Rule of law

By Basil Fernando The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka” was adopted with 22 members of the council voting in favour of the resolution, 11 members voting against it and 14 members abstaining. The passing of the resolution marks the strongest action ever taken by the […]

By Basil Fernando In answering the call of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka, the faithful living in various parts of the country wore black and attended the churches as a protest against the failure to provide justice for all those who were killed in the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019. They also participated […]

A Written Statement to the 46th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) wishes to draw the attention of the UN Human Rights Council to the problem in the existing Criminal Law Procedure which at present still regulates pretrial detention in […]

A Written Statement to the 46th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) brings the issue of torture to the United Nations Human Rights Council the way the Member State has institutionalised it in Bangladesh. The matters on the institutionalised practice of […]

गरिब र न्यायमा कम पहुँच भएका मानवअधिकार उल्लंघनका पीडितहरुलाई कसरी उनीहरुको हक संरक्षण गर्न र न्याय खोज्नका लागि सहयोग गर्न सकिन्छ भन्ने धेरै उदाहरणहरु छन् । हामीले यस अघि छलफल गरेका सामान्य सिद्धान्तहरूमा रहेर यहाँ गरिबीमा रहेकाहरूलाई न्यायको पहुँचबाट कसरी वञ्चित गरिन्छ, उनीहरूका लागि तत्काल कस्ता सहयोग गर्न सकिन्छ, अल्पकालीन र दीर्घकालीन रुपमा के गर्न […]

by Basil Fernando In 2008, an incident took place at a panel discussion organized by the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. Three panelists were invited by the producer of the programme , ‘Ira Anduru Pata’ to comment on the new set of regulations called ‘Private Television Broadcasting Regulations of 2007’ issued and published in the Gazette […]

By Basil Fernando The recent coup in Myanmar has created an interest once again to look into the impact of the military rule in Myanmar which began with 1962 coup and which continued up to 2011. The Burma (now Myanmar) was a British colony and the style of the British administration had been introduced also […]

On 21st November 2006, ‘The Comprehensive Peace Accord’ (CPA) was signed between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). With this, a decade long armed-conflict ended and the nation started to be recognized as the ‘New-Nepal’. The dream of development began to germinate. Citizens started to have belief in the Government. […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to IGP Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne Inspector General of Police New Secretariat Colombo 1 SRI LANKA Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877 E-mail: igp@police.lk Dear Mr. C. D. Wickramaratne: SRI LANKA: Letter to IGP on the police failed to take proper […]

भारत में एक नया जिन्न पैदा हुआ है- जनता की असुविधा का. कहीं कोई अपने हक़ के लिए सड़क पर उतरे तो ये जिन्न उसके सामने खड़ा कर दो. कभी कभी तो बंदूक वगैरह के साथ, गोली तक चलवा के. पर सबसे पहले पूछते हैं कि ये जनता क्या है? कौन है? किसान भी जनता […]

Download the full  English Version here Download the full  Tamil Translation here On the occasion of seventy-three years of independence, the Asian Human Rights Commission has published an online book entitled “Wasted Years – Short Essays on the 1978 Constitution”. This online publication is a collection of many essays that were previously circulated in several publications. They covered a […]

By Al Jazeera Investigative Unit 1 Feb 2021 A criminal gang is colluding with Bangladesh’s security forces to extract bribes for state contracts and job positions, all the while maintaining powerful links with the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, an Al Jazeera investigation has found. All the Prime Minister’s Men reveals how Haris and Anis Ahmed, […]

(Hong Kong, February 1, 2021) The community of civil society in Nepal expresses grave concern over the seizing of power by Myanmar’s military on 1 February, in a coup in the aftermath of the democratic elections held in November 2020. The army has claimed that the response was a result of the “election fraud” which […]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-001-2021  January 22, 2021 ——————————————————————— INDONESIA: Labor Activist, after delivering a public speech, is criminally charged under Articles of Criminal Defamation ISSUES: Freedoms of Expression and Opinion, fabricated cases, Rule of Law, access to Justice  ——————————————————————— Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) […]

Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on December 20 sent shockwaves across the country as she approved the Cabinet’s recommendation for the dissolution of the Lower House of Parliament. The president’s move has pushed the Himalayan country deeper into the quagmire of instability even as it had been attempting to find its footing in democratic politics. […]

On 12 January 2021, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found S. V. R. P. P. A. R. L. S. Alphonsu, known also as Ranjan Ramanayake, as guilty of having committed the offence of contempt of court and sentenced him to four years of rigorous imprisonment. The accused is presently a […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you about the special discussion on the threat against the right to freedom of expression and opinion in Indonesia, in this case, related to labor activists. The discussion presented two speakers: Mr. Kristianto, a labor activist, and Mr. Fathkul Khoir, a human rights lawyer from the […]

In November 2020, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka published a report on their prison studies. This study conducted over a long period of time of two years was based on interviews with relevant persons. This included prisoners, prison guards, and all officers and persons connected with the work of prisons. This Study is excellent documentation […]

When the Pandemic COVID 19 hit Indonesia in May 2020, Law-enforcement in Indonesia recorded a unique phenomenon. The Minister of Law and Human Rights, Mr. Yasona Laoly, released 30,000 prisoners! 1 On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, the Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights, Mr. Yasonna, issued Ministerial Decree Number M.HH-19.PK.01.04.04 of 2020, concerning the Release […]

The Minster of Justice  Room No.32 {Block 02} BMICH,  Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07 expertscommpublic@yahoo.com A submission on the making of a new constitution 1.This submission is made on the assumption that the attempt to make a new constitution is an act done in good faith, motivated solely by the attempt to address what has gone […]