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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: Two persons severely injured after being tortured by iron rods by the Wattegama police

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the very serious torture of two civilians named Rohitha Upali Liyanage and Sarath Bandara Ekanayake by the Wattega...

INDIA: Poor condition of the Basirhat Hospital morgue represents the collapse of post mortem system in West Bengal

Urgent Appeal General | India | | August 2, 2005

Dear friends, Further to its previous urgent appeals and statements regarding the appalling conditions of morgues and the consequent ill treatment of dead bodies, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AH...

THAILAND: Executive decree grants impunity to security forces in south of Thailand

Urgent Appeal Case | Thailand | | August 1, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the Thai government’s decision to submit the “Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation, B.E. 25...

UPDATE (Philippines): Prosecutor’s failure to ensure appearance of its complainants and witnesses postpones trial of five men

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | August 1, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from a reliable source that the hearing of five men in Davao City on July 25 was once again postponed. This is y...

NEPAL: A young man inhumanly tortured by the security personnel and requires urgent medical treatment

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | August 1, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for your urgent intervention regarding the horrific torture in Nepal of a 27-year-old young man, Lokendra Khadka. He was illegally ar...

INDIA: Non-cooperation by police in the case of a young man’s death in West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 31, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal about the local police in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, not only...

PAKISTAN: Investigation stalled into horrific killing of a human rights activist’s son

Urgent Appeal Case | Pakistan | | July 27, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to you seeking your urgent intervention into the brutal torture and horrific killing of 21-year-old Faraz Ahmed Naveed, the son of promine...

INDIA: Police inaction regarding assault of Dalit woman

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 27, 2005

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC) has received information from People’s Watch-Tamil Nadu of a caste-based assault on a Dalit woman in Vengamedu village, Perunthrai Taluk, Er...

SRI LANKA: A 11-year-old boy tortured by Kahawatte police and a ward of Children’s Home in Pannipitiya

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | July 26, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of the torture of an 11-year-old Gayan Sanjeewa Bandara by the Kahawatte police on 11 June 2005. The police arrested the boy su...

UPDATE (Thailand): Repeated failed commitment to assign Department of Special Investigation to Somchai case

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | July 25, 2005

[RE: FA-06-2004: THAILAND: A human rights lawyer Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit missing; UA-94-2004: Severe torture victims still in custody while police torturers remain in posts; UP-14-2004: Mr. Somchai N...

UPDATE (Saudi Arabia/Sri Lanka): Amnesty International appeals Saudi king to commute death sentences of the three Sri Lankan men

Urgent Appeal Update | Saudi Arabia | | July 25, 2005

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: 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-38-2...

UPDATE (India): No compensation to family of adivasi, murdered by forest official, despite a four year wait

Urgent Appeal Update | Bangladesh | | July 25, 2005

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (A...

BANGLADESH: Severe torture of a man by Rapid Action Battalion members in Dhaka

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | July 24, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the severe torture of a man by members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Jasimuddin road, Uttara sector- 7, Dhaka and RAB...

UPDATE (Thailand): Alleged torturer appears as prosecution witness in criminal case against victim in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Provincial Court while Thai government delegation to UN Human Rights Committee declares that the accused have been investigated

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | July 21, 2005

[RE: UP-10-2005: THAILAND: Updated information on the torture of the four men by the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya police, UP-04-2005: THAILAND: Repeated torture at Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Police Station;...

UPDATE (India): Police action on death in custody of young man in Kerela

Urgent Appeal Update | India | | July 20, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to learn that at least two police officers have been suspended and arrested in connection with the torture and death of a man in polic...

SAUDI ARABIA/PHILIPPINES: Assault of four protesters at the Philippines Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | July 19, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding to you information from the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) in Hong Kong regarding the alleged assault of four Filipino wo...

SRI LANKA: Alleged torture and extra judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the alleged torture and extra-judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police, Sri Lanka. On 30 April 2005, Damikka Dis...

SRI LANKA: A 52-year-old man allegedly tortured to death by the Peliyagoda police over a trivial complaint

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed that 52-year-old Hettiarachchige Abeysiri residing at 506/1 Delgahawatte Wanawasala, Kelaniya was tortured to death by the Peliyagoda ...

BANGLADESH: Extra-judicial killings of 378 people allegedly at the hands of Bangladesh’s law enforcement agencies

Urgent Appeal General | Bangladesh | | July 18, 2005

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding the increasingly common practice of extra-judicial killings by law enforcement agencies ...

INDIA: Man loses eyesight due to injury while working in paddy fields in Gujarat

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | July 17, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources about a sugar cane cutter losing his sight in one eye while working in the paddy fields that come ...

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