Amid the rampant cases of human rights violations in the country, social realists recently launched an art exhibit in the hope of generating more public awareness regarding cases of rights violations.

Dubbed as "Kahon", the exhibit is a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“The exhibit is an expression of outrage by artists from various groups against human rights violations perpetrated by state forces,” the group said.

According to organizers, “kahon” in military parlance, means to cordon off or to identify the boundaries within which a subject under surveillance is confined.

The group said activists who were “kina-kahon” are being killed, abducted, sometimes surfaced in jail with trumped up charges or in most cases, are never seen again.

The numbers of victims of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings continue to increase. Since 2001 up to the present, there are 199 victims of enforced disappearances and 933 victims of extra-judicial killings reported.

The exhibit, the artists said, is the “elimination of the walls surrounding the victim…walls that deprives him of all his rights…removes him not only from the protection of the law but also from people who can help him”.