that the nation has failed to achieve any of the aspirations of independence. What is most glaringly horrendous is the vast numbers of crimes that are taking place. As a consequence, people are living in fear […]

Letter from Prashant Rahi on Imprisonment and Toruture, and Appeal for Campaign Against UAPA – See more at: http://sanhati.com/articles/9031/#sthash.1yVgsvrX.dpuf, January 29, 2014 Dated : January 07, 2014 Dear friends, Heart-felt greetings at the onset of yet another tumultuous years of struggle for civil and democratic rights, which are increasingly threatened the world over by police atrocities […]

The Standing Committee on Rule of Law of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, condemns the action that is being taken by the Urban Development Authority to illegally evict families residing at Wanathamulla, Borella without resort to the law on acquisition of private property.  What is of deep concern is the use of army personal […]

Press Statement January 29, 2013 Reference: Cristina “Tinay” Palabay, Secretary General, 0917-3162831 – Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580 CA decision strengthens anti-torture charges against military/police torturers of security guard Panesa http://www.karapatan.org/CA+decision+strengthens+anti-torture+charges+against+military/police+torturers+of+security+guard+Panesa “The recent resolution of the Court of Appeals denying the motion for the re-arrest of security guard Rolly Panesa strengthens the anti-torture case he […]

The discovery of a ‘torture wheel’ “inside a private subdivision in Laguna,” which is under the control of intelligence officers in Biñan, Laguna, where detainees arrested for illegal drugs are tortured and held, drew outrage as to how the police conduct its investigation into crimes. The “torture wheel” was discovered by the Commission on Human Rights […]

In his remarkable writings, Orwell reminded us as to how the Ministry of War was represented as the Ministry of Peace. Such coinage of words to mean the opposite of reality is part of the mischief in introducing repression in place of freedom. We have occasion to remember Orwell’s words of warning when reading about […]

The Friday Forum 2, Greenlands Avenue, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka E-Mail; chandraj111@gmail.com Telephone; 0773634444   Fax; 2504181 PRESS RELEASE 27th January 2014. There has been, in recent times, public discussion in regard to whether our country is moving towards an authoritarianism that undermines democratic governance. The President, Ministers and government spokespersons have consistently denied this allegation. They refer in particular to the […]

For Freedom, Justice and Love – My Closing Statement to the Court Xu Zhiyong, 22 January 2014 This is Xu Zhiyong’s closing statement on January 22, 2014, at the end of his trial. According to his lawyer, he had only been able to read “about 10 minutes of it before the presiding judge stopped him, […]

The AHRC releases today the 15th Episode, of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundupwith special reports from Cambodia. In this week’s programme we bring you the following stories from across Asia; In Cambodia four persons were killed and many others wounded after police opened fire at protestors demanding an increase of the minimum wage. The AHRC […]

Maya Sarki was beaten, smeared with black soot, and garlanded with used shoes and slippers before being paraded in the village on 21 July 2013. She had to go through this ordeal merely for mistakenly blaming a man for an attempt to rape her. Maya apologized to Jivan Bhetwal, a local non-Dalit man for mistakenly […]

The UN and international human rights organisations must send fact finding missions to probe the illegal disposal of Baloch people in mass graves The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses shock and deep concern over the discovery of mass graves in Balochistan; it is suspected that these graves are of Baloch missing persons who were […]

Introduction The term sovereignty is frequently confronted with hostile claims. Human Right and Anti Corruption Movements are often challenged by various groups with different notions and ideologies on sovereignty.  The purpose of this brief article is to examine some of  the legal issues with reference to the concept of sovereignty in a global political context, […]

Under the Emergency Decree on Government Administration in a State of Emergency (2005), the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra decreed a State of Emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas on January 22, 2014. The Emergency Decree gives blanket powers to state actors to take a wide range of actions to resolve the State of […]