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Norwegian PEN and several international freedom of expression- and human rights organizations protest the continuing harassment of writers and publishers in the Republic of Turkey. On March 2, a delegation will monitor two court cases in Istanbul and Ankara. (25-FEB-05)
 

– All member organisations of the Russian Research Center for Human Rights support the initiative of the Soldiers´ Mothers, Liubov Vinogradova (picture)  underlines. Head of the Soldiers´ Mothers, Valentina Melnikova, says to HRH that the meeting in London was successful. (25-FEB-05)
 

The OSCE intends to assist Republic of Azerbaijan in fighting corruption, head of the OSCE office in Baku Mauricio Pavesi told a roundtable, Government agencies combating corruption, organized by Republic of Azerbaijan Young Lawyers Union (AYLU). In a recent survey conducted by the OSCE office in Baku among over a thousand people, 87% of respondents indicated the high corruption level in Republic of Azerbaijan. (25-FEB-2005)

Four activists from the Union of Soldiers’ Mothers Committees, led by Valentina Melnikova (picture), will meet with Chechen rebel Aslan Maskhadov’s envoy in London today to discuss how to stop the war in the Chechen Republic. (25-FEB-05)
 

-North Korea’s announcement that it possesses nuclear weapons is actually a sign of the regime’s internal weakness and Kim Jong Il’s need to maintain the military’s support in the face of eroding loyalty, says Young Howard, one of the human rights activists who attended the recent Seoul conference. -New information coming from inside North Korea shows how nuclear weapons may relate to the regime’s increasingly troublesome internal politics. (25-FEB-05)
 

Delegation of 4 activists from the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers set off for London on Thursday, 24 for talks with a Chechen rebel envoy on ways to stop the war in the Chechen Republic. Valentina Melnikova (picture), the head of the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers, a leading anti-draft group, said that the group would meet on Friday with Akhmed Zakayev, Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov’s envoy in London. (25-FEB-05)
 

61 people from 12 countries spent a week in Miedzeszyn near Warsaw and participated in the courses of the International Winter School on Human Rights organized by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. During the courses they familiarized themselves with the fundamental issues concerning human rights and the mechanisms of their protection. (24-FEB-05)

A dozen refugees from war-torn the Chechen Republic staged a hunger strike in the Azeri capital Baku demanding that the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) upgrade their status on wednesday, AFP reported.  The UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) Baku office has registered over 10,000 refugees from the Chechen Republic, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and Islamic Republic of Pakistan. 8,500 of these asylum seekers are from Chechnia. (24-FEB-2005) 

There is still a long way to go for Armenian authorities to ensure compliance with relevant international standards, according to a new report from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. In addition to poor conditions of the majority of the facilities, there are also problems of lengthy pre-trial detentions and abusive interrogation techniques during police investigation. (24-FEB-05)