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 […]
Category: Written Submissions
ASIA PACIFIC: Action required to protect human rights defenders at risk for protecting migrants’ rights
ALRC-CWS-28-001-2015 March 03, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre ASIA PACIFIC: Action required to protect human rights defenders at risk for protecting migrants’ rights 1. The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) would like to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the increasing trend of harassment, intimidation, and threats on human rights defenders advocating for or protecting the rights of migrants in Asia and the Pacific. 2. The General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/68/181, para. 6) has “recognize the valuable work of human rights defenders” and reiterates the obligations of States to […]
PHILIPPINES: Failure to investigate and prevent widespread attacks on human rights defenders
ALRC-CWS-28-005-2015 March 03, 2015 A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre PHILIPPINES: Failure to investigate and prevent widespread attacks on human rights defenders 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (A/HRC/28/63). We take note of the Special Rapporteur’s emphasis on the importance of “preventing violations against defenders (para. 6).” In General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/68/181 para. 9), states are called upon to “exercise due diligence in preventing violations and abuses” against defenders in line with their primary responsibility to promote and protect rights. 2. The ALRC takes note of […]
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 […]
THAILAND: Human rights in crisis three months after coup
ALRC-CWS-27-12-2014 September 5, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre THAILAND: Human rights in crisis three months after coup 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to raise grave concerns with the Human Rights Council about the deepening human rights crisis in Thailand following the 22 May 2014 coup launched by a military junta calling itself the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha. The NCPO has claimed that it carried out the coup for the vague purpose of “reform” and with the […]
EURASIA: Wrongful prosecutions of lawyers
EURASIA: Wrongful prosecutions of lawyers Date: June 16, 2014 Document id: ALRC-COS-26-18-2014 HRC section: Item 3, Clustered Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Independence of judges and lawyers Speaker: Mr. MOON JeongHo A Joint Oral Statement to the 26th Session of the UN Human Rights Council from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) & Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L), NGOs in special consultative status and Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) with general consultative status EURASIA: Wrongful prosecutions of lawyers Thank you Mr. Vice-President, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) thank the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers for her […]
INDIA: Reinforcing subordination of women in law and practice
ALRC-CWS-26-16-2014 June 9, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty sixth session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Discrimination against Women A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre INDIA: Reinforcing subordination of women in law and practice 1. To formally recognize the existence of discrimination against women in India, both in law and in practice, the country has acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1993, undertaking obligation to eliminate “any distinction, exclusion or restriction” made on the basis of sex which impairs or nullifies “the recognition, enjoyment or exercise” women’s “human […]
ASIA: Independence of judiciary, a mirage in South Asia
ALRC-CWS-26-15-2014 June 9, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty sixth session, Agenda Item 3, General Debates A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre ASIA: Independence of judiciary, a mirage in South Asia 1. The arbitrary dismissal in January 2013 of the former chief justice of Sri Lanka, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, the first female Chief Justice in South Asia, reflects the independence of judiciary in the region. Though conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka are not exactly the same in the other South Asian countries of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan where the Asian Legal Resource Centre is engaged, the fact is that the judiciary […]
Republic of Korea: State’s systematic segregation policy and law results in 513 deaths in a ‘concentration camp’ (“Auschwitz” in South Korea)
ALRC-CWS-26-14-2014 June 6, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty sixth session, Agenda Item 3, General Debates A joint written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) and a committee for the real truth of the case of Hyungje Bok-ji-won consisting of civil society organizations[1] Republic of Korea: State’s systematic segregation policy and law results in 513 deaths in a ‘concentration camp’ (“Auschwitz” in South Korea) 1. As a result of industrialization and urbanization in the Republic of Korea, the society faced a rapid growth of capital which triggered massive migration from the rural areas to the urban areas. Those […]