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In response to the calls for proposals from the public for the 2016 Budget, by the Ministry of Finance, Sri Lanka, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) submitted proposals calling for adequate fin...

We are presenting a discussion held on the ‘Subha Udesanak” (Good Morning) Programme, on Rupavahini with Mr Basil Fernando, Director of Policy and Programmes, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong K...

The weekly Times column, “Focus on Rights” by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, in the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, on 30 August 2015, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Kishali Pinto Jayawardena...

The double defeat suffered by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Presidential Election of 8 January 2015 and in the Parliamentary Elections concluded on August 17, hopefully, marks the end of a...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a 17 year old young man. His grandmother was missing and later found dead, floating in the Maussakele Reservoir ne...

With the exhumation of Wasim Thajudeen’s body, and the start of the reinvestigation into the case a large body of information has been placed before the public by various sources. Therefore, it woul...

An article written by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene and published in The Sunday Times forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Deaths of innocents in Sri Lanka have had a long and terrible history. ...

Next Monday, 10 August 2015, the body of the well-known rugby player and Havelock’s Captain, Wasim Thajudeen, will be exhumed on the orders of the Colombo Additional Magistrate. The Magistrate made ...

A Statement from the Friday Forum forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The country is about to face another decisive Parliamentary election shaping our political future. The Friday Forum wis...

Yesterday, the CID filed a report at the Magistrates Court of Colombo, seeking to re-open criminal proceedings regarding the alleged murder of the rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Wasim, who was a well k...

The Prime Minister’s announcement for the need of a new constitution, one that will be in keeping with those found in developed countries, is quite welcome. The 1978 Sri Lankan Constitution is primi...

The Asian Human Rights Commission reproduces below the full text of a circular issued on 3rd July 2015 by the Director General of Police of our neighbouring Indian state of Kerala. It announces a his...

These are crucial days for the selection and submission of party candidates for the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections to be held on 17th August 2015. This is a moment at which the nation has the ri...

On 23 June 2015, the Negombo High Court judge M.Z. Razeen found Sub Inspector Suresh Gunaratne and one of his assistants guilty of murdering Gerald Mervin Perera in November 2004. The two policemen ha...

An article from The Sunday Times, Colombo forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena As the year winds to its mid-term, the January 2015 consensus for a better Sri Lan...

by Basil Fernando Problem There has been much discussion on violence as a result of cultural, ethnic, religious, social, and economic factors, but hardly any on violence caused by failures of the just...

( June 16, 2015 – Hong Kong ) We are sharing with you, the most recent publication of the AHRC, entitled: Deterioration of the Legal Intellect in Sri Lanka – A Miraculous Cure is Possible. I...

By Basil Fernando In this series of short essays I have attempted to demonstrate the terrible situation of institutions of justice- police, prosecutors and the judiciary- through some samples. I have ...

by Basil Fernando In this article, the “justice system” refers to the police, the prosecution (Attorney General’s Department), and the judicial institutions, as separate entities and as a collec...

by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena On the 9th of January 2015, the people of Sri Lanka astounded themselves and many others in the world. An authoritarian ruling family cabal which had ruthlessly stripped ...