Forwarded Press Release

From: HRW Asia <asia@hrw.org> Date: 2008/12/15 Subject: Sri Lanka: Tamil To: HRW Asia <asia@hrw.org> For Immediate Release Forced Recruitment, Restrictions on Movement Put Lives at Risk (New York, December 15, 2008) – Sri Lanka’s separatist Tamil Tigers are subjecting ethnic Tamils in their northern stronghold, the Vanni, to forced recruitment, abusive forced labor, and restrictions […]

Reporters Without Borders deplores the latest cases of government censorship of international and local news media. In the past few days, the BBC World Service has been jammed by the state-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) and one of the country’s most outspoken newspapers, the Sunday Leader, has been forbidden to refer to the president’s […]

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 government that claims to be a rights-respecting democracy to act. (New York, December 3, 2008) – The Sri Lankan government should immediately […]

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 displaced people in the Wanni region of northern Sri Lanka, Amnesty International said today. Thousands of people displaced by the conflict between the Liberation Tigers […]

The relatives of the April 28th, 2004 incident will submit a complaint letter to the president of the Lawyer’s Council of Thailand on Saturday 22nd, 2008 at CS Pattani Hotel. During the April 28th incident (Kruesae Incident) groups of young men simultaneously attacked 11 police and government posts throughout three provinces in the deep south […]

J.S. Tissainayagam, senior journalist who is on trial before the High Court has been moved from the remand prison to the magazine prison in Colombo on November 18. No reasons have been given for this sudden move. Tissainayagam who appeared in courts on the 18th nor his lawyers were aware of this move. He now […]

Five United Nations experts* strongly condemned severe convictions and the unfair trials of prisoners of conscience in Myanmar. Following one year of arbitrary detention, dozens of individuals who had been arrested in connection with peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar last year, are since August 2008 being tried by courts. The closed-door hearings are being held inside […]

Data of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) shows that 64 human rights defenders were at risk from state and non-state actors during the period of 16 July to 16 October. It was found that rights of the human rights defenders was violated by the CPN-M and its fraternal organizations, other political parties and various armed […]

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government pressure that led to the debate programme “Ira Anduru Pata” being cut short as it was being broadcast live on the evening of 4 November on state TV station Rupavahini. It ended a discussion of a new broadcasting law by three guests, including Free Media Movement convener Uvindu Kurukulasuriya. […]

A Press Release from forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) SRI LANKA: Statement of (The International press freedom mission consists of the following organisations): International Federation of Journalists International Media Support International News Safety Institute International Press Institute Reporters Without Borders 25 to 29 October 2008 The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri […]

Though the concept of human rights was now universally accepted, Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, today warned that ill treatment was still “widespread”.  Indeed, he could not say that conditions of detainees had improved at all in the 60 years since the Universal Declaration […]

SOURCE: Free Media Movement (FMM), Colombo (FMM/IFEX) – The Free Media Movement (FMM) registers is deep disquiet over the indictment of the General Secretary of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), Mr. Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, by the Kelaniya University. Mr. Tennakoon, who is a staff member at the university, was indicted on 6 October […]

(Sorry for cross posting, Chinese message below 中文在下) Dear all, A number of organizations and individuals, including the Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor are initiating a signature campaign to call for the complete abolition of the injustice levy in respect of foreign domestic workers. We would like to invite […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is forwarding two releases by Sri Lankan organisations on the matter of the grenade attack on the residence of senior lawyer, Mr. J.C. Weliamuna Sri Lanka: Breakdown of Law and Order Media Release by Women’s Organisations and Networks A number of concerned women’s groups and networks join other organisations and […]

The Sri Lankan Parliament should reject, through a vote of no confidence, the membership of Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, otherwise known as Karuna, who is alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Karuna was sworn into Parliament this morning, 7 October, as a United Party Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Member of Parliament through the national […]

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) strongly condemns the grenade attack on 27 September against prominent Sri Lankan human rights lawyer, J.C Weliamuna, and calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to launch a prompt, independent, impartial and transparent investigation. At around 11.30 pm on the 27 September a grenade exploded on Mr. Weliamuna’s balcony […]

New Government Should Investigate Past Abuses and Prosecute Perpetrators (Kathmandu: September 10, 2008) – The new Maoist-led government of Nepal should investigate and prosecute those responsible for thousands of extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances during the country’s decade-long armed conflict, Human Rights Watch and Advocacy Forum said in a joint report released today. “The […]

Bangkok, 29 August 2008 – On the occasion of International Day of the Disappeared, the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) calls on the Thai government to ratify the new Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances as reports of this atrocious crime being committed by state forces continue to surface […]

PRESS RELEASE 27 August 2008 The filling of Boeung Kak Lake in central Phnom Penh should immediately stop until a proper process that ensures human rights protection is in place, said Amnesty International and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) today. With work starting on the redevelopment of the lake, tens of thousands […]

An All Women Silent Appeal March will be carried out today starting from Lainchour proceeding through Thamel areas. The women dressed in black and white with black armband around their arms, mask over their mouths are protesting against Chinese authorities against the recent sentencing 30 Tibetans from three years to life imprisonment for merely exercising their freedom […]