Administration of justice

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses serious concern about the visible loss of interest in torture cases by the Attorney General’s Department. While the government and its officials may have lost interest in the issue of torture, this apathy is not apparent in the people of the country who will begin a series of […]

A High Court judge, Sarath Ambipitiya, was assassinated on the 21st November 2004.  Within seven months the criminal investigations and the trial were completed with a three member trial at bar finding the suspects guilty and sentencing them to death.  According to reports the trial took 25 days for completion.   Perhaps this, the speediest […]

It is becoming increasingly obvious that getting away with murder in the Philippines is made easy by the absence of any functioning witness protection scheme. The lack of witnesses also becomes a convenient excuse for investigators to say that they have done their jobs but have no further avenues for action.   In a May […]

The last decade has seen numerous gross human rights violations in Indonesia that have been widely reported by local activists as well as international groups. Of particular concern has been the lack of prosecution of the perpetrators. The Asian Human Rights Commission has previously stated its own alarm at the lack of action taken by […]

Strange news has been coming from Thailand, where five police have filed defamation complaints against a reputed forensic pathologist and senior government bureaucrat after they suggested that a man with five bullets in his vital organs probably didn’t shoot himself. The death of Sunthorn Wongdao on May 21 has captured public imagination since the police […]

A recent killing in Thailand has brought to the surface some of the deep contradictions in the country’s criminal justice system. Sunthorn Wongdao was found dead in Bang Yai district, Nonthaburi province, on May 21. Sunthorn is said to have hidden in a house after being accused of shooting his wife and father-in-law in Bang […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2005 AS-63-2005 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission Better management could address Sri Lanka’s delays in justice  That Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system has a conviction rate of only about four per cent is often noted. The primary cause for this dismal rate, which is less often noted, […]

On May 26, the Danish government announced that it has earmarked 4.5 million Danish Krone (US$ 750,000) for the new office of the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights in Nepal. The office will use this money over the coming two years for active monitoring and investigating of gross rights abuses occurring on the ground […]

On 25 October 2000, more than 25 young Tamils at a rehabilitation centre in Bindunuwewa near Bandarawela in the south-central part of the island were attacked and killed by a Sinhalese group.  Who were the actual culprits?  Who were their masterminds?  To these questions Sri Lanka’s justice system has no answers.   Likewise, after nearly […]

The case of Don Wijerathna Munasinghe, who was arrested on 10 April 2005 and subsequently died of injuries allegedly received at the Maharagama Police Station, received wide publicity in the media.?The alleged reason for his arrest was that he did not stop his three-wheeler vehicle when instructed to do so by the police.?The following morning […]

Since January 2005, at least 18 human rights and political activists have killed or disappeared in the Philippines. The latest reported attack was on Alden Ambida, a provincial coordinator of the opposition Bayan Muna party in Eastern Samar this April 11. He is now fighting for his life in hospital. In March, three other Bayan […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned to hear that even though Partha Majumder disappeared on 5 September 1997 and his family has been fighting a battle to ensure justice ever since, the accused are still at large. (See further UA-171-2004). Furthermore, a complaint has been submitted by the victim’s brother, Mr […]

As the Sixty-first Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is taking place in Geneva, we would like to draw attention to the colossal absence of human rights in three countries in the Asia region.  The countries are Nepal, Burma/Myanmar and Cambodia.  While Burma/Myanmar and Cambodia have been on this list for quite […]

The government of King Gyanendra in Nepal, who took absolute power on February 1, is now mobilising military-backed mobs to engage in extreme acts of violence on the pretext of fighting Maoists. The army-orchestrated burning of hundreds of homes and lynching of about 30 alleged Maoists in Kapilvastu district are methods of control all too […]

While the murder case of Judge Ambepitiya–who was killed two days before Gerald Perera was shot–is already fixed for trial at bar, it may take 5-7 years–or even more–before Gerald’s case is even begun to be heard at the high court. Despite Gerald being a witness waiting to give evidence in a criminal case when […]

This year’s Independence Day is celebrated amidst a complex background. The disastrous consequences of the 26 December 2004 tsunami have merely added to the burdens faced by Sri Lanka’s political and legal systems due to the authoritarian model of governance introduced through the 1978 constitution, which gave rise to conflicts in the south, north and […]

Nearly a week has passed since the Thai Ministry of Defence announced the setting up of a panel to investigate three officers implicated in the killing of at least 85 persons by security forces in Narathiwat last October 2004. The men stand accused of having “mishandled” a protest outside the Tak Bai police station, leading […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to direct your attention to the serious human rights violations committed by the arrest of Mr Kem Sokha and Mr Yeng Virak on December 31, 2005. Mr Kem Sokha is a senior Cambodian politician, who has been a member of parliament since its inception in 1993 after […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shares the concerns expressed by the Secretary General of the United Nations in his statement on the human rights situation in Nepal. Time and again the AHRC has stressed that regional governments such as India, international governments and bodies such as European Union, national political parties and the King […]

On the 21 November 2004, Gerald Mervin Perera, victim of a well-known torture case was shot as he was travelling to work in a bus in the early hours of the morning.  In his pocket was the summons issued by the High Court of Negombo, summoning him to give evidence in a torture case against […]