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The Polish Ministry of National Education (MEN) has new ideas aimed at protecting students against the so called “propaganda of homosexuality”. They include the concept of dismissing homosexually-oriented teachers. Polish organizations involved in protecting the rights of homosexuals are lodging protests and Human Rights Watch is writing a letter to the Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, right, concerning the violation of the rights and liberties of individuals belonging to sexual minorities. (23-MAR-07)

On January 17, 2007, on the Eve of the 2007 Lunar New Year, Vietnamese authorities unleashed its plans of oppression against pro-democracy activists, such as members of the Vietnam Progressive Party, the so-called 8406 Bloc, and the Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights for Vietnam. Following Professor Nguyen Chinh Ket´s, right, recent visit to Norway, the Norwegian-Vietnamese Centre has issued the following appeal, and received support from both the Rafto Foundation and the Human Rights House Foundation, among others. (23-MAR-07)
 

The Polish Ministry of National Education has new ideas aimed at protecting students against the so called “propaganda of homosexuality”. They include dismissing homosexually-oriented teachers. Polish organizations are protesting and Human Rights Watch is writing a letter to the Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, right. (23-MAR-07)
 

On January 17, 2007, on the Eve of the 2007 Lunar New Year, Vietnamese authorities unleashed its plans of oppression against pro-democracy activists, such as members of the Vietnam Progressive Party, the so-called 8406 Bloc, and the Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights for Vietnam. Following Professor Nguyen Chinh Ket´s, right, recent visit to Norway, the Norwegian-Vietnamese Centre has issued the following appeal, and received support from both the Rafto Foundation and the Human Rights House Foundation, among others. (23-MAR-07)
 

The Rafto Foundation is deeply saddened by the death of Preah Maha Ghosananda, the Cambodian Rafto Laureate from 1992. Ghosananda passed away March 12, 2007 almost 80 years old. With the spiritual strength of his Buddhist belief, he emphasised peace and reconciliation as the remedy for Cambodia’s deep wounds after the Khmer Rouge terror. (21-MAR-07)

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has prepared a short overview of the situation in Republic of Poland. Republic of Poland remains a relatively homogenous country ethnically and racially. According to the General Census, in 2002, Poland´s population was 38 230 thousand, of which 96,74% declared their nationality to be Polish. However, since accession to the European Union, the number of foreigners and migrants settling in the Republic of Poland has been increasing. Agnieszka Mikulska, right, of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, reports. (21-MAR-07)
 

‘The Act of disclosing information regarding security services documents from 1944-1990 and the contents of those documents [“Act”] came into effect 15 March 2006. This Act violates human rights and fundamental freedoms in numerous ways.’ writes the Helsinki Committee in Poland in its latest position regarding the lustration process. (21-MAR-07)

Yesterday, eleven Sahrawi political prisoners appeared before the Court of Appeal in El-Ayoune. The Moroccan court issued heavy sentences against some of the prisoners, while the trial of others was postponed; only one was released. The proceeding witnessed a massive presence of Moroccan security services. Only a few family members of the prisoners were allowed to attend. Two Spanish foreign legal observers were able to attend the proceedings. (21-MAR-07)
 

Aminatou Haidar, right, has been imprisoned and tortured because of her struggle for Africa’s last colony. “When I was freed, I was reduced to a shadow of my real self. A ghost, a young girl emerging from a nameless hell”, she says about the day she was released from prison, June 19, 1991. She now appeals for Norwegian recognition of Western Sahara as an independent state. (21-MAR-07)