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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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INDONESIA: Forced eviction renders hundreds homeless and threatens security of others

Urgent Appeal Case | Indonesia | | January 17, 2006

Dear friends, It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that on 11 January 2006, approximately 125 semi-permanent houses were bulldozed by the local authorities, evictin...

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...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Four police officers, including a Sub Inspector of Police, arrested over the murder of Lalantha Fernando

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | January 12, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that four police officers, including a Sub Inspector of Police, have been arrested regarding the murder of Lalantha Fernando...

SRI LANKA: Immediate treatment and medicines required for a torture victim presently detained at the Kalutara remand prison

Urgent Appeal Case | Thailand | | January 11, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of yet another case of brutal torture of a man, D.A. Gayan Rasika (24), by the Welipenna police following his arrest on 7 Ja...

INDONESIA: Torture of two villagers by police in South Sumatera over permission letters to buy cows

Urgent Appeal Case | Indonesia | | January 11, 2006

Dear friends, It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that two men were tortured by police officers in Buay Runjung, South Sumatera, Indonesia on 23 November 2005. Ara...

SRI LANKA: A young man tortured allegedly in revenge for his parent’s campaign against the illicit liquor trade

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

Dear friends, It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that a 21-year-old man was tortured by police personnel attached to the Horana police station on 5 January 2006. ...

UPDATE (Thailand): Verdict in case of missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit due on January 12

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | January 10, 2006

[RE: FA-06-2004: THAILAND: A human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit missing… UP-20-2005: THAILAND: Human rights lawyer still missing after nearly one year; Action needed today to have case tran...

INDIA: Police shooting leaves nine protestors dead in Orissa; policeman also killed in the incident

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 10, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal, about the police shootout at protestors in Orissa, India which h...

SRI LANKA: 20 forced disappearances reported in December 2005

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | January 10, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of a report by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) stating that enquiries are ongoing regarding 20 complaints o...

BANGLADESH: Gang rape of a minority woman in Bagerhat district

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | January 10, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the alleged gang rape of a woman belonging to a minority community by six men in Hogolpota village, Bagerhat d...

INDIA: Feudal lords attack Daliths for claiming proper wage, while police refuse to take action and pressure the victim to withdraw complaint in Uttar Pradesh, India

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 10, 2006

INDIA: Feudal lords attack Daliths for claiming proper wage, while police refuse to take action and pressure the victim to withdraw complaint in Uttar Pradesh, India INDIA: Racial discrimination, murd...

SRI LANKA: Brutal torture of a man and subsequent filing of fabricated charges against him by the Thambuththegama police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | January 9, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man was brutally tortured by the police, who subsequently filed fabricated charges against him on 23 December 2005. T...

BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | January 9, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by Task Force against Torture (TFT) of the Rajshahi district that two persons were killed by police fire in the Chapainawabganj...

SRI LANKA: Arbitrary detention and torture committed yet again by the Horana police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | January 9, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture and arbitrary detention of Nihal Kithsiri. Nihal was arrested by SI Silva and PC Bandara and taken...

SRI LANKA: Urgent need for new machines at the Anuradhapura Hospital Dialyses Unit

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | January 9, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to bring to your attention a situation which is ongoing at the Anuradhapura Hospital Dialyses Unit.  In an article that appeared in the D...

GENERAL APPEAL (Philippines): A call to prohibit the practice of showing the faces of arrested suspects to the media and general public

Urgent Appeal General | Philippines | | January 8, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to voice our contempt for the ‘systematic practice’ by the police, military and government officials in the Philippines in showing the f...

SRI LANKA: Arbitrary shootings and recklessness by the Opanayake police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | January 8, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the case of Mr. Wijethileka who was shot twice in the back by two Opanayake police officers.  The victim was ...

BANGLADESH: A man arbitrarily arrested and tortured by the Kotwali police remains detained in Barisal jail

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | January 8, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man, who was arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured by the Kotwali police continues to remain in Barisla jail despi...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Attorney General withdraws criminal case against school staff who tortured a student

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | January 5, 2006

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the torture of a 16-year-old student, Sahan Tharaka, by his teachers and the Assistant Principal of hi...

SRI LANKA: A man suffers hearing loss after being tortured by the Ayagama police

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the torture of a man, M.H. Priyantha Minipura (25), by policemen attached to the Ayagama police post following his arr...

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