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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: List of items urgently needed in Indonesia/Aceh to deal with tsunami aftermath

Urgent Appeal Case | Indonesia | | January 6, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is sharing information it has about items urgently needed for the people affected by the tsunami in Indonesia/Aceh. Prompt foreign aid is required to as...

NEPAL: Illegal arrest and forced disappearance of four persons in Parbat District

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | January 5, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to you to report further illegal arrests and the forced disappearance of four persons in Parbat District.  According to the information w...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Further threat to the life of torture victim Channa Prasanna Fernando

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | January 5, 2005

(UP-01-2005: SRI LANKA: Police officers interdicted regarding three torture cases of Gerald Perera, Lalith Rajapakse and Channa Prasanna Fernando; UP-54-2004: SRI LANKA: Urgent protection is necessary...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): List of items urgently required in Kalutara, Matara and Batticaloa districts to deal with tsunami aftermath

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | January 3, 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is sharing the updated information about items urgently needed to the people affected by tsunami through local authorities in Kalutara, Matara and Batti...

SRI LANKA: A man brutally tortured by Kalutara North police

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

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Mr. Kavirathna Priyantha Kumara de Silva (37) was severely tortured by the Sub Inspector (S.I.) Weerasi...

INDIA: Explosion of army shell kills two young children

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | January 2, 2005

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you of death of two young children on 20 December 2004 after the explosion of an army shell, which had been carelessly discard...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Police officers interdicted regarding three torture cases of Gerald Perera, Lalith Rajapakse and Channa Prasanna Fernando

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

[RE: UP-81-2004: SRI LANKA: Continuing death threats to human rights activists and torture victims after murder of Gerald Perera; UP-77-2004: SRI LANKA: More death threats to a torture victim and a hu...

SRI LANKA: Ministry of Health announces list of medical items required to deal with tsunami aftermath

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | December 28, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shares the grief of those faced with one of the worst natural catastrophes of recent times by way of the tsunamis that devastated several countri...

UPDATE (Nepal): Man re-arrested for a third time as punishment for informing human rights organisations of his situation

Urgent Appeal Update | Nepal | | December 23, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you that Mr Jeewan Shrestha, who we have reported on in the past (UA-159-2004), has been re-arrested for the third time by secur...

BANGLADESH: Gang rape of woman by 14 police personnel

Urgent Appeal Case | Bangladesh | | December 23, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you of the gang rape of a woman by police personnel in Chuadanga, Bangladesh. On the night of 18 December 2004, 14 policemen fro...

UPDATE (Indonesia): 19 protesters still being detained while no action taken against the police officers responsible for the Bojong shooting

Urgent Appeal Update | Indonesia | | December 21, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the Bojong shooting in Indonesia, where police officers opened fire at demonstrators. The AHRC is conc...

THAILAND: Migrant workers’ rights activist facing legal prosecution and death threats

Urgent Appeal Case | Thailand | | December 20, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a group of state officers including the Mae Sot police, immigration officers and officers Department of Labour ille...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): The rape case pending for over three years in magistrate court

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | December 20, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by the exorbitant delay in the rape case of 16-year-old victim Rita, by the Attorney General’s Department. According t...

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Continuing death threats to human rights activists and torture victims after murder of Gerald Perera

Urgent Appeal Update | Sri Lanka | | December 16, 2004

[RE: UP-77-2004: More death threats to a torture victim and a human rights defender; Witness protection is urgently needed, UP-76-2004: SRI LANKA: Gerald Perera died after gunshot; His family needs ur...

CAMBODIA: Government interference threatens the independence of the Bar Association by overturning the result of presidency election

Urgent Appeal Case | Cambodia | | December 16, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by recent events regarding the Bar Association of Cambodia.  Of most significance was the overturning of election results fo...

SRI LANKA: Another alleged police murder of a man by the Moratuwa police

Urgent Appeal Case | Sri Lanka | | December 16, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information of another alleged police murder of a man, just 26 days after the murder of the torture victim, Gerald Perera, who died ...

NEPAL: Another illegal arrest and disappearance of a man by the Joint-Security Forces

Urgent Appeal Case | Nepal | | December 14, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by another illegal arrest and forced disappearance of a young man named Mr Naniram Kafle (23) by around 50 personnel of the J...

BURMA: Villager jailed illegally over farmers’ petition

Urgent Appeal Case | Burma (Myanmar) | | December 14, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Yoma-3 news service, Thailand about the illegal jailing of a villager in Burma in relation to a farmers’ ...

INDIA: Farmer died after extreme torture by Border Security Force personnel in Shirsiklaibari village, Malda district

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | December 14, 2004

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organization in West Bengal, that Mr Biswanath Modal, a 45-year-old farmer, died after bein...

INDIA: A disappeared victim’s mother’s seven year search for justice; Fair trial and urgent protection required

Urgent Appeal Case | India | | December 13, 2004

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), a human rights organization in West Bengal, that 11 police officers, ...

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