AHRC News

In romantic notions where they world is divided between good guys and bad guys, the underworld is responsible for crimes, and the police are responsible for fighting back. A black world of criminals i...

It is now five days since the shooting of Gerald Mervin Perera, who died yesterday, November 24. However, as yet there have been no arrests. Nor have there been any reports of progress in investigatio...

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announces with great shock and sadness that Gerald Mervin Perera, who was due to give evidence in court against seven police officers accused of torture, passe...

Since the attempted murder on last Sunday, November 21 of Gerald Perera, a victim of police torture in Sri Lanka, no protection has been provided to either him or his family. Gerald, who was shot in a...

Hopefully the Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, will change his position on a proposed visit to the country by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executio...

Unidentified assailants shot dead a High Court judge in Colombo on Friday, 12 November 2004. This is the first such instance in recent times, despite the fact that High Courts in Sri Lanka hear the mo...

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today extends its deepest sympathies to the families of Colombo High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya and his bodyguard Inspector Upali Bandara, as well as the pe...

Many key questions remain to be answered after the mass killing in the south of Thailand on October 25. Above them all, what is the public prosecutor doing about this case? Under section 148 of the Cr...

Numerous torture victims, their families and other witnesses have reported being threatened with death or other violence due to persisting with their complaints against initial injuries. In most insta...

A new trade union comprised of staff of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka has organised a strike on today, November 1, to oppose the transfer of the Kandy Area Coordinator, Mr Niranjan Su...

As details emerge about what happened in Narathiwat province of southern Thailand this October 25, extremely serious questions must now be asked. The first key question is how is it possible that so m...

The latest mass killing in the south of Thailand is a direct consequence of the intentional and dramatic weakening of controls over the police and armed forces there in the last two years. Despite ala...

The manner in which inquiries are conducted by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka and particularly about the functioning of the Kandy Area Office including the conduct of the coordinator o...

A fatal traffic accident in the jurisdiction of Wellawaya Magistrate’s Court, Sri Lanka, has caused a lot of public confusion. It all started with an important question: who caused the accident?...

With the expiry of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Punishment and Control) Act — 2058 this 12 October 2004, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal has introduced a more severe and drac...

The obstacles to eliminating torture in Bangladesh were foremost in the discussion at a recent meeting in Dhaka organised by Odhikar, a well-known national human rights organisation. There was consens...

The journey from section 374 to section 500 of the Burmese Penal Code doesn’t take very long. Under section 374, state officials ordering forced labour–which was finally prohibited in 1999...

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) demands the immediate release from police detention of a group of human rights defenders in Tamil Nadu, India, who have been detained without charge since this...

The Officer-in-Charge of the Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka and a UN volunteer were assaulted yesterday, September 27, 2004, as they were engaged in inquiring about a ...

On 21 September 2004 Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, addressed the General Assembly emphasising the primacy of the rule of law over all other factors governing global affairs, be ...