Category: documents

BANGLADESH: Human rights groups urge government to implement recommendations on torture and other abuses after damning UN review

Bangladesh, Joint Statements August 14, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

14 August 2019: Following serious concerns expressed by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) about torture in Bangladesh, seven human rights organizations call on the Bangladeshi government to recognize the magnitude of the problem and address and implement the nearly 90 recommendations made by the UN body. On 9 August 2019, the CAT published its Concluding Observations following the first-ever review of Bangladesh’s implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment , a treaty to which Bangladesh became a state party in 1998. The CAT is a body of independent experts tasked with monitoring the compliance by state parties to the Convention against […]

BANGLADESH: Free expression and free assembly cost high price

41st Session - June 2019, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Human Rights Council, Written Submissions June 24, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The United Nations Human Rights Council and its Special Procedures play a pivotal role in advocating for the people’s freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly in the world, where authoritarianism and right wing political propaganda are on the rise. The Council, unfortunately, in fact, accommodates Member and Observer States who maintain double standards. Bangladesh – an incumbent Member of the Council – often speaks like a soothsayer while the State muzzles the freedom of expression and opinion of its citizens inside the country. The Asian Legal Resource […]

BANGLADESH: Judiciary abdicates independence

41st Session - June 2019, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Human Rights Council, Written Submissions June 24, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has been consistently expressing its serious concerns over the dysfunctional justice institutions of Bangladesh – an incumbent Member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The victims’ right to fair and speedy trial and the lawyers scope of contributing to the process of justice ceases to exist in the country under an illegitimate authoritarian government. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has been consistently expressing its serious concerns over the dysfunctional justice institutions of Bangladesh – an incumbent Member of the United Nations […]

INDIA: Government must end violation of bodily integrity and health of women

41st Session - June 2019, ALRC AT THE UN, Human Rights Council, India, Written Submissions June 24, 2019June 24, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the continuing violation of women’s bodily integrity in India exposing them to serious health consequences in India. Though the abuse of women, including the violation of their bodily integrity is widely prevalent and well documented, a recent report has pushed the extent of the same even further. The report by The Hindu Business Line, a reputed newspaper in India, found that women working in sugarcane fields in Beed district of the state […]

INDONESIA: Protection of peaceful assembly and association needs serious evaluation

41st Session - June 2019, ALRC AT THE UN, Human Rights Committee, Indonesia, Written Submissions June 24, 2019June 24, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 41st Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre Under the Indonesian Constitution (UUD) of 1945, the right to peaceful assembly and association is fully protected and guaranteed without any distinction. Moreover, Indonesia also has national laws that govern and ensure protection of peaceful assembly and association such as Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights, and Law No. 9 of 1998 on Freedom of Speech in Public. Further, the police also have an internal police regulation in favour of human rights such as the National Chief Police Regulation No. 8 of 2009 on the implementation of […]

SOUTH KOREA: Eugene Soh, a great lover of genuine democracy passes away. 진정 민주주의를 사랑했던 서유진 선생 세상을 떠나다

South Korea, statements May 19, 2019May 20, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Click here to Read the Korean Version On 16th May 2019, Eugene Soh, a man who dedicated his entire adult life working to defeat the military dictatorship in South Korea, passed away after a brief illness. Mahatma is a South Asian word meaning great soul. Eugene Soh was definitely a man who had a very great soul, a compassionate heart with a constant commitment to genuine democracy and for ordinary people. It was certainly a great privilege to have been associated with this unpretentious man whose mind was preoccupied with the great problems of our times. I first got to know Eugene Soh around 1995 during a Youth Meeting organized […]

SRI LANKA: AHRC’s Letter to Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith on Sri Lanka Easter Sunday Attacks on Churches and Hotels

Sri Lanka, statements April 26, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Cardinal Malcolm RanjithArchbishop’s House, Colombo – 8, Sri Lanka Phone: +94 11-2695471-2-3 / 2696054 Fax: +94 11-2692009 Email: archbishop@sltnet.lk / cardinalmalcolm@gmail.com  Dear Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, On behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission, we are writing to express our solidarity with the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, as well as the entire Sri Lankan people, who have experienced fear and trauma as a result of the brutal and horrendous terrorist attacks that killed more than 359 persons, and injured many more, as well as damaging three churches and some tourist hotels. At this painful time, we wish to share through you our concern and support for the families of those who have suffered, […]

WORLD: International justice is crucial to durable solutions to the Rohingya crisis

statements, World April 19, 2019April 19, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Regional human rights groups mapped key strategies targeting that the Rohingya people are at the centre of moves. Rights activists and professionals called the international community to expedite justice for atrocity crimes including genocide and crimes against humanity that have forced most of the community to flee Myanmar. The strategic actions are believed to empower Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries. It should enable the community to engage with international justice mechanisms. The International Criminal Court (ICC), the United Nations International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) and states that exercise universal jurisdiction are chosen as prioritised institutions and stakeholders for constant engagements. Broader efforts are […]

INDONESIA: New Penal Code Bill must protect freedom of religion and belief

40th Session - March 2019, ALRC AT THE UN, Indonesia, Written Submissions February 21, 2019February 21, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to inform the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) about Indonesia’s existing blasphemy law and the recurrent criminalization of persons belonging to minority religions under its article 156a, as well as article 326 of the New Penal Code Bill. Article 156a of the Indonesian Penal Code (KUHP) constitutes a serious problem to freedom of religion and belief in Indonesia. The article posits that, “By a maximum imprisonment of five years shall be punished any person who deliberately in public gives expression to feelings or commits an act. (a) which […]

BANGLADESH: Criminalisation of torture goes hand in hand with institutionalisation

40th Session - March 2019, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Written Submissions February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 40th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The United Nations Human Rights Council’s faulty electoral system has adopted Bangladesh as a member of the highest global rights body from 2019 to 2021 despite the State’s deliberate failure to fully cooperate with the Council. Bangladesh’s re-election to the Council has taken place at a time when the country’s government is hiding its catastrophic domestic human rights records behind the showcase of accommodating the Rohingya refugees, who fled to escape a systemic genocide in Myanmar. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) has been consistently submitting analytical documentations to […]