Basil Fernando

Basil Fernando is a leading global human rights activist, jurist, author and poet. He is a recipient of the 2014 Right Livelihood Award, Kwangju Prize for Human Rights, has been a Senior Ashoka Fellow and is the editor of Article 2 magazine. Following a career as a human rights, labour and criminal lawyer with the Sri Lankan Supreme Court, Fernando was inspired by the life and work of Indian statesman Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Danish philosopher N.F.S. Grundtvig to embark upon a lifelong crusade to defend human rights. With the outbreak of the Sri Lankan civil war, Fernando was further thrust into a pivotal role in addressing judicial breakdown across Asia.

He has served as Appeals Counsel for Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, which was sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and as Senior Human Rights Officer-In Charge of the Investigation Unit under the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). He was also Officer in Charge and Chief of the Legal Assistance at the Cambodia Office of the UN Center for Human Rights. He is currently Director of Policy and Programme Development at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, and Executive Director of Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC).

Fernando has authored numerous works on human rights and legal reform including, The Right to Speak Loudly: Essays on Law and Human Rights, Problems Facing the Cambodian Legal System, Modernization vs Militarization: Ethnic Conflict & Labour in Sri Lanka, Power vs Conscience, Sri Lanka’s Dysfunctional Criminal Justice System and Gyges’ Right: The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. He is co-author of The Phantom Limb and has co-edited books including Decline of Fair Trial in Asia. He has also contributed numerous articles to academic journals, magazines and newspapers.