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The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, right, with whom HRH continues to work closely, will undertake a fact-finding mission to Brazil from 5 to 20 December 2005 at the invitation of the Government. The Special Representative will assess the situation of human rights defenders, and examine in particular both the legal framework as well as any possible limitations on the right to defend human rights in the country. (02-DEC-05)
 

Nizhni Novgorod: Two Russian police officers have been convicted of crimes relating to the torture of Aleksei Mikheev in detention in September 1998.The court sentenced the two police officers to four years´ imprisonment. Amnesty International welcomes the conviction and calls for full redress for Aleksei Mikheev. Photo: Amnesty International (30-NOV-05)
 
 

Nora Sveaas, right, leader of the International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR), one of the in-house member organisations of the Norwegian Human Rights House, was yesterday elected one of five new members of the United nations? Committee on Torturethe Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has lobbied for Sveaas?s candidature, announces. (01-DEC-05)
 

Colombian paramilitaries are to lay down their arms by January. – Demobilized paramilitaries are recycled into the conflict, the Colombian human rights lawyer Alirio Uribe Muñoz warned when he visited the Norwegian Human Rights House recently. Along with the UN and international human rights organisations he said that the rights of victims are not sufficiently respected in the demobilization process. (01-DEC-05)
 

World Aids Day provides an annual landing place to review what has been achieved, and what still needs to be done, in confronting what is the preeminent threat facing world security. We have, inevitably, a mix of the positive and the negative. In the negative scale is the fact that this year saw an estimated 5-million new infections world-wide. Half the new infections last year affected young people, posing a threat to the future of entire nations. (01-DEC-05)
 

Oslo: The Human Rights House Foundation and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee ask Azerbaijani authorities to initiate an immediate and impartial investigation of the violent outcome of the demonstration Saturday the 26th of November. In a letter sent to the Azerbaijani President today the organisations strongly condemn the brutal use of police violence against demonstrators. (1-DEC-05)
 
 

-Condoms are embarrassing to buy, they spoil sex, and if your partner insists on using one then they obviously don’t trust you. It’s a familiar refrain the world over, but in Angola, where hammering home the safer sex message is vital if the country is to avert a widespread HIV/AIDS pandemic, making condoms widely available and ‘cool’ to use is paramount. On the eve of HRH’s first visit to Angola, www.humanrightshouse.org marks World Aids day with an article from a country remarkably spared by the deadly virus. (01-DEC-05)
 

On 12 November an All-Russian protest took place to promote the repealing of the draft and against the repealing of deferrals. The protest was organized by the Union of the Soldiers Mothers Committees of the Russian Federation and the Republican Party and supported by the liberal parties SPS (Union of Right Forces) and “Yabloko”, students, and several human rights organizations including the representatives of the Russian Research Center for Human Rights. (30-NOV-2005)
 

The Freemuse Conference on Freedom of Expression in Music in Beirut, 6–8 October 2005 was the first regional forum of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa, producing some fascinating revelations about man’s love and fear of the art of music. Trevor Mostyn reports on the Freemuse conference. (30-NOV-05)