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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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SRI LANKA: Thirteen year old assaulted by his school teacher

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 25, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received news of yet another case involving a teacher in Sri Lanka assaulting one of his pupils. In the latest incident, on 17 July 2006 the ...

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Sajid’s family under threat from ruling political party leaders

Urgent Appeal Update | Bangladesh | | July 24, 2006

Dear friends, In June 2006 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) informed you about the death of Mr. Sajedur Rahman Sarkar Sajid in the Gaibandha police custody by the instructions of ruling politi...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Continued harassment of Thaivani and her children by the Yakkalamulla police

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | July 24, 2006

Dear friends, In June 2006, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported the alleged abduction of K. Thaivani’s three children aged 17, 16 and 8 by tea estate owner, D. Karunadasa who engaged in...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Update on Brutal torture of Mr. Premalal by Wanduramba police

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | July 24, 2006

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC0 wants to inform you updated information about Mr. Premalal, whose torture case was reported by the Asian Human Rights Commission on July 21, 2006...

INDIA: Army officer in Manipur threatened, intimidated and allegedly tortured student union activists who were on their way to meet the Chief Minister of the state for a peace talk as per the Minister’s invitation

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 23, 2006

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of yet another incident of intimidation and inhuman treatment by the Indian Army officers from Manipur, a state in the north-eas...

BANGLADESH: Man arbitrarily arrested and detained by the Police in Jessore district

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | July 23, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that Mr. Kamrul Hasan Kamal, who was an insurance company worker, was arbitrarily arrested, detained and implicated in a murde...

CAMBODIA: Authorities use state power to plunder lawfully owned land

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | July 20, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the Municipality of Phnom Penh continues to implement its so-called city development and beautification plan with its intention ...

SRI LANKA: Man brutally tortured by Wanduramba Police Station requires months of hospitalisation

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 20, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the brutal torture of a man allegedly by Sergeant Samaranayake of the Wanduramba police. The victim was taken ...

SRI LANKA: Man tortured by Alawathugoda Police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 20, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information detailing the torture of a man by police officers attached to the Alawathugoda Police Station. The victim was beaten and...

INDIA: BSF officers engaged in murder spree in Murshidabad district, West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 20, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner in India, MASUM about yet another brutal killing by the Border Security Forces (BSF) at the Indo-...

GENERAL APPEAL (Pakistan): Urgent help is needed for 200,000 displaced victims of military operations in Balochistan province

Urgent Appeal General | Pakistan | | July 20, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through international and national media as well a through local social and political groups of Pakistan that the Pakist...

PHILIPPINES: Two female student activists and a peasant forcibly abducted and disappeared; one of the victims is pregnant

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | July 19, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the disappearance of two student activists and a peasant on June 26, 2006. The victims Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño ...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Authorities continue to deny justice to child victim

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | July 19, 2006

[Re: UA-90-2004: SRI LANKA: A boy brutally assaulted by his teachers and denied his right of education; UP-42-2004: SRI LANKA: Update on a boy brutally assaulted by his teachers; UP–003–2006: SRI ...

SRI LANKA: Assault on a 15-year-old Bikku student by his Pirivena teacher

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 19, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has come to learn of a case involving the assault of a student by his Pirivena teacher. Early morning on 17 July 2006 a 15-year-old student Bikku...

INDIA: BSF officers kill two victims, including a 17-year-old boy

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 19, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned of the killings of two persons, one of whom was a minor, by officers of the Border Security Forces (BSF) operating along the Indo-Ban...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Torture victim has gone into hiding due to alleged death threats

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | July 19, 2006

[Re: UA-221-2006: SRI LANKA:  Death in prison custody of illegally arrested man; second man seriously injured, UP-140-2006: SRI LANKA: Responsibility of prison officers for death of M.S.F. Perera and...

INDIA: Police officers allegedly conduct illegal search and arrest and torture innocent person

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 18, 2006

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local partner regarding a man who was allegedly taken into custody by police officers and brutally tortured in Ke...

SRI LANKA: Assault and fabrication of charges by the Poddala Police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 18, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has come to learn of a case involving the fabricated charges of a man, owing to the line of work he is engaged in. Though the police have charged...

CAMBODIA: Authorities must investigate into alleged extortion of poverty-stricken villagers

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | July 18, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the guards of the state rubber plantation of Krek, in Pohnea Krek distict, Kompong Cham province and the police of the same prov...

SRI LANKA: Illegal arrest, brutal torture and fabrication of charges by the Kalutara South police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 18, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the brutal torture of a 19-year-old boy named Dhanuka Tisara by the Kalutara South police after his illegal ar...

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