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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: Assault of 12-year-old by the Wattegama police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | February 22, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the information that a 12-year-old boy named A.M. Shriyantha Bandara was severely assaulted by the officers from the Wattegama Polic...

BANGLADESH: Perpetrators of grenade attack on Awami League rally must be brought to justice

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | February 22, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned by the attack on an Awami League rally that killed Bangladesh’s former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, his nephew Shah Manju...

BANGLADESH: Perpetrators of grenade attack on Awami League rally must be brought to justice

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | February 22, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned by the attack on an Awami League rally that killed Bangladesh’s former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, his nephew Shah Manju...

UPDATE (Nepal): Additional lists of arrested political leaders/activists and human rights defenders

Urgent Appeal Update | Nepal | | February 22, 2005

[Re: UP-16-2005: NEPAL: List of arrested political leaders and human rights defenders; International intervention is urgently required; UG-01-2005: NEPAL: Latest information on the situation in distri...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Lalith Rajapakse freed; Action needs to be taken against the police who falsely charged him

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | February 21, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that torture victim Lalith Rajapakse was acquitted by the Magistrate of Wattala regarding charges of obstruction of poli...

SRI LANKA: Extraordinary delay in adjudication; Case drags on for more than 11 years

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | February 17, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the extraordinary delay in the case of Mr. T. Lilananda, who has been waiting for justice for over 11 years. Mr. T. Lilana...

UPDATE (Nepal): List of arrested political leaders and human rights defenders

Urgent Appeal Update | Nepal | | February 17, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward updated information to you regarding recent arrests in Nepal’s worsening crisis. The following are some cases of arrest a...

SRI LANKA: A torture victim is under threat from his torture perpetrators and his lawyer is allegedly collaborating with the accused

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | February 16, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the defense lawyer of Asaru Pulige Sarath Jayaweera Sandanayake (43), who had filed a Fundamental Rights Applicatio...

CAMBODIA: The silencing of the Cambodian parliamentary opposition

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | February 16, 2005

CAMBODIA: withdrawal of parliamentary immunity; violation of constitution provision; criminal defamation Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the w...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Aid goods for tsunami victims are held in Port due to heavy duties

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | February 16, 2005

[RE: FA-01-2005: SRI LANKA/ASIA: Tsunami rehabilitation; Statement of the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP); FA-02-2005: SRI LANKA: Recently declared emergency may cause the increase of offences by ...

UPDATE (Thailand): Updates on the tsunami-affected Burmese migrant workers

Urgent Appeal Update | Thailand | | February 15, 2005

[RE: UA-10-2005: THAILAND: Discriminatory relief operations and forced deportation against Burmese migrant workers affected by tsunami on 19 January 2005] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commissi...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): The assassin of Gerald Perera has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | February 15, 2005

[RE: UP-76-2004: SRI LANKA: Gerald Perera died after gunshot; His family needs urgent protection, UP-74-2004:  SRI LANKA: No action from the government to protect torture victim even after attempt on...

SRI LANKA: A man falsely charged by the Panadura North Police following his lodging of a complaint against a criminal

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the illegal arrest and detention of a man and his appearance before a Magistrates Court on fabricated charges,...

SRI LANKA: Sexual abuse of a boy goes unpunished

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information of the sexual abuse of a seven-year-old boy in Sri Lanka. For the protection of the victim and his mother, we cannot rev...

NEPAL: Latest information on the situation in districts in Nepal

Urgent Appeal General | Nepal | | February 10, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is sending you the report which includes latest situation in districts in Nepal. The report includes the information up to 10 February 2005 s...

INDIA: Police violations of arrest and detention procedures in West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | February 7, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal, of the illegal detention of Mr. Ashok Gupta by the Serampore pol...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Death threats to a torture victim’s family from accused police officers

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | February 7, 2005

[RE: UA-50-2003: Torture of 14 year old child by police officers, UP-37-2003: The family of 14-year-old torture victim threatened by the police and a local politician; UP-47-2003: SRI LANKA: Torture v...

SRI LANKA: Wadduwa police refused to file a complaint of a man who was assaulted by a drunk sergeant

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | February 7, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the assault of Mr Marasinghe Arachchige Anura Dissanayaka by the police sergeant Nimal of the Wadduwa Police S...

INDIA: Railway staff tortured by escorts of senior police officers in West Bengal

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | February 6, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that railway staff Mohammad Musharaf Hossain was severely assaulted by two police escorts of senior police officers in West B...

UPDATE (Burma): Four officials sentenced to prison for forced labour in Kawmhu Township, Yangon Division

Urgent Appeal Update | Burma (Myanmar) | | February 6, 2005

[RE: UA-112-2004: BURMA: Complaints against forced labour blocked and victims punished issued on 3 September 2004] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is happy to inform you that o...

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