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President vows “total cleansing” after terrorist act in Minsk
Civil and political activists are being interrogated all around Belarus after the deadly blast in the Minsk metro on 11 April. Journalists are getting warnings for “dissemination of unconfirmed information”. Human rights defenders express their concern and call upon the law-enforcement agencies not to inflame suspicion and fear in the society.
PACE must take action to address alarming freedom of expression situation in Azerbaijan
Member organisations of the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA) are deeply concerned by the rapidly deteriorating freedom of expression situation in Azerbaijan. In recent weeks there has been a wave of arrests and beatings of activists and journalists in connection with a series of pro-democracy protests in the country as well as an increase in pressure against non-governmental organizations.
Пасля тэракту ў Мінску прэзідэнт абяцае “зачыстку па ўсіх кірунках”
Пасля выбуху ў Мінску 11 красавіка па ўсёй Беларусі дапытваюць грамадскіх і палітычных актывістаў. Журналістам выносяць папярэджанні “за распаўсюд неабгрунтаванай інфармацыі”. Праваабаронцы занепакоеныя і заклікаюць праваахоўныя органы не нагнятаць у грамадстве атмасферу падазронасці і страху.
US Human Rights Reports released
The United States government released, on 8 April 2011, its 35th annual Human Rights Reports detailing the human rights situation of 194 countries. In her introduction statement, US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, highlighted three global trends of concern: widespread crackdown on civil society, restrictions and monitoring of internet access infringing the freedom of expression, and repression and discrimination of venerable minorities.
When is hate speech treated as a crime?
„Let’s exterminate them, let’s strangle this plague”; this is a part of a song written by Polish rapper Bas Tajpana. In his opinion, all lesbian and gay people should be strangled or killed. This song song is undoubtedly an example of homophobic hate speech. In the light of Polish criminal law, homophobic hate speech is not a crime; only incitement to hatred on the grounds of race, nationality and belief is punished.
Day of action for Eynulla Fatullayev
There is widespread concern for the safety and well-being of Azerbaijan’s journalist and Honorary Member of English PEN Eynulla Fatullayev. To raise and maintain awareness of Eynulla’s case and of the increasingly poor state of free expression in Azerbaijan, a worldwide ‘Day of Action’ is organised on Wednesday 20 April 2011 – four years since his arrest.
Workshop on photo reporting for journalists
The Human Rights House Tbilisi is inviting journalists (from regions and Tbilisi) to the Workshop on photo-reporting.
Participants of the workshop can represent any media outlet (printed and electronic) from Tbilisi and from different regions of Georgia.
HRH Tbilisi will cover travel expenses of the regional journalists after presenting corresponding financial documentation.
Interested journalists should sent CV, Motivation Letter and 3-5 photos (or a photo-story) with corresponding journalistic work to the following email: mediacentre.hrht@gmail.com
Having a photo camera at the workshop is required.
Workshop will take place at the HRH Tbilisi on April 30, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Address: Tbilisi, Niko Nikoladze str. 7 (entrance from the yard)
Tel: 935227
Deadline for the application: 6 p.m., April 25, 2011
Workshop on Investigative Journalism for Journalists
The Human Rights House Tbilisi is inviting journalists (from regions and Tbilisi) to the Workshop on Investigative Journalism.
Participants of the workshop can represent any media outlet (printed and electronic) from Tbilisi and from different regions of Georgia.
HRH Tbilisi will cover travel expenses of the regional journalists after presenting corresponding financial documentation.
Workshop will take place at HRH Tbilisi on April 30, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Address: Tbilisi, Niko Nikoladze str. 7 (entrance from the yard)
Tel: 935227
Interested journalists should sent CV and Motivation Letter to the following email: mediacentre.hrht@gmail.com
Deadline for the application: 6 p.m., April 14, 2011
A critical human rights report on Georgia of the US Department of State
On April 8, the US Department of State issued the annual report on human rights. in great detail, the report provides updated information on the human rights conditions in over 190 countries. The report dedicates 85 pages to Georgia. It says that the main human rights abuses reported during the year included abuse of prisoners and detainees, poor prison conditions, and arbitrary arrest and detention.
New report details unfulfilled promises during Kazakhstan’s OSCE presidency
The report Kazakhstan – OSCE 2010: Progress or Regress? On Completion of Kazakhstan’s OSCE Chairmanship tells the story of unfulfilled promises during Kazakhstan’s year as Chair-in-Office of the OSCE. It is published by Freedom House in co-operation with a coalition of Kazakhstani human rights organizations, OSCE 2010: Kazakhstan NGOs Coalition, including Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
Repressed Belarusian lawyer: “I will continue defending human rights”
Pavel Sapelka, right, a well-known Belarusian lawyer disbarred by the authorities last month, attended a seminar of the programme “International Law in Advocacy” at the Human Rights House in Vilnius on 8-10 April. The defender of political prisoners stated he is not going to give up the human rights activism, and expressed his gratitude towards the international community for support.
China: a new wave of crackdown on dissidents?
More than 100 activists detained, three well-known critics of authorities arrested in last month in China. Famous China’s artist Ai Weiwe and prominent blogger Yang Hengjun were detained in the airports. Prominent pro-democracy activist Liu Xianbin was jailed for 10 years for writing articles critical of the government. Is this a new wave of crackdown on dissidents, a new kind of internet dissidents called ‘netizens’?