5.1 The importance of quick intervention

A human rights victim's psychological makeup is that of reluctance, apathy
and fear. He or she comes forward because there is little other alternative. Initially at least, the victim lacks the enthusiasm of the civil litigant endeavouring to recover a Rs500, 000 debt or the earnestness of the criminal litigant who is fighting for freedom from incarceration. But a torture victim comes forward because misfortune has beset him or her, the victim desires justice, and most other avenues of redress have failed. Activists often say that these persons are easily discouraged by perceived inaction and undue delay and are likely to be discouraged if some sort of result is not forthcoming fairly quickly.27

Therefore one of the early discoveries of the AHRC was the importance of quick and regular intervention as opposed to periodic or laidback intervention. Through experience it was observed that once a victim builds trust in an HR activist and believes that the activist is not merely interested in obtaining information, but that the information will actually be acted upon to bring forth some relief, the victim is often motivated not only to come forward, but even to persevere for years and amidst seemingly insurmountable obstacles to seek justice. And most often the best intervention to a problem is to communicate the problem to as many as possible and as often as possible. Someone to whom the problem is communicated to may actually communicate the solution back or be nudged into taking appropriate action to address the problem. This strategy has been facilitated by the AHRC's Urgent Appeals (UA) Programme and its use of advanced communication technologies.

5.2 The working of the UA programme

The UA Programme is an important advocacy programme of the AHRC. It is primarily an e-mailing programme (supplemented by fax and post) with the objective of disseminating timely and accurate information about individual incidents of human rights violations to as wide an audience as possible, thereby building international as well as local awareness and pressure towards their resolution. For this purpose the programme operates through a vast international email network of around 200, 000 recipients including UN bodies and international human rights organisations such as the Organisation against Torture (OMCT), Human Right Watch and Amnesty International (AI). Through these communiques, the UA programme has also highlighted issues such as: (i) prosecution of the perpetrators of violence, (ii) importance of witness protection, (iii) redress for human rights violations, (iv) providing genuine education on human rights problems in Asia, (v) ensuring due process and rule of law, as well as (vii) repealing unjust laws and dismantling unjust systems.

Beginning around 1997, the AHRC believes it has now developed one of the most effective and efficient urgent appeals programme in the region. The AHRC's biggest advantage over similar programmes is its close relationship with local groups and human rights activists working at grassroots level on one hand and its ability to intervene with governments and other local authorities on the other. Many are the instances in which the AHRC's appeals have become the source of first information on human rights violations to international organisations, such as international NGOs and UN human rights bodies as well as government departments. The programme's main concern is to address the endemic problem of torture in Asia and to this end the AHRC has done extensive work in Sri Lanka in 2002 and 2003. This work has now been expanded to other Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh and Nepal. From 2004 the UA Programme also included others types of human rights violations such as issues of food shortages, landlessness, caste discrimination and medical negligence.

Though initially dealing with a small number of reports from a few countries, by 2003 there was a significant increase in the scope of the UA Programme. An analysis of the programme in 2003 shows 178 appeals from 24 countries -- a 23% increase over the previous year (which itself had doubled in the previous two years). Information contained in UAs had also increased by about 50% illustrating the strengthening of networks within countries.28

In 2003, the programme included 3 categories of appeals viz. (i) Urgent Appeals, (ii) Updated Appeals, when further information is sent on an initial appeal, and (iii) Forwarded Appeals which are appeals forwarded by other organisations, and reflect the growing capacity of local groups to develop urgent appeals themselves, which they then forward to the AHRC. Since 2004 there have been 6 types of UAs. They are (i) Urgent Appeals, (ii) Updated Appeals, (iii) Forwarded Appeals, as well as (iv) Hunger Alert, highlighting incidents of food shortage or starvation, (v) Hunger Alert Updated and (vi) Urgent Appeals general. The AHRC has expanded its regional network since 2004, as a result of which, it is receiving more cases from countries such as Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Burma. While the majority of cases continue to be received from Sri Lanka, India and Nepal, a few incidents have been reported from Korea, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. In total there have been 272 Urgent Appeals issued during the year 2004 (180 Urgent Appeals (UA), 84 Updated Appeals(UDA), 8 Hunger Alerts (HA)] and 160 from January to May 2005 (UA = 81;UPA = 61; FDA = 14; HA = 4).29

As mentioned earlier, a primary objective of an Urgent Appeal (UA) is to afford speedy intervention into incidents of human rights violations. To fulfil this objective there is a requirement for information to be dispatched to the network of recipients as soon as possible. For instance, a UA may contain information of a person is being tortured and quick dissemination of this information might generate requisite pressure on the relevant authorities to stop the torture and may even save the victim's life. 30 Quick action is also important because it lends credibility to the AHRC as well as the local partners who maintain close contact with the victim and his/her family. Says the AHRC staff member in charge of the UA desk, Kim Soo A, "Victims of torture trust our local partners to help them, and that is why they tell their stories. But their psychological makeup is such that they are easily demoralised. So if nothing happens for a while they lose hope and do not return. Many human rights organisations complain that victims lack perseverance. However we at the AHRC always believe that for victims to have faith in us, we must show them some result." 31

