Latest

Today, the World Movement for Democracy / National Endowment for Democracy issued the following alert: According to BosNewsLife, within the last week, police officers arrested human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan at his house in Nghe An province, Vietnam. He is still in police custody, but his whereabouts are unknown. Quan had just returned from Washington, DC, where as a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), he researched the theories and practices of civil society. (14-MAR-07)
 

´The formation of the “State of National Solidarity” Commission by the Polish Sejm, with the votes of the ruling coalition, is a sign of disrespect for the adopted standards and parliamentary procedures. Avoidance of substantial discussions within the confines of permanent, specialized commissions jeopardizes the quality of the instituted law and seems to testify to a disrespect for knowledge and reason.´ states the Helsinki Committee in Poland. (14-MAR-07)

The Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) decided today to add its name to the list of human rights organisations sponsoring a global petition in support of the system of independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council, known as the Special Procedures. HRHF also encourages the entire Human Rights House Network to do the same. With the introduction of the new HR Council, several governments are trying to cripple the ability of all the Special Procedures to fulfil their mandates effectively. (14-MAR-07)
   

A key test of whether the United Nations Human Rights Council is working better than its derided predecessor will be the functioning of the “universal periodic review,” the new mechanism that will allow the records of all countries to be scrutinized, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, right, said today. (14-MAR-07)
 

Activists of an unregistered organization Young Front are again summonsed to interrogations. On 4 February the police detained 27 activists of the Young Front. At the present moment 4 persons, Zmitser Khvedaruk, Aleh Korban, Anastasiia Palazhanka and Aliaksei Ianusheuski, have got the status of suspects in the criminal case brought under article 193.1 of the Criminal Code of Republic of Belarus, activity on behalf of unregistered organization. (13-MAR-07)
 

In companionship with Norwegian-Vietnamese Centre, the Rafto Human Rights House issues the below letter of appeal from the Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights for Viet Nam. The letter gives voice to a call for joint protests against the recent political oppression orchestrated by the Communist Vietnamese authorities towards the democracy movement of the country. (13-MAR-07)
 

On March 2nd, a well-known Russian reporter Ivan Safronov from “Kommersant” newspaper perished under the obscure circumstances in Moscow. Investigators considered suicide the most likely explanation for Safronov’s death. Journalist’s relatives and colleagues doubt that Safronov could have committed suicide and are going to conduct their own investigation. (13-MAR-07)
 

On 16 March, and in cooperation with the Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurds (RKR) and Oslo Documentary Cinema, The Centre for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities in Oslo will host a full-day conference on the previous Iraqi regime´s use of chemically produced poisonous gas in the war against its own Kurdish minority. For a full programme, click here (13-MAR-07)
 

Tomorrow, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) hosts a seminar at the Human Rights House in Oslo called ´Turkmenistan: Status Quo or hope for change?´. The seminar also marks the opening of a three-day photography exhibition with nique andpreviously unshown pictures from this very closed former Soviet republic, trapped between Islamic Republic of Iran and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Right, former president Sapamuat Nyiazov. (13-MAR-07)