Category: 48th – Session – September 2021

MYANMAR/BURMA: UN Member States’ Urgent Actions Needed for Addressing Human Rights Catastrophe

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Burma / Myanmar, Oral Statements October 12, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The Asian Legal Resource Centre endorses the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Madam High Commissioner, You have rightly concluded that there is “a human rights catastrophe” in Myanmar. We agree with your recommendation that the “Member States must act urgently to prevent a further disintegration of Myanmar into a nationwide armed conflict or state collapse”. The “Instrumentalization of Law” and “Subversion of Judiciary and Due Processes”, as highlighted in the report, are matters of great concerns. The “instrumentalization of law” criminalises “perceived intent and […]

ASIA: Human Rights Mechanisms Require Effective Approaches for Protection from Enforced Disappearances

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Asia, Oral Statements October 11, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) has commendably contributed to the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms during the global pandemic. The incidents of enforced disappearances involving extraterritorial transfers, as identified in the report, is an important area of concern. The trend of transnational transfers of the victims of enforced disappearances needs to be understood in the context of a growing authoritarianism equipped with artificial intelligence and sophisticated technologies. The absence of administrative or judicial remedies for enforced disappearances and the pattern of guaranteeing blanket impunity is […]

ASIA: Human Rights Mechanisms Require Exploring Effective Redress for Reprisals

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Asia, Oral Statements October 7, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The Secretary General’s Report on Reprisals reflects the manifold challenges the human rights advocates face across the world. Internationally reputed human rights organisation Odhikar and its leaderships have been facing reprisals for cooperating with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, Special Procedures, and the Treaty Bodies, as reflected in the report. On 14 February 2021, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has vacated the stay order on the prosecution against Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan while their review petition challenging this decision remains […]

ASIA: Human Rights Council’s Interventions Should be Contextually Realistic

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Asia, Oral Statements September 30, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President, We wish to bring to the attention of the Human Rights Council that a serious undermining of the rule of law is happening in several countries of Asia such as the Philippines, Cambodia, Nepal, and Bangladesh that indicate the patterns similar to those mentioned by the High Commissioner for Human Rights in reports on Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Undermining of the criminal justice mechanisms leads to rapid and sharp decline of rule of law and the fair trial in a radical way. Arbitrary selections for non-investigation of […]

MYANMAR/BURMA: Perpetrators of International Crimes Must Face Punishment

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Burma / Myanmar, Oral Statements September 14, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The Asian Legal Resource Centre appreciates the continued efforts being made by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since the establishment of the mandate. The Mechanism continues its mandated tasks of collection of evidence, storing them in secured digitalised locations, analysing and sharing with relevant multilateral entities, as the report suggests. This Council and the international human rights community is well aware of the fact that genocidal crimes and crimes under international law are not over yet. The same pattern of crimes that were committed against the […]

SRI LANKA: UN Human Rights Mechanisms Ought to Explore New Approaches to Protect Rights

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Sri Lanka, Written Submissions September 14, 2021 admin 0 Comments

A Written Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre For several decades now, the widespread practice of enforced disappearances has been experienced in several countries in Asia and elsewhere. Despite many attempts by the UN human rights agencies including the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, there are hardly any cases where credible investigations or prosecutions have taken place concerning the cases which sometimes go into thousands which are being reported. The Asian Legal Resources Centre (ALRC) urges the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings and the Working Group on Enforced […]

BANGLADESH: Government Uses Arbitrary Detention and Degenerated Judiciary Against Dissidents

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Written Submissions September 14, 2021 admin 0 Comments

A Written Statement to the 48th 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 arbitrary detention and the degenerated justice mechanisms to the United Nations Human Rights Council focusing on the situation in Bangladesh, which is a Member of the Council. The ALRC has exposed the feature of the judicial independence of Bangladesh time and again in its Written Statements and Oral Interventions since the inception of the Council. Each time the Council sits for its Sessions the authorities of Bangladesh sets new records of abusing the country’s judiciary. The country’s incumbent Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain was virtually presiding over an […]

INDONESIA: New Regulation on Special Autonomy for Papua must ensure protection for Indigenous Papuans

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Indonesia, Written Submissions September 13, 2021 admin 0 Comments

A Written Statement to the 48th 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 of amendment of Law on Special Autonomy for Papua. The House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia has officially ratified the second amendment to Law Number 21 of 2001 concerning Special Autonomy for the Papua Province to become a law. The decision was made at the Plenary Meeting of the Closing of Session Period V for the 2020-2021 Session Year. In total, 18 Articles underwent changes and two […]

BANGLADESH: Enforced Disappearances Must Warrant Consequences

48th - Session - September 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Written Submissions September 13, 2021September 13, 2021 admin 0 Comments

A Written Statement to the 48th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) raises the issue of Bangladesh’s rabid enforced disappearances to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s 48th Regular Session. Bangladesh’s incumbent government began using enforced disappearances as one of the tools to silence the dissidents since assuming to the office in January 2009. Independent human rights defenders’ documentation suggests that the law-enforcement agencies had abducted 603 people resulting their disappearance under the incumbent government till June 2021. The actual number of enforced disappearances are few times higher than this figure. Many families of […]