News

On 19th March 2015, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Forum-Asia  hosted a parallel event titled “Political Transition, Democracy and Human Rights: The Experience in Burma and Sri Lanka” at the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The speakers for the event are Dr. Nimalka Fernando from IMADR and Ms. Khin Ohmar from Burma Partnership . The moderator for the panel discussion was Dr. Matt Pollard from International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)  which works on independence of judges and lawyers, and access to justice. Attacks against minorities Dr. Pollard opened the discussion by questioning the current situation of ethnic and religious minorities in the […]

IMADR statement on “Hate speech against minorities” at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here. ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 28th session of the Human Rights Council Item 3: Interactive Dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on minority issues 18 March 2015 Thank you Mr. President, We welcome the report of Ms. Rita Izsàk’s and her study on hate speech and incitement to hatred against minorities in media. The study can serve as practical guidelines for various stakeholders to take effective measures to combat hate speech in media including the internet. We reiterate Madam Rapporteur’s emphasis on the need to take structural […]

IMADR statement on “Human Rights Defenders in Bangladesh and Accountability in Sri Lanka” at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here. ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 28th session of the Human Rights Council Item 4: General Debate 17 March 2015 Thank you Mr. President, We join South Asians for Human Rights to condemn the recent killing of blogger Mr. Avijit Roy in the capital of Bangladesh on 26 February, by a group of assailants suspected to be religious extremists. Mr. Roy was known for his writings on various human rights issues, and he had publicly criticised religious extremism. Also, we are […]

IMADR presented its joint oral statement with Franciscans International  on “Freedom of religion in Sri Lanka” at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 28th session of the Human Rights Council Item 3: Clustered Interactive Dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief 11 March 2015 Thank you Mr. President, IMADR and Franciscans International appreciate the assurance given by the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka during his intervention at the High Level Segment last week, which the new administration is committed “to work towards reconciliation and to unite the minds of the people of all ethnic […]

IMADR statement on “Human Rights Defenders in Bangladesh” at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  *This statement was not orally delivered due to the time limitation. ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 28th session of the Human Rights Council Item 3: Clustered Interactive Dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Thank you Mr. President, We wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Forst’s commitment to protect human rights defenders (HRDs) including improvement of the communication system. As you rightly pointed out in the report, States have primary responsibility to protect HRDs. We urge all States to […]

Together with Franciscans International, IMADR is holding a side event on “Freedom of Religion in Sri Lanka” at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council from 11 am, Thursday 12 March at Room XXIII in Palais des Nations. For further information, click on the flyer below.

IMADR joined a panel of experts at the side event on “Celebration the 50th Anniversary of the Adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)” (2 March, Room XXIV, Palains des Nation) hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia. The side event was opened by H.E. Mr. Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium and H. E. Mr. Bogdan Benko, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, followed by the panel. The panel was composed of four speakers: Ms. Fatima Binta Victoire Dah, former Chair […]

United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights composed of 18 independent experts, expressed its concern on the information in which human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and others have reportedly been facing intimidation and harassment including physical attacks, death threats and administrative detention. It also concerned on defamation campaigns against human rights defenders and the State’s failure to hold perpetrators of reprisals accountable. IMADR presented a joint oral intervention with FORUM-ASIA on “Attacks and reprisals against human rights defenders” at the NGO briefing with the Committee. Civil society representative from Sri Lanka reading the joint statement before the Committee In its concluding […]