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Unprecedented heavy rainfall that hit the Western Balkans since 13 May calling for urgent humanitarian response in a highly volatile and diverse region. The international community, including the European Union and the United Nations, are currently assisting the responsible governments in the regions to distribute aid. In the current situation, it highly important that the governments incorporate a rights-based approach in their humanitarian assistance to ensure protection and avoid violation of human rights in a chaotic situation.

“Speaking on behalf of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, I would like to express our concern over the hostile behaviour of certain media outlets towards the Human Rights Defender, Professor Irena Lipowicz which was a reaction to her letter to the Minister of National Education regarding anti-discrimination education in pre-schools”, reads the open letter signed by HFHR’s President, Danuta Przywara.

There are billboards installed on the entrance to Belarus from Poland to remind of Belarusian political prisoners. At the same time it is dangerous to remind of political prisoners in Belarus itself – Robert Hårdh (right), the head of Sweden’s Civil Rights Defenders human rights group was detained at the entrance to Čyžouka Arena, the place where the hockey game were held, for a special jersey with the Ales Bialiatski’s name on it.

According to media reports, Vietnamese officials visited in April the Białystok guarded centre for foreigners. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has issued a statement in the case to the Chief Commissioner of the Border Guard. Once again, the HFHR noted that any actions of the Border Guard which result in disclosing identification data of refugee applicants may violate the applicants’ rights.

На ўедзе ў Беларусь з боку Польшчы ўсталяваныя білборды, якія служаць напамінам пра беларускіх палітвязняў. У той жа час у самой Беларусі узгадваць пра палітвязняў небяспечна – кіраўнік праваабарончай арганізацыі Civil Rights Defenders Роберт Хорд (на фота) быў затрыманы пры ўваходзе на пляцоўку правядзення хакейнага матча за адмысловы швэдар з прозвішчам Бяляцкага.

The sense of impunity for all the parties in Ukraine holding weapons must end. Ukraine’s Government needs to ensure that the investigation into violence by law enforcement and State agents is credible and transparent, bringing those responsible to justice. Cooperation by all with international mechanisms must also be ensured.

A report on a human rights situation in Croatia has been published by a member of the HRH Zagreb resulting in a public debate arranged by HRH Zagreb.

Constitutional Tribunal should consider issuing a signal decision in a case involving the constitutional review of laws governing the storage of and access to telecommunication data, argues the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in a letter to the Constitutional Tribunal.

A new blog launched by the Polish Department for Strategy and Deregulation, recently published a post praising an interactive portal on the Azerbaijani justice system. Nevertheless, the author of the post fails to mention the problems within the Azerbaijani justice system that makes Azerbaijan the weakest link among the Council of Europe member states when it comes to respecting Human Rights. The praising author fails to recognize that the latter problems will simply not disappear by launching a portal.