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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: Police fail to investigate case as the alleged perpetrator is the son of an Assistant Superintendent of Police

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an accident victim Alton Laskshman Mendi who was left unconscious by the police who instructed the family memb...

UPDATE (India): Closure of cases filed before the National Human Rights Commission of India denies justice to the victims concerned

Urgent Appeal Update | India | | January 25, 2006

Dear friends, On 11 October 2004, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an urgent appeal regarding the illegal arrest of 16 human rights defenders in Tamil Nadu, India (UA-134-2004). On that...

SRI LANKA: Assault on a female police constable by an Inspector of Police of the Matugama police station

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the assault of a female police constable Sunethra Koswatte (WPC No 3134) by an Inspector of Police at the Matu...

UPDATE (Nepal): Further arrests occur in Nepal’s escalating crisis

Urgent Appeal Update | Nepal | | January 25, 2006

[RE:UA-036-2006: NEPAL: Further arrests in Nepal’s worsening political, security and human rights crisis; UG-002-2006: NEPAL: Immediate intervention required in Nepal’s deepening political, security...

INDIA: Corrupt police conniving with feudal landlords and utter neglect by the government facilitates extreme exploitation of tribal community in Uttar Pradesh, India

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 24, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the People’s Vigilance Committee for Human Rights (PVCHR), a local human rights group working in Uttar Prades...

NEPAL: Further arrests in Nepal’s worsening political, security and human rights crisis

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | January 24, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned of further human rights violations, notably beatings and arbitrary detentions, in relation to the ongoing suppression of the democrat...

THAILAND: Police free alleged murderer for cash but detain four witnesses

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 24, 2006

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been in communication with the Burma Lawyers Council (BLC) in Mae Sot, Tak Province, Thailand about the failure of local police to investigat...

UPDATE (Philippines): Investigation into the brutal torture of a man by mistaken identity begins

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | January 23, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in General Santos City, Mindanao has commenced its investigation into the case of ...

BANGLADESH: Turag police invade property in violation of court order

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | January 23, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the Turag police forcefully invaded a disputed land, and the house located on it, despite a court order requesting them no...

GENERAL APPEAL (Nepal): Immediate intervention required in Nepal’s deepening political, security and human rights crisis

Urgent Appeal General | Nepal | | January 23, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to voice our grave concern for the allegations of human rights violations in relation to the repression of demonstrations in Nepal’s deep...

UPDATE (Burma): Two police to go to court over alleged rape

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | January 23, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received news that two police officers in central Burma have been charged with rape by a local court, despite attempts by the police to bribe...

NEPAL: Re-arrest of two Nepalese citizens undermines official court orders and rule of law

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | January 23, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information regarding the re-arrest of citizens in Nepal, indicating that the practice is still rife within the country. ...

PHILIPPINES: Female peasant leader killed in front of her family

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | January 22, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another peasant leader, Ofelia Rodriguez (61), was killed allegedly by gunmen believed to be military agents in...

INDIA: Caste Hindus attack tribal communities and the police connive with the upper caste and refuse to take action in Uttar Pradesh, India

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 22, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a human rights group in Uttar Pradesh, India of at least three confirmed cases involving the tribal members of the ...

PHILIPPINES: Labour leader and his family face serious threats; three other labourers tortured by the military in Bulacan, Luzon

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | January 19, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is appalled by the serious threats made against the life of labour union leader, Enrico Estarez and his family. The threats were allegedly made b...

UPDATE (Burma): Ma Su Su Nwe hospitalised; Supreme Court to hear case

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | January 19, 2006

[RE: UA-112-2004: BURMA: Complaints against forced labour blocked and victims punished issued on 3 September 2004; UP-11-2005: BURMA: Four officials sentenced to prison for forced labour in Kawmhu Tow...

NEPAL: Threats made against the life of a human rights defender

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | January 18, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding serious threats made against the life of a human rights defender in Nepal. In recent days, the Sub-Inspector o...

NEPAL: A man arbitrarily detained and tortured by the ranger and his subordinate of the Royal Sukla Fhata National Park of Maj-Gwan Kanchanpur, Nepal

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | January 18, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the brutal torture, arbitrary arrest and 19 day illegal detention of a man by the ranger and his subordinate o...

NEPAL: A man arbitrarily detained and tortured by the Kanchanpur district police office

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | January 18, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arbitrary detention and torture of a man by the Kanchanpur district police office. Tek Raj Bhatta ran away...

INDIA: A man tortured and a human rights defender assaulted and verbally abused by the Inspector-in-Charge of the Serampore police station, Hoogly, West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 17, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture of a man and the assault of and verbal abuse against a human rights defender by the Inspector-in-C...

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