AHRC News

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PAKISTAN: Ordinance gagging media is unconstitutional and against all international norms and standards

President Pervez Musharraf has handed unprecedented powers to the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), allowing it to seize the broadcast or distribution service equipment of television and ra...

SRI LANKA: Abductions depict the insanity generated by absence of rule of law

Abductions, killings and robbery have become regular incidents in Sri Lanka. The telltale symptoms of a broken down rule of law and a system that has failed to address it. The Asian Human Rights Commi...

PAKISTAN: Judicial subservience must be ended without further bloodshed

The judicial system in Pakistan is very weak and can not deliver justice to the people. The weakness of the judiciary can be blamed on the continuous interference by successive governments, in particu...

CAMBODIA: The absence of the rule of law aggravating the human rights situation in the country

Under the international peace agreements concluded in 1991 to end a protracted war in the country as well as under its own constitution, Cambodia has undertaken to ensure the respect for and observanc...

SRI LANKA: Serious Concerns Affecting Sri Lanka’s Judiciary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 31, 2007 AL-012-2007 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Fifth session A Written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre, supported by the Law and Society Trust, Sri Lanka SR...

INDIA: Widespread corruption in the Public Food Distribution System causing starvation deaths

The Prime Minister of India in his foreword in the ‘Report to The People’ dated May 22, 2007, claims: “In this 60th year of independence, the country should have the satisfaction of ...

THAILAND: The judiciary is the real loser

On 30 May 2007 Thailand’s senior judges participated in a farce that was not of their making but has, thanks to their acquiescence to the country’s military regime, been made to appear one...

SRI LANKA: Democratic activists from Cambodia and Pakistan write to the leader of the JHU on the issue of dictatorship

Both of us who are the authors of this letter are from Cambodia and Pakistan, two countries that have witnessed the bitterest lessons of dictatorship. We were shocked and saddened to see a statement i...

PAKISTAN: AHRC condemns the death threats to Karachi journalists and calls for inquiries

On Tuesday, May 29, 2007, three senior journalists received death threats in the city of Karachi, Sindh province. Envelopes containing live bullets were found attached to the driver’s side of the win...

SRI LANKA: An Open Letter to the JSC regarding the Gampaha Magistrate’s order of justifiable homicide regarding the killing of two suspects in the Delgoda family massacre case

Mr. Suhada K. Gamalath – Secretary  Judicial Service Commission Superior Court Complex Colombo 12 Sri Lanka Fax: + Fax: 94 11 2320785 Dear Mr. Gamalath: SRI LANKA: An Open Letter to the JSC reg...

SRI LANKA: Strengthening of the policing institution and not acting by ‘hook or by crook’ is the solution to lawlessness

The killing of five members of a single family at Delgoda over a land dispute, a subsequent mob attack in which three houses in the neighbourhood were burned, followed by the shooting of two alleged s...

CAMBODIA: Code of ethics for judges will not be effective without compliance mechanisms

The Supreme Council of the Magistracy (SCM) of Cambodia, the supreme judicial body governing the judiciary, should be commended for having recently adopted a code of ethics for judges. The adoption of...

INDIA: What is the difference between Chhattisgarh and Kerala?

Chhattisgarh and Kerala are two states in India. Chhattisgarh is a newly formed state compared to Kerala. Chhattisgarh and Kerala have nothing much in common. For example, the Chief Justice of India i...

SRI LANKA: The AHRC Open Letter to the Honourable Speaker and the Members of Parliament calling for a parliamentary debate on rule of law issues

Mr. W.N.J. Lokubandara The Honourable Speaker Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Sri Lanka Fax: +94 11 2777564 To the Honourable Speaker and all Honourable Members of the Parliament of ...

ASIA: Courts cannot allow bullshitting with justice

(A comment on the Indian Supreme Court judgement on the Best Bakery Case) –Basil Fernando, May 2007 …[B]ullshitters, although they represent themselves as being engaged simply in conveying...

INDONESIA: It is not “MALTREATMENT UNTIL DEATH” but “TORTURED TO DEATH”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-106-2007 May 23, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission INDONESIA: It is not “MALTREATMENT UNTIL DEATH” but “TORTURED TO DEATH” On 14 Ma...

PAKISTAN: Government must not allow violence to disrupt the address of the suspended Chief Justice to the Supreme Court Bar Association

The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that the suspended Chief Justice, Mr. Iftehkar Chaudhry, will address the members of (SCBA) on May 26, 2007 in the premises of the Supreme Court, Islamaba...

SRI LANKA: An epidemic of lawlessness

After observing the situation of the rule of law in Sri Lanka for several years and meticulously observing recent developments, the Asian Human Rights Commission is compelled to announce that what Sri...

INDONESIA: A wish list for the new Attorney General

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) was happy to note that a new person has been appointed to the position of the Attorney General in Indonesia. This comes as a sigh of relief for the victims and...

INDONESIA: Victory in Munir’s civil suit tempered by lack of further investigation

There have been further developments concerning the death of prominent human rights lawyer Munir Said Thalib on board a flight of Indonesia’s national carrier on September 7, 2004. Munir died of...