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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: Army personnel attack three hamlets, injuring five residents and destroying village property

Urgent Appeal Case | Indonesia | | December 5, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning an alleged attack on three hamlets in South Sulawesi by a group of army personnel in retaliation over a traff...

INDIA: Two men killed in mass lynching by villagers in West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | December 5, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from our local partner organization, Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum) in West Bengal, India, about an incident invol...

BANGLADESH: Man illegally arrested and detained then tortured and killed in the remand of the police in Dhaka

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | December 5, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man was arbitrarily arrested and detained then tortured and subsequently killed by the police attached to the Mohammadpu...

UPDATE (Philippines): Two more activists killed, one of whom suffered twenty-two gunshot wounds

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | December 4, 2005

[RE: UA-30-2005: Attempt on the life of human rights advocate and his wife in Abuyog, Leyte, Philippines; UA-34-2005: Killing of a labor rights activist for the Hacienda Luisita farm workers in Tarlac...

UPDATE (Singapore): Execution of Australian national carried out in Singapore

Urgent Appeal Update | Singapore | | December 1, 2005

[RE: FA-33-2005: SINGAPORE: Australian national faces imminent death by hanging; UP-128-2005: SINGAPORE: Australian confirmed to hang; UP-140-2005: SINGAPORE: Australian confirmed to hang on Friday De...

UPDATE (Saudi Arabia/Sri Lanka): Three Sri Lankans facing imminent execution suffer severe depression, with one having attempted suicide

Urgent Appeal Update | | December 1, 2005

[RE: UP-43-2005: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: Please send a lette...

UPDATE (Malaysia): Malaysian police minister defends the police following their abusive and degrading treatment of two Chinese women

Urgent Appeal Update | | December 1, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to update you on information we have received regarding the alleged abuse of two Chinese women in Malaysian police stations (to see furthe...

UPDATE (Philippines): Unabated killing of activists; killing and threats against witnesses exposes the country’s defective witness protection programme

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | December 1, 2005

[RE: UP-75-2005: Witnesses of activists’ killings in Luzon refuse to give evidence fearing their security UP-106-2005: Another human rights lawyer killed; wounded priest died while being treated at a...

UPDATE (Thailand): Alleged tortured victim withdraws his complaint against the police

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | December 1, 2005

[RE: UA-153-2004: THAILAND: Two cases of extremely serious torture and cruel and inhuman treatment by Thai police officers; UP-71-2004: THAILAND: More serious allegations of police torture emerge in T...

MALAYSIA: Chinese women forced to strip naked, detained and abused in police stations in Malaysia

Urgent Appeal Case | | November 30, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding Chinese women forced to strip naked, slapped and detained in police stations in Malaysi...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Rape victim and her family’s safety feared following the release of five suspects on bail

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | November 30, 2005

[RE: UA-183-2005: Rape of a female passenger by the airport officers inside of the Bandaranayake International Airport; UP-127-2005: Main suspect identified in alleged rape incident at Bandaranayake I...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Further details regarding the alleged torture case involving the Mahawela police

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | November 30, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to update you on a previous appeal we wrote (UA-220-2005) regarding the torturing of four persons, including one mentally disabled boy, by...

INDIA: Villagers protesting against a river project are subjected to torture in Uttaranchal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | November 29, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources about atrocities perpetuated by the local police in coalition with the district administration on ...

SRI LANKA: Fabricated charges laid against a school teacher by the Saliyawewa Police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | November 29, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the alleged fabricated charges of sexual assault laid against a school teacher by the Saliyawewa police. Ms. Pavithra Kar...

INDIA: Social activist kidnapped in Raigarh District, Chhattisgarh

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | November 29, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources about the kidnapping of a social and environmental activist in Raigarh District, Chhattisgarh on 2...

UPDATE (Philippines): Chief State prosecutor acknowledges the allegations of illegal arrest, detention and torture of three men

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | November 29, 2005

[RE: UA-74-2005: Trial of three men yet to begin after three years; UP-78-2005: Delay in trial due to possible neglect by the court and prosecutor; UP-108-2005: Court commences trial of three men due ...

INDIA: Police abuse and fire at family members of a man arrested and released on bail in a 1997 accident case

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | November 28, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal about the unauthorized entry of the police into the house of a ma...

UPDATE (Burma): Division court also summarily rejects case of ailing Ma Su Su Nwe

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | November 28, 2005

[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...

UPDATE (Pakistan): Tensions continue to simmer in alleged blasphemy case at Sangla Hills, Pakistan

Urgent Appeal Update | Pakistan | | November 28, 2005

[RE: UA-214-2005: PAKISTAN: Desecration and destruction of churches and Christian property after blasphemy allegations at Sangla Hills, Pakistan] PAKISTAN: Religious intolerance and violence, destruct...

SOUTH KOREA: Farmer dies as a result of the injuries he sustained from police brutality during a rally in Seoul

Urgent Appeal Case | South Korea | | November 28, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a 43-year-old farmer from Boryeong of South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, who died from a cerebral hemorrhage...

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