Category: documents

ASIA: Arbitrary Detention Continues with Denial of Access to Justice and Increases Poverty

47th - Session - June 2021, Asia, Oral Statements July 6, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Madam President: The report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention focusing on drug policies sheds lights on the darker sides of the justice mechanisms of many States. It also indicates the attitudes of the legislatures towards the citizens lacking compassion and comprehensive programmes to address the holistic impacts involving drugs. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wants to emphasise that arbitrary detention without any credible system of accountability of the law-enforcement agencies is one of the core human rights violations across Asia. There are complicities among the three […]

ASIA: Extrajudicial Executions with Impunity Require Access to International Justice

47th - Session - June 2021, Asia, Oral Statements July 2, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) ASIA: Extrajudicial Executions with Impunity Require Access to International Justice Madam President: The report on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions by the immediate past Special Rapporteur Ms. Agnes Callamard has comprehensively expanded the area of normative principles with significant observations to the discourse on arbitrary deprivation of life. The former Rapporteur’s observations on ‘the relationships between the economic, social and/or cultural dimensions of arbitrary killings and unlawful deaths’ deserve urgent attention. In many Asian countries, arbitrary deprivation of life is adopted as the way of law-enforcement. The ALRC appreciates […]

ASIA: Flawed Justice Systems Turns to be More Inaccessible for Litigants During Pandemic

47th - Session - June 2021, Asia, Oral Statements June 29, 2021 admin 0 Comments

An Oral Statement to the 47th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council from the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) ASIA: Flawed Justice Systems Turns to be More Inaccessible for Litigants During Pandemic Madam President The report of the Special Rapporteur has comprehensively focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to justice, guaranteeing the right to fair trial, administration of justice as well as protection of the professionals involved. The ALRC draws the attention of the Special Rapporteur to the reality that during the pre-pandemic era the justice mechanisms in Asia has been mostly dysfunctional. The authorities in most Asian countries have systematically denied universal access […]

INDONESIA: Pretrial detention under the Criminal Law Procedure needs serious reform, having caused torture and ill-treatment

46th Session - February 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Indonesia, Written Submissions February 24, 2021 admin 0 Comments

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 Indonesia. Pretrial detention is still a serious problem for Law Enforcement in Indonesia. This is primarily because it is one of the main problems causing the practice of torture and other inhuman acts. It is certainly not in accordance with the standards of international Human Rights Law. Moreover, pretrial detention for a long period of […]

BANGLADESH: Torture being used to block access to justice

46th Session - February 2021, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Written Submissions February 24, 2021 admin 0 Comments

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 torture in Bangladesh deserves adequate attention and effective actions from the international community. Actions are required not only for the reason that Bangladesh disregards the Human Rights Mechanisms of the United Nations, and the State abuses the multilateral institutions for displaying its untrue cooperations with the international bodies. Rather, the accountability of the State is urgently […]

BANGLADESH: Arbitrary Detention used as a complementary tool for the unelected government and a coercive law-enforcement system

45th Session - September 2020, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Written Submissions September 11, 2020 admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 45th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: Arbitrary Detention used as a complementary tool for the unelected government and a coercive law-enforcement system The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) once again draws attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council and independent experts of its Special Procedures about systemic use of arbitrary arrests and detention as a tool for silencing the citizens, coerce the state power, and enjoy corruption. Bangladesh is a State where legality or rational reason is not required for arresting a person. A coercive law-enforcement system and an illegitimate government, which consecutively […]

INDONESIA: Twenty two years of unresolved enforced disappearances while the offender enjoys impunity

45th Session - September 2020, ALRC AT THE UN, Indonesia, Written Submissions September 11, 2020 admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 45th 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 enforced disappearances in Indonesia. After twenty-two years in office, the former dictator, President Suharto, stepped down in 1998. The cases of enforced disappearances against student activists occurred in 1997-1998. They remain unresolved. Ironically, the person who allegedly became the most responsible person remains free and enjoys impunity. Mr. Prabowo Subianto, former commander of the Special Armed Forces and former Presidential Candidate in the last election, currently becomes the […]

BANGLADESH: Victims of Enforced Disappearances Denied Access to Justice

45th Session - September 2020, ALRC AT THE UN, Bangladesh, Written Submissions September 11, 2020September 11, 2020 admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 45th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre BANGLADESH: Victims of Enforced Disappearances Denied Access to Justice The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) is set to hold its 45th Regular Session. Enforced Disappearance is one of the thematic issues on which the independent experts of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) is scheduled to present their annual report in this Session. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) draws the attention of the UN Independent Experts and the Human Rights Council. Questions should be asked regarding what improvements have been achieved in terms […]

PHILIPPINES: Acceleration of extra-judicial killings of jurists in the Philippines

44th Session - June2020, Philippines, Written Submissions June 30, 2020 admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 44th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council Jointly Submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Council), during its 41st Session, adopted Resolution A/HRC/41/L.20, Promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines (Resolution 41/L.20)1, requesting the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) to present a comprehensive report on human rights in the Philippines to the Council at its 44th Session. Resolution 41/L.20 urged the Philippines “to take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable.” At the 42nd […]

BANGLADESH: Access to justice amidst COVID-19 for pro-opposition litigants are dealt with draconian laws and discrimination

44th Session - June2020, Bangladesh, Written Submissions June 30, 2020 admin 0 Comments

A Written Submission to the 44th Regular Session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) draws attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council and its Special Procedures to the realities regarding access to justice in Bangladesh, an incumbent member of the Human Rights Council. The President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, on 9 May 2020, promulgated “Information Technology Usage Ordinance by the Court, 2020” (Ordinance Number 1 of 2020) to introduce virtual judicial proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ordinance is promulgated for encouraging ‘physical distancing’ in the judiciary of the country. The Supreme Court of […]