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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: Severe torture of a 26-year-old man mistakenly arrested by the Gokarella police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 23, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source that a man, Manoj Thalis (26), was severely tortured by policemen attached to the Gokarella polic...

SRI LANKA: Rape of a female passenger by the airport officers inside of the Bandaranayake International Airport

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 20, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is shocked by the incident of a Sri Lankan female passenger being raped by airport officers inside of the Bandarnayake International Airport in ...

INDIA: Custodial death of a 28-year-old man in Kerala, India

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | October 20, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the death of a 28-year-old man, Mr. Udayakumar, who was severely beaten by policemen who arrested him at a par...

SRI LANKA: Brutal torture and fabricated charges laid against the victim by the Poddala Police, Galle District

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 20, 2005

SRI LANKA: Brutal torture; arbitrary arrest and detention; fabricated charges; threat and intimidation ——————————————...

SRI LANKA: Brutal and inhuman attack committed against a student by the Aralaganvile Police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 19, 2005

SRI LANKA: Police misconduct; custodial torture; threat and intimidation, government inaction ———————————————&...

INDIA: Five men beaten to death by villagers in Barasat, West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | October 18, 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, that five persons were b...

UPDATE (Indonesia): Only one torture perpetrator charged with maltreatment while the others are still at large in Kupang

Urgent Appeal Update | Indonesia | | October 18, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from the Initiative for the Development of People’s Advocacy (PIAR) in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia regar...

SRI LANKA: Sri Lankan lawyer under grave threats amid growing efforts to intimidate human rights workers and institutions

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 18, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you of our serious concern in relation to a Sri Lankan lawyer who has appeared for the complainants in many well-known human rig...

INDIA: Limited progress shown in pursuing the perpetrators who beat a man to death in Howrah, West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | October 17, 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, that a man, Tarun Hati, ...

INDONESIA: Police must immediately and properly investigate the disappearance of a journalist

Urgent Appeal Case | Indonesia | | October 17, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance and alleged murder of a journalist from the daily Berita Sore newspaper in Nias, North Sumat...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Trial begins in High Court relating to the torture of Gerald Perera

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | October 17, 2005

[RE: UP-32-2005: SRI LANKA: Please write a letter to the Attorney General to speed up Gerald Perera’s murder trial; UP-23-2005: Gerald Perera’s murder trial may not begin for another 5-7 y...

UPDATE (Burma): Latest news on jailing of human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | October 17, 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...

PAKISTAN: Jirga orders the murder of a 16-year-old girl

Urgent Appeal Case | Pakistan | | October 16, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the murder of a 16-year-old girl following a Jirga calling for her death for having dishonoured her tribe. M...

UPDATE (Thailand): Fourth special call for observers to attend court hearings over missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | October 16, 2005

[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 tra...

UPDATE (Burma): Human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe jailed in Insein Prison

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | October 13, 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...

SRI LANKA: An immediate independent inquiry is imperative into the attack on the Human Rights Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 13, 2005

SRI LANKA: Arson attack against Human Rights Commission headquarters; resistance against those fighting for victims of police crime; threat and intimidation ——————&...

SRI LANKA: Inhuman and degrading treatment and deprivation of the right to education of a 16-year-old schoolgirl

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 12, 2005

SRI LANKA: Assault; threat and intimidation; right to education; inaction by the police and education authorities ————————————&#...

INDIA: Victim of rape and attempted murder held in jail for two years while the perpetrators remain at large

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | October 6, 2005

INDIA: Gang rape; attempted murder; murder; Border Security Forces; police inaction; legal representation; failure of the courts; rule of law; women’s rights; child rights ————...

SRI LANKA: A 16-year-old boy assaulted by his teacher in Dumbulla

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | October 3, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human +Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 16-year-old boy was assaulted by a school teacher at the Pannampitiya Secondary School in Lenadora, Dumbulla Dis...

UPDATE (Thailand): Third special call for observers to attend court hearings over missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | October 2, 2005

[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 tra...

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