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The recent elections in the Republic of Belarus bring memories of the Stalin era back to mind, said Berit Lindeman of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee during a post-election seminar hosted by her own organisation on human rights and democracy in the Republic of Belarus last week. Her conclusion is that the recent events that came and went under the name of ´elections´ do not deserve to be called so. (22-NOV-04)
 

The recent elections in the Republic of Belarus bring memories of the Stalin era back to mind, said Berit Lindeman of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee during a post-election seminar hosted by her own organisation on human rights and democracy in the Republic of Belarus last week. Her conclusion is that the recent events that came and went under the name of ´elections´ do not deserve to be called so. (22-NOV-04)
  

On Saturday, 15 African leaders signed the so-called Dar-es-Salaam declaration committing them to contribute to create and maintain peace in the Great Lakes region, one of the most wartorn parts of the world. (22-NOV-04)
 

An open dialogue with Republic of Belarus is a threat to President Lukashenko´s dictatorship. Sanctions and isolation will strengthen the status quo, said representatives of the Belarusian opposition when they visited the Human Rights House in Oslo 18 November in a conference organised by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and NUPI, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs  (22-NOV-04)
  

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), has condemned the closure of Le Quotidien, Guinea´s only privately-owned daily, on 13 November 2004. (22-NOV-04)
 

Human rights activists in Western Sahara have launched a campaign to pursue Moroccan authorities to hand back Sidi Mohammed Daddach, which is the 2002 Rafto laureate, his passport. The campaign has been initiated be a newly established human rights organisation in Western Sahara. The organisation is led by a former prisoner of conscious, Ali Salem Tamek, whom was handed back his passport two weeks ago after Saharawien demonstration in the Southern Moroccan city of Assa. (21-NOV-2004)
 

November 7th the 2004 Rafto laureate, Rebiya Kadeer, was celebrated with a ceremony to her honour at ‘Den Nationale Scene’ in Bergen. The ceremony was accompanied by artistic performances, through words, music and dance, and they were all performed as a tribute to Kadeer’s struggle for the Uyghurs’ basic human rights in the North-western province of the People´s Republic of China, Xinjiang. The peak of the ceremony was the moment when Kadeers daughter Akida expressed gratitude on behalf of her mother on a telephone line from the USA. (21-NOV-2004)

The conference on “The EU, Republic of Turkey and the Kurds”, which is being held on 22 – 23 November 2004 in the European Parliament, have been organized and sponsored by the Rafto Foundation, in co-operation with the Kurdish Human Rights Project and Medico International. Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu from South-Africa is the Patron of the Conference. The topics are “Human Rights Violations and Democratisation in Turkey” (session I), “Turkey’s European and International Obligations” (session II) and “Securing Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in Turkey” (session III).
(21-NOV-2004)

November 7th the 2004 Rafto laureate, Rebiya Kadeer, was celebrated with a ceremony to her honour at ‘Den Nationale Scene’ in Bergen. The ceremony was accompanied by artistic performances, speeches, music and dance, as a tribute to Kadeer’s struggle for the Uyghurs’ basic human rights in the North-western province of the People´s Republic of China, Xinjiang. The peak of the ceremony was the moment when Kadeer´s daughter Akida expressed gratitude on behalf of her mother on a telephone line from the USA. (21-NOV-2004)