Press Release

Mr Basil Fernando, Director of Policy and Programmes of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong speaks with Mr Faraz Shauketaly, Host of the News First – TV1’s “Newsline” programme on 05th January 2017 – on the proposed national reconciliation process; the recommendations of the United Nations for a domestic-international hybrid court inclusive of foreign judges – […]

BANGLADESH: Mahmudur Rahman should be allowed to travel for medical treatment Paris-Geneva-Hong-Kong, December 24, 2016 – Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has so far refused to grant journalist Mahmudur Rahman, recently released from 1,322 days in arbitrary detention, the right to travel abroad for urgent surgery, despite the serious risk of irreversible neurological damage he faces. The Observatory […]

[December 8, 2016] On September 2003 a 15 years old boy complained of torture by officers of the Saliyawewa Police Station alleging that officers made him sit on ant hill, for about 20 minutes and thereafter was hung from a beam with his hands tied behind his back with a rope, and beaten him accusing him […]

Bangkok-Dhaka-Geneva-Paris-Quezon City, 29 November 2016 – Kashmiri human rights defender Mr. Khurram Parvez remains in arbitrary detention, despite a High Court order declaring his detention illegal and ordering his release. Our organisations are appalled at this abuse of power and demand the immediate and unconditional release of Khurram Parvez. Last Friday 25 November 2016, the High Court […]

Paris-Geneva-Hong-Kong, November 24, 2016 – After 1,322 days in arbitrary detention, journalist Mr. Mahmudur Rahman has been finally released on bail this afternoon. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcome his long-overdue release, and urge authorities to drop all pending charges against him. Acting […]

The Rupavahini, TV channel’s “Suba Udesanak” ( Good Morning ) programme on 28th October 2016, telecast an interview with Mr Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission where he discusses issues of human rights, and national reconciliation and their progress in Sri Lanka, in the backdrop of the two students being killed in Jaffna […]

Mr Faraz Shauketaly, Host of the News First – TV1’s “Hot Seat” programme on 26th October 2016 interviews Mr Basil Fernando, Director of Policy and Programmes of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong on the developments with regard to the Central Bank Bond issues scandal, as well as several other pertinent issues such […]

(Hong Kong, Bangkok-Dhaka-Geneva-Madurai-Paris-Quezon City, 26 October 2016) The High Court in Jammu and Kashmir has again prolonged the arbitrary detention of Kashmiri human rights defender Mr. Khurram Parvez, who has already spent 40 days in jail. Our organisations call on the Indian authorities to release him immediately. On 25 October 2016, the Jammu and Kashmir […]

(Hong Kong, 30 September 2016) “The evacuations and arrests were just part of a larger Khmer Rouge project of mass social engineering which involved obliterating everything that smacked of capitalism, privatism, and class oppression,” writes Alexander Laban Hinton, Founding Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights and Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University. He is […]

Human Rights Commission, held a side event during the 33rd Session of the Human Rights Council on the systematic killings of lawyers and human rights activists in oppressed regions of Pakistan. The participant speakers expressed their concern on the situation of human rights in Pakistan, stating that that the country’s record over the past six decades […]

Joint Press Release Bangkok-Dhaka-Geneva-Madurai-Paris-Quezon City, September 16, 2016 – Our organisations strongly condemn today’s arbitrary arrest of Kashmiri human rights defender Mr. Khurram Parvez, and call for his immediate and unconditional release. On September 16 at 12:30 am, police officers came to Khurram Parvez’s home in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, arrested him without presenting a warrant, […]

Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Human Rights Defenders Alert – India (HRDA) International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) Odhikar The Observatory Joint Press Release Bangkok-Dhaka-Geneva-Madurai-Paris-Quezon City, September 15, 2016 – Our organisations condemn the arbitrary travel ban imposed on Kashmiri human […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw the attention of the interested persons to follow the judicial harassment of three human rights defenders in Thailand. According to the AHRC Urgent Appeals case (AHRC-UAC-065-2016) which was released on 13 June, 2016. The Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) is an organization that monitors and documents cases of torture […]

There is something deeply negative and nihilist imbedded into the Sri Lanka consciousness. By ‘Sri Lankan consciousness’ I mean the consciousness of all Sri Lankans, whether they are from the majority Sinhala community or the Tamil or other minority communities. What is common to all is a deep negativity inherited from the far distant past. […]

On 7 September 2016, at 10:30 a.m., the verdict in the case of Karen people forcibly relocated from the Kaeng Krachan National Park will be read at the Central Administrative Court in Bangkok. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges all concerned persons to attend the court as observers, and calls on other interested persons […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been actively following the case of disappearance of human rights defender Ehsan Arjumandi, a dual national of Norway and Iran, who has been missing since August 2009. For the past seven years, after he was picked up by the Pakistani security agencies, the whereabouts of Mr. Ehsan are […]

Professor K G Sankara Pillai – is a well-known Indian poet, philosopher and author. He came into prominence in the 1970s with the publication of the poem “Bengal” and is now one of the most popular among the modernist poets of Kerala. A recipient of the state and central Sahitya Akademi Awards (state and central […]

Introduction Many of the essays published in this booklet were initially published in several publications, such as Ceylon Independent, The Nation, and Colombo Telegraph. All these articles are linked to a common theme, which is the need for recognising that the legal system in Sri Lanka, and in particular the criminal justice system, is facing the threat […]

The ‘Trikone’ Foundation has issued a video of a speech by Mr Basil Fernando, Director of Policy and Programmes, on the Emperor Asoka’s contribution to the Sri Lankan culture and the crisis of culture in the contemporary Sri Lankan society. This was speech delivered at ‘Trikone’ and was very much appreciated by the audience. In this speech […]

(Hong Kong, 3 June 2016) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)’s bi-monthly magazine, article 2, has produced a special edition on “The state of freedom of expression in Pakistan”. The report covers details about the country’s fragile situation of freedom of expression and speech. It includes articles by professors, religious scholars, writers and activists. Interestingly, the […]