Latest News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-314-2008  December 11, 2008 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Further politicisation of the Attorney General’s Department expected The...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an incident in which a girl was abducted by a staff of Civil Defense named Mr. Sanjith on November 16, 2008. S...

(Hong Kong, December 10, 2008) The message of the Asian Human Rights Commission on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is now available at YouTube. The director of the AH...

The AHRC is publishing its 2008 annual human rights report on Sri Lanka. A pre-publication version of the report can be downloaded at http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2008/AHRC-SPR-017-2008-SriLan...

As the world marks the 60th anniversary of the on 10 December, in a report released today Reporters Without Borders looks at the record of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the main UN body conce...

(Hong Kong, December 8, 2008) “There is no getting away from the fact that despite 60 years being passed after the UDHR, the actual enjoyment of human rights in most countries of Asia is even mu...

The celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR is a grim reminder that even after 60 years of the adoption of this great declaration the gap between what is declared and what is actually achieved...

Government Abuses Anti-Terror Laws to Muzzle the Media December 2, 2008 The Sri Lankan government is shamefully using antiterrorism laws to silence peaceful critics in the media. This is no way for a ...

A statement by the Rt. Rev. Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo The recent killing of a Hindu Priest, Sivasri Subramanyan Kamalraj of the Mariamma Kovil in Batticalao, is a tragic and senseless act ...

Lanka-e-News reported today, December 5, 2008, that a Supreme Court bench consisting of the Chief Justice and Justices Shirani Thilakawardane and K. Sripavan, criticised the Attorney General’s D...

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an incident in which two young men were harassed by air force officers attached to the Koggala Air Force Bas...

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Kegalle jailors illegally detained a man. They asked for money to release him even though there was an order of r...

Negombo is just a short distance from Colombo and is far away from the north and the east. However, the extent of the lawlessness that has spread does not reflect that distance. The law virtually does...

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the policemen responsible for the death of a man while in their custody eight months ago have not been charged, despi...

The following resolution proposed by the president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Mr. W. Dayaratne, was unanimously adopted by the Bar Council at a meeting on November 22, 2008. WHEREAS, in the ...

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that police assaulted two men at the Kalubowila Junction on November 10. As a result of the assault, one man’s spinal v...

In the No Fact Zone of Sri Lanka flowers are blooming, the country is flowing with milk and honey and the old paradise still remains the old paradise. Internally displaced people are all smiling and e...

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Embargoed to 18.30 GMT 19 November 2008 The Sri Lankan government must immediately end its policy of blocking humanitarian aid needed to reach an estimated 300,000 ...

(New York, November 24, 2008) – The Sri Lankan government should take immediate steps to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the country’s Eastern Province, where there has been...

We assembled jurists, lawyers and legal academics from throughout Asia gathered in Hong Kong on 17-21 November 2008 for the Fourth Regional Consultation on an Asian Charter for the Rule of Law note wi...