(Hong Kong, December 17, 2007)
The Asian Human Rights Commission annual publication of the Human Rights Report for 2008 on Eleven Asian countries is . The report (314 pages) covers the human rights situation for 2008 in the following countries: Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In all the countries mentioned above there were serious human rights abuses and serious threats to the human security of inhabitants.
In all the countries mentioned above except for the Republic of Korea, torture, illegal arrest, illegal detention and denial of fair trial was a common feature. All these factors arise from the defects of the systems of the administration of justice, which have been impaired due to heavy politicisation and the absence of political will on the part of the governments concerned to invest adequate funding to maintain the systems of administration of justice in order to safeguard the human rights of the citizens. The most dangerous trend is the predominant position achieved by the police who often remain outside the rule of law and are also extremely corrupt. The use of the police for political purposes has generated into a situation in which command responsibility is hardly maintained in many of these countries.
Corruption has spread to the extent of being a serious obstacle to the rule of law and the sustainability of public institutions. Human rights abuses are seriously linked also to various forms of the illegal use of public property for private gain by small groups of politicians, public officers and others.
In some countries forced disappearances, abductions and other forms of summary executions remain serious problems. Among these countries Sri Lanka, Pakistan, several parts of India, particularly the north and the east and the Philippines were prominent. Disappearances are a result of emergency and anti terrorism laws which suspends the operation of normal safeguards available to citizens. Thus, disappearances are the direct result of the impunity guaranteed to the armed forces and the police by the government.
Serious violations of freedom of expression were also a marked feature in all eleven countries. Killing of journalists was also a common feature in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Pakistan. However, serious harassment of journalists and censorship of various forms was experienced in all the countries.
Militarization was also a marked feature in several countries, particularly in Sri Lanka and north east India. Prolonged internal conflicts have made the armed forces as the arbiter in national affairs. Criticism of the military has been severely censored and the military budgets, particularly military budgets and purchases are considered serious national security issues preventing any public discussion. While various terrorist groups have also engaged in gross abuses of human rights by attacks on civilians and the recruitment of children and the like, such abuse has been used by the governments as an excuse to attack the rights of all citizens in all parts of these countries. One of the saddest aspects of these conflicts is the neglect of the displaced persons who are counted in hundreds of thousands. Only lip service is paid to their welfare and security. The consequences of this neglect will bear heavily on the families of these persons for a long time to come.
Many forms of discrimination remain without any progress towards improvements. The discrimination of Dalits in India and Nepal continues without any serious effort on the part of the governments to deal with the issue. Discrimination of women by various modes of extrajudicial killings and punishments, preventing personal choices by women by such means as honour killings and brutal punishments such as live burial continues. The discrimination of the girl child also remains a major issue.
The severe restrictions on human rights are related to the maintenance of extremely high poverty levels and economic hardships on the larger sections of the population. Starvation and malnourishment also remain serious problems. The commercialization of health and education has resulted in the deprivation of basic rights to education and healthcare on a large scale.
Attacks on human rights defenders have become a common feature and propaganda against human rights work has also been intensified. Lawyers engaged in work relating to human rights and anti corruption also became targets of attacks by the governments and other interested parties. The failure to provide protection for the victims of human rights abuses and human rights defenders remains a common feature.
“Taken all together, the human rights situation in these countries is dismal and the governments show little demonstrable will to change the situation. Improvements in the coming years will depend on the efforts of civil society organisations and the free media, said Mr. Basil Fernando, the Executive Director of the Asian Human Rights Commission.
The full report may be found at: http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2008/AHRC2008HRReport-preprint.pdf
