Asian Human Rights Commission

On Oct. 5, 2003, the board of directors of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) decided to present its inaugural Human Rights Defenders Award to Michael Anthony Fernando in recognition of his struggle for basic freedoms. Fernando is today being released from jail in Sri Lanka where he has been serving a contempt of court sentence since February 2003 arising from a fundamental rights case that he himself submitted to the Supreme Court. Fernando has found himself in jail because of his determination to uphold principles of liberty with an uncommon sense of courage, seriousness and self-sacrifice.

Human rights and liberties are expanded most by people willing to make a sacrifice in the defence of their principles. Society is obliged to recognise and honour such sacrifices. For these reasons, AHRC has chosen to begin presenting awards to human rights defenders at opportune moments and has selected Michael Anthony Fernando to receive its inaugural award.

The right of representation before a court without fear and intimidation is a fundamental freedom. The defence of this freedom is an unavoidable duty of all citizens. Lawyers in particular have a duty to defend this right. In recent times, however, lawyers in many Asian countries have not demonstrated a willingness or ability to protect this freedom upon which the very integrity and honour of their profession rests. In Sri Lanka too, lawyers have failed to uphold their responsibility at the expense of their credibility. Instead, it has fallen to individuals in the wider community to defend these fundamental rights.

The great sacrifice that Michael Anthony Fernando has made in the name of fundamental freedoms in Sri Lanka is a wake-up call for all lawyers and, indeed, the entire society. The serious degeneration of Sri Lanka¡¦s judiciary is now a matter of public record, both within the country and internationally. Regarding Fernando¡¦s case in particular, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the U.N. special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, commented that "the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has done an act of injustice. A man who came to seek justice was served with injustice."

While the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is responding to calls for justice with injustice, to date, no serious action has yet been taken to reverse the dangerous effects that it is having on the entire judicial system. The lives and liberty of all people in the country remain very much at risk. Mr. Fernando¡¦s example is therefore of supreme importance, and it is for this reason that AHRC today lauds him as an exemplary human rights defender worthy of recognition, honour and emulation.