Right to life abused in Asia in 2006 - report
By Palash Kumar
NEW DELHI, Dec 22 (Reuters) - As Asia enters 2007, its people are distressed and angry over growing human rights abuses.
"This is the grim picture of Asia as it approaches 2007," says a report titled "The State of Human Rights in Eleven Asian Nations" released by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Thursday.
It says people are distressed over extra-judicial killings, disappearences and torture; angry at the misuse of anti-terrorism laws; frustrated over rampant corruption; restless over curbs on their freedom of expression and feel let down by the ineffectiveness of parliaments, judiciary and the police.
The report chronicles the human rights situation in Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand in 2006.
Basil Fernando, executive director of AHRC, said extra-judicial killings, often called "encounter killings" where police shoot down alleged criminals, has been one of the biggest sources of human rights abuses in these countries.
"The right to life in terms of respect for due processes have given way to a very direct form of eliminating people without the normal processes of going through courts," Fernando told Reuters by telephone from his office in Hong Kong.
"It's happening in the Philippines, in India -- by way of encounter killings. One of the worst examples is Sri Lanka where it is happening in many forms," he added.
Sri Lanka, the report said, is the most violent place in Asia at the moment and the state has not taken any serious steps to bring it under control.
"The violence in Sri Lanka that presently afflicts the country has been aggravated by the collapse of the rule of law for a considerable time," the AHRC said.
There is an institutional collapse of the policing system; the judiciary is faced with a serious crises and the government lacks the capacity to carry out its functions of protection.
ARRESTS -- "ANYTIME, ANYWHERE"
In Bangladesh, arbitrary arrests -- "anyone, anywhere, anytime, any excuse" -- is among the most common features of policing in the country.
"It is routinely accompanied by assault and extortion, and also leads to torture, killing and other grave abuses of the arrested person and others," the report said.
Citing special security laws, the report said "a hapless ordinary pedestrian may end up in jail for months simply for crossing the road at the wrong time and in the wrong place: namely, where police were present."
In the Philippines, extra-judicial killings became "a common feature of life" in 2006, the report said.
"The absence of a credible policy on the part of the government to stop the killings has given credence to the view that the state itself is complicit in these killings," it added.
In Thailand, the report said, respect for human rights and the rule of law, were set back many years with the return to power of the military in September.
During 2006, Burma continued to be characterised by "wanton criminality of state officers at all levels and the absence of the rule of law", AHRC said.
THREAT TO MEDIA
In Pakistan, the media was under threat in 2006, the report said, with more that 20 journalists killed, tortured or disappeared. More than 90 cases of threats, harassment and attacks on journalists and their offices were also reported.
More than three FM radio stations and a television station were banned by the government's regulatory agency, it said.
In India, torture remains endemic in the criminal investigation system, the report said. Caste violence also continued while huge delays in the justice system meant more misery for the victims.
"In short, the neglect of justice in India is of such a proportion that it challenges India's claim of being a vibrant democracy," the report said.
"India's democracy, in fact, is fundamentally flawed and is unable to maintain the right of its ordinary people. The powerful, for the most part, are still above the law," it added.
"This is the grim picture of Asia as it approaches 2007," says a report titled "The State of Human Rights in Eleven Asian Nations" released by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Thursday.
It says people are distressed over extra-judicial killings, disappearences and torture; angry at the misuse of anti-terrorism laws; frustrated over rampant corruption; restless over curbs on their freedom of expression and feel let down by the ineffectiveness of parliaments, judiciary and the police.
The report chronicles the human rights situation in Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand in 2006.
Basil Fernando, executive director of AHRC, said extra-judicial killings, often called "encounter killings" where police shoot down alleged criminals, has been one of the biggest sources of human rights abuses in these countries.
"The right to life in terms of respect for due processes have given way to a very direct form of eliminating people without the normal processes of going through courts," Fernando told Reuters by telephone from his office in Hong Kong.
"It's happening in the Philippines, in India -- by way of encounter killings. One of the worst examples is Sri Lanka where it is happening in many forms," he added.
Sri Lanka, the report said, is the most violent place in Asia at the moment and the state has not taken any serious steps to bring it under control.
"The violence in Sri Lanka that presently afflicts the country has been aggravated by the collapse of the rule of law for a considerable time," the AHRC said.
There is an institutional collapse of the policing system; the judiciary is faced with a serious crises and the government lacks the capacity to carry out its functions of protection.
ARRESTS -- "ANYTIME, ANYWHERE"
In Bangladesh, arbitrary arrests -- "anyone, anywhere, anytime, any excuse" -- is among the most common features of policing in the country.
"It is routinely accompanied by assault and extortion, and also leads to torture, killing and other grave abuses of the arrested person and others," the report said.
Citing special security laws, the report said "a hapless ordinary pedestrian may end up in jail for months simply for crossing the road at the wrong time and in the wrong place: namely, where police were present."
In the Philippines, extra-judicial killings became "a common feature of life" in 2006, the report said.
"The absence of a credible policy on the part of the government to stop the killings has given credence to the view that the state itself is complicit in these killings," it added.
In Thailand, the report said, respect for human rights and the rule of law, were set back many years with the return to power of the military in September.
During 2006, Burma continued to be characterised by "wanton criminality of state officers at all levels and the absence of the rule of law", AHRC said.
THREAT TO MEDIA
In Pakistan, the media was under threat in 2006, the report said, with more that 20 journalists killed, tortured or disappeared. More than 90 cases of threats, harassment and attacks on journalists and their offices were also reported.
More than three FM radio stations and a television station were banned by the government's regulatory agency, it said.
In India, torture remains endemic in the criminal investigation system, the report said. Caste violence also continued while huge delays in the justice system meant more misery for the victims.
"In short, the neglect of justice in India is of such a proportion that it challenges India's claim of being a vibrant democracy," the report said.
"India's democracy, in fact, is fundamentally flawed and is unable to maintain the right of its ordinary people. The powerful, for the most part, are still above the law," it added.
1 comment:
THE WORLD MUST HELP TRUE KHMER TO KICK OUT YUON'S OCCUPIERS FROM CAMBODIA FIRST, BEFORE HUMAN RIGHT CAN BE ESTABLISH ACCORDINGLY.
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