Threats and intimidation

SRI LANKA: Thinking with colors: Young persons kidnapped and killed inside a navy camp in Sri Lanka

The picture produced below shows how the kidnapping for ransom and killing of 11 young person’s inside a navy camp has become a problem troubling the conscience of the entire nation. This incident had a profound effect on the minds of everyone. On the one hand, there is a demand for justice. This demand has […]

ASIA: Civic Space – lessons learnt from three Asian countries – Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

We are sharing a short video commentary on the context between authoritarianism and democracy in three Asian countries, which are facing unprecedented struggles between the forces which represented authoritarianism of various forms and those of the opposition who are making extraordinary efforts to transform their societies into democracies based on the rule of law and […]

INDONESIA: A finding report on the allegation of brutality of the authorities in the peaceful public protest on 22 August, 2024

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD) regarding finding report on the allegation of brutality during peaceful public protest in front of the office of the House of Representative (DPR RI).  On Thursday, August 29, 2024. the TAUD announced findings in the handling of the peaceful public protest on […]

BANGLADESH:Moment of hope and a new beginning for Bangladesh

The people of Bangladesh have created an opportunity for themselves by way of a mass intervention in order to oust the rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and as a result, she has fled the country after resigning from her position. The people were mostly led by students and independent movements of people rather […]

INDONESIA: Condemns the Shooting of Human Rights DefenderMr.Yan Christian Warinussy

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional human rights organisation, has received information from the Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform. Based on information from Manokwari, Papua collected by the Coalition, it is known that Yan Christian Warinussy, the Director of the Legal Aid Research, Study and Development Institute (LP3BH), was shot. The case […]

INDONESIA: Initial Findings from the Investigation of AM’s Alleged Torture: Urging Police Professionalism, Transparency and Accountability in Revealing the Truth of theCase

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports the Indonesian Civil Society Anti-Torture Coalition in condemning the acts of torture against a child victim AM (13) and 17 other children. These acts of torture were carried out by the West Sumatra Regional Police’s Directorate of Samapta on June 9, 2024, causing one child victim to die and 17 other victims […]

INDONESIA: CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM DISRUPTED, PROTESTS STIFLED AND REPRESSION IN PAPUA CONTINUES DESPITE UN REVIEW

A Statement from CIVICUS forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission In Indonesia, civic space remains rated as “obstructed”. Among the main concerns are the use of restrictive laws, including defamation provisions against human rights defenders and journalists as well as harassment and threats against them. The authorities have criminalised Papuan activists for their peaceful […]

NEPAL: HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, MEDIA GROUP CHAIR TARGETED TO SILENCE DISSENT WHILE PROTESTS DISRUPTED

A Statement from CIVICUS forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The state of civic space in Nepal is rated as ‘obstructed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Documented violations of fundamental freedoms include arbitrary arrests and the use of excessive force with impunity during protests, as well as the ongoing targeting of journalists, including through harassment, […]

SRI LANKA:Economic, governmental, legal: not three crises but one

(Sharing a link to a video explaining the Sri Lankan crisis of governance, Economy and Rule of Law. This video was prepared as a part of an ongoing discussion on the need of system change) Link to the Video  The purpose of this short article is to point to the need to focus on the […]

PAKISTAN: ACTIVISTS AND JOURNALISTS TARGETED, INCREASED CONTROLS ON ONLINE EXPRESSION AND CRACKDOWN ON PROTESTS

A Statement from CIVICUS forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The CIVICUS Monitor added Pakistan to its watchlist of countries in March 2024, following the repression against the opposition, the censorship of journalists and attacks on peaceful protests around the elections. Other ongoing concerns include the criminalisation, threats and harassment of human rights defenders and the […]

INDONESIA: Case of bullying and the forced dispersal of rosary prayer activities in Tangerang: Stop intolerant behaviour and investigate the perpetrators thoroughly

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to the President of Republic of Indonesia  Mr. Joko Widodo President of the Republic of Indonesia Jl. Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat INDONESIA Tel: +62 21 3458 595 Fax: +62 21 3484 4759 Dear Mr. President:  INDONESIA: Case of bullying and the forced dispersal of […]

INDONESIA:Refuse honour and bring criminal generals to justice

On February 28th, 2024, Indonesian President Joko Widodo awarded the Indonesian Minister of Defense, Mr. Prabowo Subianto the honourary promotion to the rank of General of the Indonesian National Army. A similar title has been given to a number of retired Indonesian National Military officers who once served as Ministers, starting from Mr. Susilo Bambang […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා: තත්කාලීන ලාංකීය සමාජය තුල වදහිසා විරෝධී පනත හා ජීවිතයට ඇති අයිතිය ස්ථානගත කිරීම

