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Exactly ten years ago, on February 11, 1995, 55 founders of the Helsinki Committee gathered in one of the spaces of the National Theatre in Sarajevo, and adopted a decision to establish the first non-governmental organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a mission to protect and promote human rights and freedoms. They took this decision in the midst of the besieged city of Sarajevo, guided by their belief that such an organization that would gather the citizens on such a basis, would indeed be more than necessary in Bosnia and Herzegovina, once it starts healing its war wounds and establishing a democratic society in which each and every individual would and should enjoy all the rights provided for in international conventions.

Representatives of the Ukrainian newborn democracy expressed optimism at a seminar hosted by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs this morning. (10-FEB-05)
 

“I am sure the newly opened Resource Center in Goychay district will serve as a contribution to enhance the respect for human rights in the region in general and the development of civil society specifically and the promotion of democracy. Hopefully, the local NGOs in Goychay could benefit from establishment of the Resource Center” says Novella Jafaroglu Appelbaum, Marshall Prize winner and the director of the Association for the Protection of Women’s Rights after D. Aliyeva (APWR) (10-FEB-2005).

“People addressing to our Committee are mostly those who suffered and have been terribly tortured by police. The tortures are so terrible that everybody will confess in any crime even though  he has never committed it. All people in our country is aware of the fact that if somebody has been in police station they could die as a consequence of tortures; nobody will be punished for this”, says Elchin Behbudov, chairman of Republic of Azerbaijan Committee Against Tortures (ACAT). (9-FEB-2005)
 

The special working group of the Parliamentary Committee for Internal Affairs and National Security is opening an investigation today over Croatian Counter Intelligence service (CIS). The principal cause for the investigation is the recent public address of five journalists who were the subject of secret treatment of the CIS during 2003 and 2004, under the allegation that they have deliberately published wrong information about Hague fugitive general Gotovina in order to obstruct Republic of Croatia to enter the European Union. (11-FEB-05)
 

“The disputed presidential elections of October 2003 and rigged municipal elections of 2005 in the Republic of Azerbaijan proved that the local NGOs should work dynamically and actively with the general public, particularly with those living in remote areas. For the reason that these people are lack of the awareness on basic electoral rights and other fundamental civil rights”, says Fuad Hasanov, the director of the “Against Violence” Human Rights Centre (AVHRC). (10-FEB-2005)
 

The Iraqi media entered the start of the election campaign period on 15 December working on what media rights groups had already dubbed the world”s most dangerous assignment. Nearly 40 journalists and media workers, most of them Iraqis, were killed in the line of duty in 2004. (10-FEB-05).
 

I think all the items of the OSCE report are true to the facts.” the human rights activist Murad Sadaddinov   commented on the provisions of the OSCE report on people convicted for involvement into disturbances, which happened just aftermath the disputed presidential elections of October 2003. Leyla Yunus, Director of Institute of Peace and Democracy, said that OSCE recommendations to the Azerbaijani authorities to pay compensations to the suffered people must be immediately carried out. (9-FEB-2005)
 

Amid threats to personal safety, accusations of disloyalty, and mixed messages from the US authorities, Iraqi journalists and media workers reported widely on the 30 January election.  How did they manage? Index on Censorship´s Rohan Jayasekera reports. (10-FEB-05)