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: Labor Activist, after delivering a public speech, is criminally charged under Articles of Criminal Defamation

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-001-2021  January 22, 2021 ———————————...

INDONESIA: The National University must stop criminalization and oppression against their students.

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME  Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-007-2020  August 18, 2020 ———————————&#...

NEPAL: Deteriorating health condition of youth activists who are on second phase of indefinite hunger strike

  NEPAL: Deteriorating health condition of youth activists who are on second phase of indefinite hunger strike ISSUES: Hunger strike, Illegal arrest and detention  —————...

SRI LANKA: Urging the Sri Lankan authorities to support the Supreme Court’s Direction to educate Law- Enforcement System personnel, on the law elimination of and the use of torture

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC UAC-005-2020 23 July 2020 ————————————R...

SRI LANKA: Illegal arrest, detention and torture of an autistic child allegedly by some police officers acting under the direction of the OIC of Aluthgama Police Station

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC UAC-003-2020  20 July 2020 ————————————&#...

SRI LANKA: Case of alleged torture, illegal arrest and detention of Liyanage Pasindu Yasantha Perera by some officers of Kalutara District Crime Division

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC UAC-002-2020  16 July 2020 ————————————&#...

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව: පොලීසියට වධහිංසාවට එරෙහි නීතිය උගන්වන ලෙසට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විධාන කරයි

 ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම – හදිසි අභියාචනා වැඩසටහන ලංකාවේ  මූලික අයි...

SRI LANKA: Male Prisoner needing urgent medical treatment for heart ailment severely tortured by Police

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Human Rights Office Kandy that Sri Rangaraja Sudan (29) of No: 34/57, Wilfradpura, Hatton, was kidnapped by a g...

INDONESIA: Peaceful public protest attacked and dispersed

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-005-2019  April 24, 2019 ———————————̵...

INDONESIA: Human Rights Activist Interrogated by Police After Criticizing the Military

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-004-2019  April 10, 2019 ———————————̵...

NEPAL: Man seriously injured due to police torture

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Advocacy Forum (AF) that police officers attached with the Police Post in Hatiya, Baglung District thrashed Mr....

INDIA: Police officers open fire at peaceful protestors in Tripura

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Youth’s Forum for Protection of Human Rights (YFPHR) regarding the indiscriminate firing upon civilians by the se...

INDIA: Authorities hand over trafficked children to families of traffickers

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a multi- state child sale racket from its partner organization, Aawaj, working in Madhya Pradesh for child rig...

NEPAL: Human rights defender living in fear after detailing corruption and malpractice in Osho Tapoban

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ms. Anshu Gurung, a human rights defender and writer, is in hiding, fearing for her life. After Anshu wrote an arti...

NEPAL: Police illegally arrested and tortured innocent man

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) that the local police illegally arrested and tortured 25-year-old...

INDIA: Harassment and detention of students and professors of Manipur University

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Human Rights Alert, Manipur regarding the continued harassment and detention of the students of Manipur University....

INDONESIA: Polish citizen and indigenous Papuans arrested and detained by police

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the local network in Jayawijaya Regency, Papua, regarding the arrest and detention of one Polish tourist and other ...

INDONESIA: Woman convicted of blasphemy for commenting on Mosque’s loudspeaker volume

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding criminal charges against Mrs. Meiliana, for requesting to lower the volume of the Azaan (call to prayer) in th...

INDONESIA: Environmental activists convicted by Semarang Court

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a national human rights organization, regardi...

INDONESIA: Military court III-19 Jayapura Papua must examine witnesses from victim’s family

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a national human rights organization,...