1994 දී ලංකාවේනීතිපොතට ඇතුලු වූ වදහිංසා පනත මේවසරේදී අවුරුදු 30ක කාලයක් සනිටුහන් කරයි. මෙතරම් දීර්ඝ කාලයක් ඔස්සේ මේ පනත තුලින් ලාංකීය සමාජය අත්පත් කරගත් ජයග්‍රහණයක් හෝ සාධාරණ භාවයක් දැක ගත හැකිද? වහිංසාව වැලැක්වීම නැමති ජාත්‍යන්තර එකගතාවයේ පදනම වූයේ යුක්තිය හා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කර වීමේදීමුලුමනින්ම බුද්ධිය හා ප්‍රඥාගෝචරත්වය පදනම් කරගත් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කර ගැනීම ස්ථාවර සමාජයක් ඇති කිරීම සදහා අතීෂයින්ම වැදගත් වන්නා වූ සාධකයක් වන බවය. වධහිංසා පනත සාර්ථකද නැද්ද යන්න සලකා බැලිය යුතු වන්නේ එවනි ස්ථාවර සමාජයක් ලංකාව තුල පවතීද යන්න ගැන සලකා බැලීම තුලිනි.  අද ලංකාවේපොදුවේපවතින මතය නම් මෙතරම් අස්ථාවර කාලයක් කොයි කලකදීවත් පැවතී නැති බවය. මේපිළිබදව ප්‍රධානම සාධකය නම් රට පුරාම පැතිර පවතින නිතරම අසන්නට ලැබෙන මිනී මැරුම් හා ඝාතන තර්ජන තුලින් ඇතිකර ඇති භීතියයි.  මිනී මැරුම් පිළිබදව දිනපතාම ඇසෙන්නට ලැබෙනවා පමණක් නොව විවිධාකර වූ ආකාර වලින් ඝාතන සිදුවීමට ඉඩ දෙන වාතාවරණයක්ද දැකගත හැකිය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් බෙහෙත් යැයි පෙන්නුම් කරමින් පාටකල වතුර බරපතල ලෙඩ රෝග ඇති රෝගීන්ට එන්තනත් කිරීම දක්වා මෙම ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය පළල් වී ඇත.ඉමියුනොග්ලොබින් ෂපපමබදටකදඉමකසබ නැමති ඉතා බලවත් ඖෂධය වෙනුවට පාට කල වතුර එන්ත් කිරීම සම්බන්දයෙන් හෙලිදව් වී ඇති කරුනු දැන් ප්‍රසිද්ධ නඩුවකට පවා හේතු ගත වී ඇත.  මේහැර දේශපාලන කරුනු මත වූවත් ව්‍යාපාරික කරුණක් ගැන වූවත් දෂණ හෙළිදරව් කිරීමක් ගැන වූවත් මත්ද්‍රව්‍යය ජාවාරම පිළිබදව විරෝධය පෑමක් වූවත් හුදෙක්ම ආගමික මතවාදයකට ඇතිවන ගැටීමක් වූවත් බොහෝ විට තුඩු දෙන්නේ ඝාතන තර්ජන වලටය.  මෙවනි වාතාවරයක් තුල වදහිංසා පනත අර්ථකථනය කල යුතු වන්නේ සුවිශේෂ සමාජයක පවතින ප්‍රචන්ඩත්වය හා හිංසාකාරී බව පිළිබදව ඇති දැනුවත් කම හා අවබෝධය ඔස්සේය. වධහිංසා පණත දියුණු සමාජයන් තුල යොදා ගනු ලබන්නේ විනයානුකූලව කටයුතු කරන පොලීසියක්, නීත්‍යානුකූලව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ පවත්වන අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ පද්ධතියක්, අපක්ෂපාතී වූ නිතිපති ක්‍රමයක් මෙන්ම ස්වාධීනව කටයුතු කිරීමට ඉඩ ඇති අධිකරණ ක්‍රමයක් පවතිනතාක් දුරටය. එහෙත් මේකිසිදු කොන්දේසියක් පසුගිය කාලය තුල ලාංකීය සමාජය තුල පවතින්නේ නැත.  වදහිංසා ඇතිවීම මෙන්ම ඝාතන සංස්කෘතියේ පසුබිමද ඉහත කී ආයතන වල පවතින බරපතල කඩා වැටීම් හා බද්ද වී ඇත.  මෙම බද්දවීම පිළිබද අවබෝධයෙන් තොරව කොපමණ පැමිණි කලත්, නඩු තීන්දු ලබා ගත්තත් ඒ මගින් සැබෑ සාධාරණයක්වත්, සමාජ ස්ථාවරත්වයක් ගොඩනගා ගැනීමක්වත් කල නොහැකිය.  මේනිසා වදහිංසා පනත පිළිබද 30 සංවත්සරය සනිටුහන් කිරීමේදී අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ ලාංකීය සමාජය තුල වධහිංසාව නොකඩවා පැවැත්මටත්, ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය පළල් වීමටත් යුක්තිය පසදලවා ගැනීම වඩ වඩා අමාරු කාලයක් වීමටත් හේතු වී ඇති රාජ්‍ය ආයතනික ගැටලුව තෝරා බේරාගෙන, හදුනාගෙන ඊට පිළියම් සදහා යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමය.  මේනිසා නීති වෘතිය මෙන්ම යුක්තිය පසදලීමේයෙදෙන සියලුම කාර්යංශ තුලත් සිවිල් සමාජය තුලත් විශේෂයෙන්ම මාධ්‍ය තුලත් පැන නැගිය යුතු වාතාවරණය වන්නේ මෙම අතිෂයින් වැදගත් සමාජ සාකච්ඡාව ඉස්මතු කොට ගෙන ඉදිරියට ගෙය යෑමය.  ඉදිරියේදී එනවාය කියන මැතිවරණ කාලය තුල මෙම වදහිංසා හා ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය පිළිබද ගැටලු වඩ වඩාත් උග්‍ර වනු ඇත. එවනි තත්වයක් යටතේ මෙම සාකච්ඡාව ඉස්මතු කර ගැනීම වඩ වඩාත් කාලෝචිත වන්නේය. 