5.3 Building partnerships

When the UA Programme was first conceptualised, the AHRC decided to develop partnerships with reputed local organisations for the purpose of gathering first information on human rights violations in their respective countries. However it was soon observed that these organisations lacked the capacity, time and patience to personally meet with victims, win their confidence and obtain information. Therefore the AHRC gradually began to built networks of close collaboration with smaller grassroots level local organisation or even individual activists, who -- it was envisaged ?V were more willing and able to maintain direct and continuous contact with the victims.

Initially when a potential local partner organisation (or activist) was identified, the AHRC invited representatives of the said organisation to one of their Local Programmes. Once initial contact was made and sufficient interest was generated between the parties towards working together, the potential partner was invited to the AHRC headquarters in Hong Kong to follow one of the internship programmes. Here parties discuss and learn each other's interests, working habits and methodologies. The local partners were then afforded basic training in the use of modern communication technologies, efficient methods of gathering, preparing and sending first information of rights violations as well as the minimum requirements of an Urgent Appeal. The importance of speedy dissemination of information and intervention was also emphasised. Towards enhanced working relationships with local grassroots groups, to date the AHRC has accommodated several interns and volunteers from Asian countries like Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Korea and China. But developing more permanent contacts at grassroots levels to supply information to the UA desk remains one of the AHRC's ongoing challenges, which also involves providing some financial support as well as technological training and infrastructure.

Excerpts from a Communication From the UN Rapporteur Against Torture to the Executive Director of AHRC ...Over the years I have been impressed by the work of the Asian Human Rights Commission, its quality, the vigour and persistence of its actions and its attachment to international human rights standards. You are often challenged by authorities but this proves that your actions are effective and well focussed. I wish you and your colleagues all the best in the continuation of your important work for human rights... Theo van Boven

The AHRC pays a lot of attention to the accuracy and authenticity of the
information it receives and towards this end has placed the following safeguards in its UA Programme:

• Firstly, through careful selection and training as well as building close collaboration with its local partners veracity of information is, to a large extent, enhanced.
• The UA Programme does not rely on secondary sources of information such as academic articles or media reports; instead it relies only on firsthand information given by the victims (or their families) and as relayed by the local groups. Besides the added advantage is that the local group also verifies information from medical reports, witness accounts or ancillary information obtained from police stations or other institutions before information is relayed to the AHRC.
• Sometimes groups or persons outside the AHRC regional network also send information pertaining to a rights violation. If this information is considered relevant, the AHRC refers the incident to the nearest local partner to inquire into and gather information. Or else, the informant is requested to contact the local partner directly.32

The UA programme is also a means of protecting local activists working with the victims and their families. In many countries these activists face the wrath of irate local authorities for reporting internal human rights violations. They are thus reluctant to reveal their identities for fear of endangering themselves. The UA is a mechanism that enables information of violations to be internationally disseminated without revealing the source of information and thus provides the necessary security for local organisations to continue their invaluable work.

In the long run, information obtained in the appeals is used to compile reports, statements, press releases and magazine articles to highlight a overarching problem as well as to pressurise governments and institutions to take action and amend their human rights situation. Topics include Police officers habitually torturing and threatening complainants, endangering the security of Sri Lankan citizens. (Sri Lanka, 26.01.2005), Foreign Minister's condemnation of torture needs to be backed by action (Sri Lanka 03.05.2005), Gerald Perera's murder trial may not begin for another 5-7 years(Sri Lanka, 08.03.2005). 33

27 Comments made by Chitral Perera, Secretary, Janasansadaya -- a leading grassroots level HR organisation in Panadura, Sri Lanka.
28 AHRC and ALRC Narrative Report (2003) at p. 120
29 The list of AHRC statements for 2004 is found at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfilephp/2004statements/
30 An e.g. is the case of Saman Priyankara, a Sri Lankan, who was tortured by the Matale police by having boiling water poured on his leg, thereby severely burning him. His complaints probably irritated his perpetrators, who rearrested and re-tortured him. He was released only after several appeals were made both locally and internationally, on his behalf by the AHRC. See http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/732/ (visited on 4/12/2004).
31 Interview with Kim Soo A, AHRC staff member in charge of the Urgent Appeals desk, on October 5, 2004.
32 Interview with Kim Soo A, AHRC staff member in charge of the Urgent Appeals desk, on October 5, 2004.
33 The list of AHRC statements for 2005 is found at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2005statements/