Urgent Appeals

Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries. Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings. Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere. People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person. And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm. There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances. Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly. In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate. Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle. In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates. For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.
READ MORE

You can filter the articles by the following criteria.

PHILIPPINES: Alleged illegal arrest and torture of a farmer in Quezon

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the alleged illegal arrest and torture of a farmer in Quezon. On 4 April 2006, Mr. Fernando Tawagon was allegedly arre...

SRI LANKA: List of some abducted persons for the last one year

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) forwards below a list of persons recently abducted in Sri Lanka, based on a report issued by the Civil Monitoring Mission on February 7, 2007. Th...

CAMBODIA: 29 families face illegal eviction after the military disobeys a court order

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that an army general named Heng Kham Van, who is also the chief of the Committee of Immovable Property Management for the Royal Cambo...

INDIA: Police remain inactive in the case of abduction of a minor in West Bengal

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Indian autho...

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Torture victim Santa and her husband are under extreme death threats

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls for your immediate intervention to ensure the security of torture victim Mrs. Shahin Sultana Santa and her husband Mr. Atinur Rahrman, who ...

UPDATE (Pakistan): Hateful policies of inaction by the state result in the brutal death of a young man from the Pakistan’s minority Hindu community

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of 23 year-old Mr. Gareesh Kumar who is from the Hindu minority in Pakistan and was kidnapped...

PHILIPPINES: Student leader extra-judicially murdered in Daet

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned of the extra-judicial killing of a 23 year-old business administration student named Farly Alcantara in front of his college in Daet ...

BANGLADESH: Brutal police torture of a man in Bogra district

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding an alleged brutal torture of a man by the Kotwali police in Bogra district on 25-26 J...

CAMBODIA: Continuous demolition of village homes and the violent assault of a woman in Palin town

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that on 11 February 2007 at 11:20 am, two military officers named Vy and Thol allegedly demolished the home of a villager named Keo S...

INDIA/BANGLADESH: Alleged abduction of one Indian farmer by the Bangladesh Rifles

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of the Bangladesh authoriti...

INDIA: Alleged arbitrary arrest and torture of 7 rag pickers by the Baranagar police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner MASUM in West Bengal regarding the alleged arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and brutal torture...

SRI LANKA: Brutal assault of an innocent man by the Dodangoda police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received yet another brutal assault of an innocent young man by the Sri Lankan police. We were informed that without any reason, Mr. A.A. Pri...

BURMA: Another villager appealing jail term for complaint against officials

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a villager who has been jailed for one year in Burma after complaining about the illegal activities of local autho...

CAMBODIA: Two women almost buried alive for protecting their land

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian au...

UPDATE (Pakistan): No policemen arrested while medical report confirms brutal torture

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of Mr. Hazoor Buksh Malik (24), whose penis was cut while being tortured by the Market police...

UPDATE (Japan): Call for On-line petition for a justice of a man sentenced to death row by false accusation

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you to call special attention to the on-line petition for  justice to Mr. Kazuo Ishikawa who was originally sentenced to death by ...

UPDATE (Bangladesh): A prominent human rights defender falsely implicated with a murder case

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the alleged arbitrary arrest of the NGO leader namely Mr. Shahidul Islam by army personnel in Satkhira...

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Court granted bail to two torture victims

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that bails for two torture victims, Mr. Muzibur Rahman and Mr. Waheduzzaman, who were arbitrarily arrested, deta...

INDIA: A person allegedly killed and two seriously injured by the Border Security Force in Manipur

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner, the Human Rights Alert (HRA) based in Manipur, India, regarding an alleged incident of shooting ...

PHILIPPINES: Widow and seven children in grave danger after husband shot dead in Iloilo

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from local organisation PARRDS (Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services) that a farming leader na...