FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-CWS-29-05-2015 June 08, 2015 A Written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre PAKISTAN: Rights Safeguards Rendered Meaningless in the face of Extrajudicial Killings The Asian Legal Resource Centre is extremely concerned about the continuing extrajudicial killings in Pakistan, and the impunity with which they are committed. Instead of using legal and constitutional methods to stop such practices of the law enforcement agencies, the government of Pakistan has sought to make extrajudicial killings legal and constitutional. The law enforcement agencies (LEAs), particularly the military and its intelligence agencies, have been given the power to shoot suspects on sight and to try […]
Category: Countries
BANGLADESH: UN rights mechanisms need reshaping to address extrajudicial executions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-CWS-29-01-2015 May 25, 2015 Joint written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre and Odhikar BANGLADESH: UN rights mechanisms need reshaping to address extrajudicial executions The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and Odhikar request the UN Human Rights Council to consider amending the human rights mechanisms so that the entrenched problems of extrajudicial executions can be addressed. The ALRC makes this request on the basis of experience working on extrajudicial executions in Bangladesh, where no judicial or administrative remedies are accessible for such crimes. Extrajudicial executions in Bangladesh have been gradually institutionalised in the last decade or so. Since the creation […]
BANGLADESH: Freedom of press stifled, and democracy in the decline
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-005-2015 May 2, 2015 A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre, and Odhikar BANGLADESH: Freedom of press stifled, and democracy in the decline May 3 is the World Press Freedom Day. This day is an opportunity to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to assess the state of press freedom throughout the world; to defend the media from attacks on their independence; and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. In Bangladesh, however, the day will be observed as yet another day, where scribes will continue to face physical threat and other harassment, falsely implicated in […]
PHILIPPINES: Torture of RahmanTotoh – ALRC responds to Government’s report to UN
A Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre Further to our comments on the Government’s periodic report to the UN Committee against Torture, herein we will look into the case of RahmanTotoh. In its communications (UN Doc. CAT/C/PHL/Q/3, para. 5), the Committee requested the Government to comment on “no investigations” into Totoh’s claim of torture, in addition tothe medical examination he received not meeting“the standards required by the Anti-Torture Act”. In a letter to Mr. Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, dated September 23, 2011, the Asian Human Rights Commission, ALRC’s sister organisation, urged the Rapporteur to intervene to ensure that an impartial and prompt investigation is conducted in […]
PHILIPPINES: UN expert held-the government violated Maguindanao massacre families rights to be free from “cruel, inhuman treatment”
A Press Release by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (Hong Kong, March 17, 2015) For “failing to provide reparations to survivors and their families,” Mr. Juan E. Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, concluded: the government violated the rights of witnesses, survivors and families of the Maguindanao massacre, to be free from “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Mendez’s report (UN Doc. A/HRC/28/68/Add.1, para. 433-434) refers to the government’s obligations under article 16 of the Convention against Torture (CAT) to prevent “other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” that do not amount to torture. In his report on the Philippines presented to the 28th Session of the UN Human Rights […]
PAKISTAN: Government must guarantee fundamental right of freedom of religion to all
ALRC-CWS-07-007-2015 March 04, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre PAKISTAN: Government must guarantee fundamental right of freedom of religion to all 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the UN Human Rights Council the deteriorating state of freedom of religion, belief, and faith in Pakistan. An increasing number of minority families are being forced to flee Pakistan. Minorities, especially Christians, Hindus, and Ahmadis, are being subjected to mass violence, terrorist acts, and abuse of blasphemy laws. 2. While fleeing Christians, Ahmadis, and even Shias have ended up in various states of South and […]
BANGLADESH: Freedom of expression, assembly, and human rights activism under serious threat
ALRC-CWS-28-006-2015 March 04, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: Freedom of expression, assembly, and human rights activism under serious threat 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) brings matters related to the freedom of expression and opinion, the freedom of peaceful assembly, and the freedom of human rights activism in Bangladesh to the notice of the UN Human Rights Council. The government of Bangladesh has clamped down on these fundamental freedoms to silence dissent in the country. As a member of the Human Rights Council, Bangladesh is undermining universal human rights at home against its own people and is […]
PAKISTAN: An attack on independence of judiciary and right to fair trial
ALRC-CWS-28-004-2015 March 03, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre PAKISTAN: An attack on independence of judiciary and right to fair trial 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the UN Human Rights Council the supra-constitutional arrangement that has established military courts and is depriving the people of Pakistan their right to fair trial. 2. Following the gruesome massacre of children at the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16th December 2014, under military pressure, the government lifted the moratorium on death sentences and rapidly pushed through the 21st Constitution Amendment, establishing military courts […]
INDIA: Criminal justice reforms elementary to control violence against women
ALRC-CWS-28-003-2015 March 03, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre INDIA: Criminal justice reforms elementary to control violence against women 1. After the infamous New Delhi rape case of 2012, and other cases of gender based violence subsequently reported by the media, the Government of India initiated a series of measures to curb violence against women. The government’s initiatives have, however, been limited to sensitising communities and instructing the local police to register complaints upon receipt. Amendments were made in 2013 to the Indian Penal Code 1860, The Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, The Indian Evidence Act 1872, and to The […]
BANGLADESH: Government promotes extrajudicial executions to silence political dissent
ALRC-CWS-28-002-2015 March 03, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: Government promotes extrajudicial executions to silence political dissent 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) requests the UN Human Rights Council to pay attention to the ongoing pattern of gross human rights violations in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh is promoting extrajudicial executions and declaring impunity for the perpetrators in public amidst the political crisis that centres on peaceful and credible handover of power. 2. Bangladesh’s citizens are being forced to pay the price with blood for the country’s continuing dictatorial system, introduced in 1975 in presidential form in the […]