I concur that there is no one swift solution to the terror, the trauma, the deprivation and neglect that drive so many millions of people to leave all that they have, and all they have ever known. To restore human rights in their homelands will take long and focused work.
In areas outside Dhaka, other commemorations were also met with threats and police deployment. However, with the support of local civil society activists, the families of the disappeared went ahead with the events, and commemorations were successfully held in Khulna, Rajshahi, and Rajbari district among others.
Human rights defenders also face particular challenges when taking up cases of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh. They are subjected to intimidation and threats, including surveillance and harassment by State intelligence services, law-enforcement agencies, and political cadres of the ruling party.
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 […]
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 […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-005-2014 September 29, 2014 A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre WORLD: Council members must reject procedural tactics that foreclose substantive debate Excellency, We write to express our concern about a worrying development in the Human Rights Council in the use of procedural tactics to silence important and legitimate debate on critical human rights issues and situations. At the Council’s 26th session in June 2014, we witnessed the use of a ‘no-action motion’ to prevent the consideration of an amendment proposed to the resolution on the ‘Protection of the family and all its members’, thereby preventing substantive debate. A ‘no-action motion’ is a procedural motion […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-005-2014 September 29, 2014 A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre WORLD: Council members must reject procedural tactics that foreclose substantive debate Excellency, We write to express our concern about a worrying development in the Human Rights Council in the use of procedural tactics to silence important and legitimate debate on critical human rights issues and situations. At the Council’s 26th session in June 2014, we witnessed the use of a ‘no-action motion’ to prevent the consideration of an amendment proposed to the resolution on the ‘Protection of the family and all its members’, thereby preventing substantive debate. A ‘no-action motion’ is a procedural motion […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-004-2014 August 30, 2014 A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre EGYPT:Dissolution Ultimatum for Independent Groups September 2 Deadline to Comply with Draconian 84/2002 Law (London, August 30, 2014) – Independent organizations in Egypt face a looming crackdown, 45 international and national human rights groups from across the globe said today in a joint statement. The Egyptian Social Solidarity Ministry placed an advertisement in leading state newspaper Al-Ahram on July 18, 2014, giving all Egyptian and international nongovernmental organizations until September 2 to register under Law 84/2002, a restrictive measure passed during the Mubarak rule. This law empowers the government to shut down any group […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-004-2014 August 30, 2014 A Joint Statement by the Asian Legal Resource Centre EGYPT: Dissolution Ultimatum for Independent Groups September 2 Deadline to Comply with Draconian 84/2002 Law (London, August 30, 2014) – Independent organizations in Egypt face a looming crackdown, 45 international and national human rights groups from across the globe said today in a joint statement. The Egyptian Social Solidarity Ministry placed an advertisement in leading state newspaper Al-Ahram on July 18, 2014, giving all Egyptian and international nongovernmental organizations until September 2 to register under Law 84/2002, a restrictive measure passed during the Mubarak rule. This law empowers the government to shut down any […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALRC-STM-001-2012 May 2, 2012 A Joint Statement from NGOs including the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) ASIA: NGOs calls for the drafting of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration to be transparent and subject to meaningful consultations with civil society May 2nd, 2012 The ASEAN Human Rights Declaration: Drafts must be published and subject to meaningful consultations with local, national and regional civil society and human rights defenders We, the undersigned international human rights organizations, are concerned that the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has yet to take the necessary steps to ensure that the process of drafting the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) is transparent […]
