Urgent Appeal Case

We have learned that a meeting addressed by the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, with the theme ‘Including the Excluded in South Asia’, has completely ignored the issue of caste discrimination, which affects an estimated 200 million South Asians born into the lowest castes, subject to extreme violence, deprived of the most fundamental rights and considered untouchable. 

There has been another instance of severe torture of a ‘suspect’ at the hands of the Sri Lankan police on the 6th of October. The person who suffered the torture was Mr. Namal Fernando, 37, a fulltime social worker and father of three from Pitipana Duwa, Negombo, 32 km from Colombo. It appears to have been a case of mistaken identity – he has now been released from without charge and has been recovering in hospital. We are asking you to write letters on behalf of the torture victim. Details of the incident are as follows:

Theys Eluay, foremost political independence leader of West Papua and chairman of the Presedium Dewan Papua (Papua Praesidium Council), was abducted and murdered on Saturday night by unknown assailants. The killing follows Eluay’s vocal rejection last week of a Special Autonomy package offered by the Indonesian government to appease separatist sentiments.

A young Tamil woman, Miss S. Umadevi, 23, of Nawalapitiya, Imbulpitiya Estate has been abducted, raped and murdered on the 12th of September at Kopiwatte, Mallanda in Nawalapitiya on her way home after attending her typing class in Nawalapitiya Town.

Dear Friends The shocking events of September 11 in USA are so fresh in our minds – surely we will never forget the image of the hijacked planes destroying the World Trade Centre buildings and the Pentagon, nor the screams of those seeing the horror with their own eyes. It seems, however, that there has […]

Mr. Kim Dae-Jung President of the Republic of Korea The Chungwoadae 1 Sejong-ro, Chonro-gu Seoul, ROK   Your Excellency President Kim Dae-Jung,   On a most tragic day in the United States I’d still like to take the time to express my outrage at the treatment of South Korean citizens who have arrested for their […]

One of the most shocking cases of the violation of the fundamental human rights of women took place in broad daylight in the town of Talawakelle in the Central Province of Sri Lanka on August 12, 2001.

On August 24, seven activists among 337 South Korean civic, labour and religious delegates were arrested on charges of violating the National Security Law (NSL) after participating in the 2001 Grand Celebration for Reunification that was held in Pyongyang, North Korea, from August 15 to 21 to celebrate the 56th Korean independence day from Japanese colonisation. Upon their return home, 16 delegates were taken by the police at Kimpo domestic airport for questioning about their alleged controversial activities during this event in North Korea. 

The Norwegian freighter, Tampa with 438 asylum-seekers on board, primarily people from Afghanistan, remains just outside of Australia’s territorial waters off the coast of Christmas Island about 1,000 miles west of the mainland. The Australian government has refused to allow the freighter carrying these people who were rescued from a sinking Indonesian vessel late on Sunday to land in Australia. The Australian government has insisted that, although Australia is willing to offer humanitarian help, the ship should have taken the people to the closest port, which is in Indonesia. Thus, the Australian government now maintains that the issue is a matter between the Norwegian and Indonesian governments.

Shri Kishan Motwani State Minister for Devasthan (Temple worship) c/- Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Secretariat E-mail : rajassem@raj.nic.in <mailto:rajassem@raj.nic.in>   PRESIDENT K.R. NARAYAN Office of the President Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi 110 001 Email: pressecy@alpha.nic.in <mailto:pressecy@alpha.nic.in>   Mr. Justice J.S. Verma Chairperson National Human Rights Commission Dear sirs   I have been reading about the unconsciencable […]

Following is a report of the eminent fact-finding team who investigated one of the atrocities committed against a Dalit (meaning ‘oppressed’ – the name now used for those foremerly called ‘untouchable out-castes’ in India) in the State of Rajasthan in June. The incident is of a 65-year old Dalit named Ghasi Regar, who was beaten to death with an iron bar by an upper caste man for daring to pray at the temple of the village deity. 

The Japanese Prime Minister, Koizumi Junichiro, has vowed to visit to the Yasakuni Shrine – which is dedicated to Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals – this Wednesday, August 15, which is the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the Second World War. This comes amidst the furore created by the decision of Mr. Koizumi to back the controversial new history text-book that glosses over the wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese during the 1910-1945 Korean occupation, the 1937 Nanjing massacre in China and crimes such as the use of 100,000 ‘comfort women’ as forced sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Dear Ms. Robinson RE: CASTE IS STILL KILLING – PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE IT IN WCAR! It is hard to believe that the caste system in India can still be so entrenched that a young couple were publicly hanged to death by their families on Monday because they were in love and from different castes. […]

In a stark reminder that caste discrimination is still rife in India, a pair of mixed-caste lovers were hanged in public last Monday by their own family members in Alipur village, Muzaffarnagar district, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. 

Dear Sir’Ma’am   People’s watch is a human rights organization in India. We were informed that 19 people are being detained since their arrest on June 15 in association with the legitimate protests against the changes to labour laws and increases in fuel prices. We understand that labour conditions are already relatively poor and that […]

The pro-democracy ‘reformasi’ movement in Indonesia is facing a severe backlash. After one and a half months in jail, and with the presidency crisis resolved, the ‘Bandung 19’ political prisoners need your Urgent Action to call for their release. All the information you need for this action, including a sample letter, is included below. Please read as much as you can, but most importantly write the letter to Pres. Megawati.

The following appeal is to protest the increase in the price of milk products in Sri Lanka. This is a serious human rights concern about one of the most basic of all rights – the right to food. 

24 July 2001  Gen. Colin Powell  US Secretary of State  Dear General Powell,  Every minute, one human life is snuffed out because of small arms. At the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, John Bolton, the US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, stated that the US will […]

The Malaysian government has stepped up yet again its deprivation and violation of the basic rights of the ISA detainees. Ms. Mabel Au, fiancee of Mr. Tian Chua (one of the six men detained for 2 years under ISA), has been denied entry into Malaysia. Ms. Au – a Hong Kong resident and coordinator of the Committee for Asian Women Workers (CAW) based in Bangkok – has visited Mr. Chua at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Malaysia once previously since his arrest under the notorious Internal Security Act (see BACKGROUND), but this time was refused entry for unspecified ‘security reasons’. Not only was she not allowed to enter the country, she herself was detained in an airport lock-up for 13 hours pending her deportation flight. She was denied the right to contact her embassy. Her mobile phone was rendered inoperable by the guards after she managed to make a brief call to other family members waiting outside. 

Secretary of State  US Department of State  Washington, DC 20520  Sir,  Due to these Small Arms one life per minute has been stamped out because of small arms, resulting in destroyed families, destabilized societies, weakened countries. These was a serious issue because the life of the people in the under developed countries were declining due […]