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Four months ago, a reporter for the weekly Uralskaya Nedelya was attempted murder victim. This week another opposition journalist suffered attempt on his life in the Kazakh capital Astana. The situation in the country is worrying as dissident journalists can expect censorship, arrest, intimidation and attacks.

On July 20 the Maya and Xinca people, joint together in the Consejo de Pueblos de Occidente (Western Villages Council), presented their arguments for the general and total unconstitutionality of the Mining Law, contained in Decree 48-97, in a hearing before the Constitutional Court of Guatemala.

Four years have passed since the armed conflict of August, 2008. Hundreds of people – including peaceful civilians -died during the Russian-Georgian hostilities. Thousands of Georgians were displaced and the territories of Akhalgori district and Kodori Gorge were occupied by Russian military forces. Georgia completely lost control over enclaves in South Ossetia which were previously inhabited by ethnic Georgian people.

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections, which are to be held in Belarus on 23 September, the pressure has increased not only on politicians, but also on human rights defenders.

The Circuit Court in Sieradz heard the appeal in the case of Adam Synowiec, a former city councillor in Zduńska Wola. In the first instance, Mr Synowiec was found guilty of abusing his official power, the offence under article 231(1) of the Criminal Code because he signed a leaflet criticising an intending senator during the election campaign. The appellate court ordered retrial.

ARTICLE 19 is concerned about a draft Article on media regulation at the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia creating a structure of regulatory control over all media which is not compatible with the basic principles of democracy. The Article contains insufficient safeguards for media freedom. Moreover, despite its fundamental character, the Article was drafted without public debates.

In June and July 2012 three Gambian journalists reporting on court cases were arrested and investigated for alleged contempt of court. ARTICLE 19 calls on the Gambian authorities to provide remedies for the violations of the journalists’ rights to liberty and freedom of expression and to ensure that the media is free to report legal proceedings in the public interest.

Civil society activists, human rights defenders and people from different countries concerned with the situation in Belarus declared the initiative to establish the International Day of Solidarity with civil society and human rights movement in Belarus on the 4 August – the day when Ales Bialiatski was arrested.

A Filipino national, a legal partner of a Pole under the UK law, has been refused entry to Poland by border officers. The Border Guard’s decision has been appealed against before the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw, which is expected to make a ruling. In November 2011, X.Y., a Filipino national travelling with his Polish partner, was refused entry to Poland by a Border Guard officer. He was told he was not allowed to enter Poland because the country did not recognise homosexual partnerships.

Перад парламенцкімі выбарамі, што пройдуць у Беларусі 23 верасня, узмацніўся ціск не толькі на палітыкаў, але і на праваабаронцаў.

Грамадзянскія актывісты, праваабаронцы і проста неабыякавыя людзі з розных краін выступілі з ініцыятывай аб правядзенні міжнароднага Дня салідарнасці з грамадзянскай супольнасцю і праваабарончым рухам Беларусі і прызначэнні гэтага дня на 4 жніўня.

Illegal, inhuman and impervious to recession, there is one trade that continues to thrive, just out of sight. The international sex trade criss-crosses the entire globe, a sinister network made up of criminal masterminds, local handlers, blind politicians, eager consumers and countless women and children.