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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.
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CAMBODIA: Man allegedly shot dead after being tortured by police

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | October 15, 2006

[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...

INDIA: Man looses his hearing due to police torture in Kerala

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | October 12, 2006

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from our local partner based in Kerala state, India, regarding the case of Mr. Sunil who was tortured at the Kodakara po...

GENERAL APPEAL (Philippines): Escalating violence in Mindanao requires immediate action

Urgent Appeal General | Philippines | | October 11, 2006

PHILIPPINES: Violence against civilians; threat of possible arrests and torture of scapegoats; a need for a peaceful solution to violence; a need to resume peace negotiations ———R...

SRI LANKA: A torture victim is threatened by police to withdraw his complaint

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 11, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man from Galle, Sri Lanka, who tried to register the case of robbery, rather brutally assaulted by one sub inspec...

PAKISTAN: A man deprived of a fair trial faces imminent execution

Urgent Appeal Case | Pakistan | | October 11, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for your urgent intervention to save the life of Mr. Mirza Tahir Hussain (aged 38), who is facing imminent execution scheduled for ear...

UPDATE (Philippines): Arrested eight workers released; false charges remain

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | October 10, 2006

[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 Philippine au...

CAMBODIA: Villager is illegally detained by court due to alleged land dispute case

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | October 10, 2006

[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...

PHILIPPINES: Another IFI priest brutally murdered

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | October 10, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) or the Philippine Independent Church, Fr. Dionisio G...

PAKISTAN: Torture of two men after being falsely charged under blasphemy law

Urgent Appeal Case | Pakistan | | October 9, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the severe torture of two men by the Saddar police in Faisalabad district, Punjab province, Pakistan on 10 Septemb...

PHILIPPINES: Another IFI priest receives a death threat

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | October 8, 2006

[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 Philippine au...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Alleged attempt to harm a torture victim by the perpetrators

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | October 8, 2006

[Re: UA-50-2003: Torture of 14 year old child by police officers, UP-37-2003: The family of 14-year-old torture victim threatened by the police and a local politician; UP-47-2003: SRI LANKA: Torture v...

UPDATE (Thailand): Join protest for media freedom and 1997 Constitution

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | October 8, 2006

[RE: UG-018-2006: THAILAND: UN rights bodies must act urgently to address junta; UP-189-2006: THAILAND: Illegal detention of former government ministers; UP-190-2006: THAILAND: Websites and radio stat...

BURMA: Five former student activists arrested without cause and denied their legal rights

Urgent Appeal Case | Burma (Myanmar) | | October 5, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the arrests and continued detention of five pro-democracy activists last week in Burma.  Former student activists Min...

UPDATE (Pakistan): Torture victim abducted after testifying about abuse

Urgent Appeal Update | Pakistan | | October 5, 2006

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 Pakistan auth...

SRI LANKA: Farmer brutally tortured and systematically intimidated by police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 5, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arbitrary arrest, detention and subsequent brutal torture of Mr. Suddage Sirisena, a fifty-year-old rural ...

UPDATE (India): Jalangi police and West Bengal government encouraging violence in the state

Urgent Appeal Update | India | | October 5, 2006

[Re: UA-244-2006: INDIA: BSF officers kill two victims, including a 17-year-old boy; UP-156-2006: INDIA: Two BSF constables dismissed without facing legal action for the killing and UA-283-2006: INDIA...

GENERAL APPEAL (Pakistan): Sindh provincial government’s deliberate negligence to protect the Hindu religious minority

Urgent Appeal General | Pakistan | | October 5, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the recent repression of Hindu religious minorities by Muslim extremists in Karachi, Sindh province, Pakistan....

PHILIPPINES: 13 activists arrested; 20 families left homeless in a violent demolition

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | October 4, 2006

[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 Philippine au...

PHILIPPINES: Killing of prominent human rights defender Bishop Alberto Ramento

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | October 4, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by a killing of a prominent human rights defender Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), or Phil...

CAMBODIA: Another alleged forced eviction by a senator

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | October 3, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding yet another case of an alleged illegal forced eviction in Cambodia, in which another tycoon senator is involve...

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