SRI LANKA:Imprisonment of 5 Years for Non-Arrest of A Suspect – A Good Example to Emulate

By Basil Fernando The sentencing of a former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for giving illegal orders not to arrest a suspect. The reported sentencing of former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Lalith Jayasinghe, for giving illegal orders to prevent the arrest of a person allegedly involved in the shooting which resulted in […]

INDONESIA: Stop violence and protect Rempang residents’ rights

Hong Kong, Thursday 14, 2023 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports 130 Indonesian civil society organisations from the Aceh Province to the Papua Province to put pressure on the Indonesian Government, especially President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), to stop the Rempang Eco City project, stop blockades and evictions, and urge troops to unconditionally release residents of the Rempang Island of Riau Islands who were […]

ASIA: The mind of Junious (A Parable)

Article | Asia | 29-08-2023

By Basil Fernando This story is about Junious. Please do not think that I made a mistake in naming the hero and misspelling Junious for genius. I quite understand some people’s misunderstanding of that sort because an impression has been created and kept for a long time that Junious was in fact the genius. That […]

SRI LANKA: The Arrest of Tharindu Uduwaragedera – Larger questions

By Basil Fernando On the larger questions raised by the arrest of Tharindu Uduwaragedera, a young journalist of very wide reputation. Tharindu Uduwaragedera who was attending a meeting on Friday (28 July) for the purpose of reporting on the meeting was forcibly dragged out of a three-wheeler, grabbed by his hair and roughly manhandled by […]

SRI LANKA:Is contempt of court unlike any other crime?

By Basil Fernando The purpose of the proposed Bill on the Contempt of Court is to criminalise the acts which may be considered to constitute the offence of contempt of court and to punish it. Clearly, this proposed Bill is meant to create offences under the contempt of court and therefore the purpose is to create […]

INDONESIA: Anamicus curiaebriefon the case of Mr. Haris Azhar dan Ms. Fatia Maulidiyanti

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to the Panel Judges: 1. A case register Number No. 202/Pid.Sus/2023/PN Jkt.Tim (Suspect Mr. Haris Azhar) 2. A case register Number. 203/Pid.Sus/2023/PN Jkt.Tim (Suspect: Ms. Fatia Maulidiyanty) Jl. Dr. Sumarno No. 1, RT.7/RW.4, Penggilingan, Kec. Cakung, Kota Jakarta Timur DKI Jakarta -13940 Telp : +622148703788 | Faks […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා:නීතියමතපාලනයහාප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ථවාදීපනත්කෙටුම්පත

බැසිල් ප්‍රනාන්දු නීතියමත පාලනය පිළිබදව වර්ථමාන කාලය තුල ලිය වී ඇති පොත් අතර ඉතාමත් ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් පොතක් වූයේ ටොම් බින්ග්හම් (Tom Bingham) සාමිවරයා විසින් ලියන ලද නීතිය මත පාලනය (The Rule of Law) යන පොතය. එම පොත නීතිය මත පාලනය යන නමින් සිංහලට පරිවර්ථනය කොට ඇත. එම පොතෙහි නීතිය මත පාලනය යන්න පිළිබදව ඇති නිර්වචනයය […]