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Lars August Christensen, Chairperson of the Norwegian Board of the Human Rights House Foundation, Supreme Court Lawyer and Senior Partner of the law firm Wikborg, Rein & Co, Maria Dahle, Executive Director, Ane Tuskiv Bonde, Regional Manager and Florian Irminger, Head of Office in Geneva, Switzerland of Human Rights House Foundation visited Republic of Azerbaijan on 26-28 September 2009.

HRH Sarajevo has published 500 samples of the UPR brochure which contains Bosnian and English version of the Final NGO Report for UPR of Bosnia and Herzegovina, submitted in September 2009.

The right to know has changed lives. Members of the public have become re-engaged in democracy, with new tools to question unworkable policies, unveil hidden statistics, and uncover corrupt practices. ARTICLE 19 suggests a review of legislative updates since the last 28 September.

On 2 September 2009 Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights directed a letter to the Ministry of Justice concerning the compatibility of search of premises in criminal proceedings with European Convention of Human Rights. The doubts concerning compliance this regulation with the Convention rose as a consequence of judgement Rachwalski and Ferenc v. Republic of Poland (application no. 47709/99).

A number of highly respected international rights organisations backed the Norwegian Helsinki Committee on Turkmenistan. A letter to Western governments and multinational companies, promoting greater consideration of HR when interacting with official Ashgabad, was presented on 29 September at the OSCE Human Dimensions Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw.

This report is the third of a series designed to inform policymakers and other interested parties about developments in the Republic of Belarus during the ongoing Dialogue Process with the EU. The Dialogue Period is an opportunity to bring Belarus’ legislation and respect for human rights and freedoms back in line with European and international standards and practices.

ARTICLE 19 believes the latest draft resolution by UN Human Rights Council on freedom of expression is “a breakthrough”. Still, the NGO recommends omitting another vague concept of “negative stereotyping of religions” in the document.

Belarusian “Iron Lady” Natallia Piatkevich who hosted a meeting with a group of media freedom NGOs in Minsk had a hard task to defend the country’s Soviet-style media regulation system. The group, including London Human Rights House’s representative Rohan Jayasekera, yielded to no persuasion: they urged Belarusian authorities to bring the media environment in compliance with international standards.

Група арганізацыяў па свабодзе прэсы, 20–24 верасня наведаўшы Беларусь, заклікала ўлады краіны прывесці нацыянальную медыясферу ў адпаведнасць з міжнароднымі стандартамі. Удзельнікаў дэлегацыі, сярод якіх і прадстаўнік Лонданскага Дома правоў чалавека Роан Джаясекера, прымала “жалезная лэдзі” Наталля Пяткевіч.