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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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UPDATE (Sri Lanka): No investigation has yet been conducted into the mistaken amputation of a woman’s leg

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | May 4, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) refers to our urgent appeal issued on 22 April 2005 regarding the case of Ms. Citthi Naseera (48) who suffered the amputation of a healthy limb d...

UPDATE (Burma): Health and family conditions of jailed villager worsen

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | May 4, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Yoma-3 news service, Thailand about the worsening health and family conditions of a villager jailed illegally f...

PHILIPPINES: Trial of three men yet to begin after three years

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | May 3, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the long delay in the trial of three men named Jejhon Macalinsal, Aron Salah and Abubakar Amilhasan. They were...

SRI LANKA: A woman’s baby is stillborn due to police torture

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

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that K.A. Ganga Kalpani, gave birth prematurely after being tortured by the Embilipitiya police, resulting in her child ...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): UN Human Rights Committee over-rules government’s objections to admissibility regarding Lalith Rajapakse’s case

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | May 2, 2005

[RE: UP-17-2005:  SRI LANKA: Lalith Rajapakse freed; Action needs to be taken against the police who falsely charged him, UP-81-2004: SRI LANKA: Continuing death threats to human rights activists and...

INDIA: Two years on, victim’s father is still waiting for justice

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | April 28, 2005

Dear friends, It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that the police in West Bengal, India have taken little action regarding the murder of 22-year-old Mintu Sheikh o...

INDIA: Gruesome murder of Dalit activist

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | April 26, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the National Campaign of Dalit Human Rights, (NCDHR, a Jaipur, Rajasthan based Centre for Dalit Rights) and People&...

PHILIPPINES: Prosecutor’s inaction to file murder charges against military officers who killed two people

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | April 26, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) that the City Prosecutor in Tagum City, Mindanao, who investigat...

INDIA: Police Inaction on Illegal Occupation of land belonging to Social Activist

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | April 25, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources regarding denial of access to land granted by authorities to Rehana, a resident of Gangoh, Saharan...

PHILIPPINES: Court orders trial of five torture victims detained over two years without trial

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | April 25, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) regarding the detention of five torture victims for over two years w...

NEPAL: Military-sponsored vigilantes savage treatment of citizens

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | April 25, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by new information received regarding the savage treatment of citizens by a military-sponsored civilian militia group called...

PHILIPPINES: A person detained over 2 years without trial due to prosecutor’s misconduct

Urgent Appeal Case | Philippines | | April 21, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) – Mindanao about a man named Pegie Boquecosa (24) who has ...

SRI LANKA: A woman’s healthy leg was amputated at the Negombo General Hospital due to mistaken identity

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | April 21, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a healthy leg of Ms. Citthi Naseera (48) was mistakenly amputated at the Negombo General Hospital on 1 March 2005. ...

UPDATE (Thailand): Government commits to giving witness protection to missing lawyer’s family

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | April 20, 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 (Indonesia): State intelligence officers delay Munir investigation

Urgent Appeal Update | Indonesia | | April 19, 2005

Dear friends, According to updated information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Indonesian police have named two further suspects in the death of human rights activist Munir. ...

SRI LANKA: Victim dies after severe torture by the Maharagama police in Colombo District

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the killing of a Mr. Don Wijerathna Munasinghe by the Maharagama police in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Mr. Munasinghe was...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): The inefficiencies of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on two torture cases

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | April 19, 2005

[Re: Case 1: UA-135-2004: Alleged illegal detention and torture of a man by officers at Kuruwita Police; UA-63-2005: Need for inquiry into police and inquiring officers conduct in investigating a tor...

UPDATE (Philippines): A call for speedy resolution of a case filed against the military in the killing of Indigenous People (IPs) in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur

Urgent Appeal Update | Philippines | | April 18, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has receive updated information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) that charges and violations of Indigenous People’s ...

SRI LANKA: Torture victim disillusioned as police departmental inquiry against torturers is repeatedly delayed

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the continual and apparent deliberate delay in seeking justice for a victim of torture against two accused pol...

UPDATE (Thailand): Wife of missing human rights lawyer intimidated

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | April 18, 2005

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

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