Urgent Appeal Case

Support Fr. Pallath’s hunger strike for justice  JESUIT ORDER IN KERALA – Physical assault, slander through gutter press, filing of fabricated criminal cases, denial of right to livelihood  ——————————————————————–  The latest update of this appeal is available at the following link: Jesuits belligerent in the face of moral hunger strike  Fr. Pallath, after a long […]

State violence and repression in Asia INDONESIA/MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE/AUSTRALIA: Repression and violence against human rights defenders on May Day 2002 ——————————————————————– Last Wednesday was International Labour Day – the day to remember and continue the struggle for basic human rights for workers around the world. Far too often the efforts of worker activists for justice end in […]

Time to ratify ICC Treaty SRI LANKA – Not yet a signatory to International Criminal Court Treaty ——————————————————————– The treaty on the International Criminal Court (ICC) received the required number of ratifications (60) on 11 April at the 9th Session of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC), effectively putting into force the […]

We reproduce below the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) statement calling for the immediate dispatch of peacekeepers and human rights monitors to the Occupied Territories of Palestine to implement a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the escalating violence. This statement is a declaration of support for the proposal put forward by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson. We urge everyone to participate in urging all parties concerned to expedite these missions.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that two refugee women from the Karenni minority ethnic group in Burma (Myanmar) were raped by Thai soldiers near their refugee camp on March 17, 2002. The Thai authorities, however, still have not taken any action to investigate this human rights violation. We know that many refugees and illegal migrants from Burma who are living in the border areas or refugee camps have been the victims of various types of human rights violations – assault, murder and rape – but most of these abuses have been neglected by the Thai authorities due to the status of the people from Burma.

During the last week of January 2002, at least 17 persons of Burmese origin were massacred in a single incident on the Mae Lamao stream, Mae Ramat district, within the vicinity of Mae Sot, Tak province, Thailand. As none of the victims were Thai, the local authorities initially ignored the case, however were pressured to act after word of the terrible event spread. The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand has since became involved.

A case of gang rape and sexual exploitation against Dalit minor girl INDIA: Caste based discrimination – a distinct case of racial discrimination on the basis of work and descent; right to life & fair trial and justice; abduction, gang-rape and sexual exploitation against Dalit minor girl ———————————————————– We are shocked to learn that a […]

Last resort’ for asylum seeker Stephen Khan AUSTRALIA: Mandatory detention and denial of the right to asylum, denial of independent fair trial, serious risk of ill-treatment if expatriated ——————————————————————— AHRC has previously issued urgent appeals drawing attention to the brutal treatment of asylum-seekers and the appalling conditions in detention centres in Australia. Since last year […]

We have received astounding news relating to the inhumane treatment and dismissal of a nun by her order. Sister Vanaselvi osm, a woman who has completely devoted her life to the service and upliftment of the poor in India, had been arrested (on 20 November 2001) and detained by the Suramangalam police on baseless charges.

We have received the information below from our contacts in Hong Kong, the Family Link Mental Health Education Program. We ask you to click on their web site and sign the online e-postcard at

We wish to alert you to a case of serious miscarriage of justice in Sri Lanka. A young Tamil woman, Ms. Victor Joyce Scholastica, has been imprisoned for almost four years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on the vague charge that she had allegedly \”made a sign or a gesture which could be a sign, to two purported accomplices\”. Her family believes that she is being held in prison as a substitute prisoner for her former fiance, who is not in the country.

This Urgent Appeal is regarding a high level police attack on the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on 22 January, 2002. 

This appeal is for an international response to the arrest and detention of 74 year-old Dr Salai Tan Thun, a retired Burmese university rector who has publicly petitioned the military government to return power to civilian rule. 

This is an appeal for urgent legal assistance as well as for sending emails and faxes in support of an aboriginal widow, Letty Scott, who is fighting for justice in the High Court of Australia.

State of Emergency and TADO enable gross human rights abuses NEPAL: ‘Anti-Terrorism’ law and ‘State of Emergency’ deny right to freedom from torture, arbitrary arrest, extra-judicial killings, freedom of expression, assembly, association and movement. Government directive to deny health care to Maoists. ——————————————————————- With at least 698 people killed and 2,000 arrested since the State […]

HONG KONG: Denial of right to family unity ———————————————————– Because of the immigration policies of the Hong Kong government and its actions to overturn a court ruling, thousands of families in Hong Kong in which at least one member is from mainland China face being separated. This is despite Article 16 of the Universal Declaration […]

AHRC draws your attention to the casse of Angline Roshana who was arrested and tortured on 3rd December 2000. Despite many interventions, the Attorney General of Sri Lanka has refused to act Under Act No. 22 of 1994, which gives him the power to prosecute offenders for Torture or other forms of Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

As you may be aware the Asian Human Rights Commission together with many other organizations has been carrying out a campaign to get the Sri Lankan Government to bring to justice the perpetrators of mass disappearances from the 1988-92 period as well as the disappearances which are continuing at present.

SRI LANKA: Denial of right to vote resulted in mass deaths ———————————————————– Consequent to the dissolution of the Parliament the previous month, the elections were held on the December 5, 2001 to elect the peoples’ representatives of the parliament in Sri Lanka. While the elections were marred by unprecedented violence, intimidation, reports of vote rigging […]

NEPAL: Innocent arrest and detention without any criminal evidence ———————————————————– We have learned that Mr. S. K. Pradhan, secretary-general of the Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (PFHRD) based in Nepal, one of the human rights organisations with general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, was arrested on […]