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The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights appealed to the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Parliament in reference to resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe regarding the implementation of judgments of the ECHR. According to the resolution, Poland is one of the countries having serious structural problems in an implementation of ECHR judgments.

UK’s freedom of expression organizations are concerned about the practice of intimidating and silencing journalists and authors from other countries under British libel law. Such practice, according to Article 19, has earned the UK a reputation for being the “Libel Capital of the World.” Fortunately, this week the High Court decided to dismiss the defamation claim brought by the Ukrainian businessman against the Kyiv Post.

The lawyers of political prisoners are being persecuted in Belarus. Four lawyers’ licences were cancelled; the formal reason was their refusal to defend the clients. In reality the lawyers had been forced to deny their assistance to the political prisoners, or else the KGB had threatened to withdraw their law licences. Find more outrageous facts of pressure on the Belarusian Bar in a letter of the human rights defenders to the respective UN Special Rapporteur.

In January of 2011, the Georgian Ministry of Interior completed the eviction process of IDPs from temporary settlement locations in Tbilisi. The process reflects an effort to tackle a massive displacement problem as a result of the conflicts in the early 1990s in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Georgia-Russia war in 2008. So far around five thousand IDPs have been evicted from Tbilisi, most of them left without shelters and others resettled in the regions of Georgia.

Land grabbing was one of the main topics during the last World Social Forum in Dakar. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that in the last three years 20 million hectares have been acquired by foreign interests in Africa. The Eastern African Farmers Federation (EAFF) has cautioned that leasing farmland to multinationals could precipitate food crisis in the region. Foreigners are further acquiring farmland in Africa, however 43 of the 53 African countries do not produce enough food for their own population, FAO says.

The mortality among prisoners increases. In 2006-2009, 371 people died in the penitentiary institutions. The report of the Public Defender of Georgia states that average age of dead prisoners is 45.

In February 2011, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights appealed to the Polish government in reference to a case of Siergiei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in a Moscow detention facility as a result of having been held in conditions, which could be justifiably called torturous. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights appealed to impose appropriate visa and financial sanctions on Russian officials responsible for his death.

Запрашаем на прагляд фільма “Каралеўства дохлых мышэй” (2009, 88 хв.) беларускага рэжысёра Віктара Дашука ў рамках Дыскусійнага клуба “Нязручнае кіно”. Пасля прагляду адбудзецца дыскусія аб сітуацыі ў Беларусі з удзелам прадстаўнікоў МЗС Літвы, Беларускага Дома правоў чалавека, арганізацыі Belarus Watch, Цэнтра ўсходне-еўрапейскіх даследаванняў, удзельнікаў дэманстрацыі 19 снежня 2010 г. ў Менску.

Запрашаем на прагляд фільма “Каралеўства дохлых мышэй” (2009, 88 хв.) беларускага рэжысёра Віктара Дашука ў рамках Дыскусійнага клуба “Нязручнае кіно”. Пасля прагляду адбудзецца дыскусія аб сітуацыі ў Беларусі з удзелам прадстаўнікоў МЗС Літвы, Беларускага Дома правоў чалавека, арганізацыі Belarus Watch, Цэнтра ўсходне-еўрапейскіх даследаванняў, удзельнікаў дэманстрацыі 19 снежня 2010 г. ў Менску.

Welcome to the first of social-educational events series called “Inconvenient Films: Discussion Club”. The event is called “What’s wrong with Lukashenka?” and is dedicated to discuss the human rights situation in Belarus, especially in relation to the recent events during and after the Presidential elections. Therefore, we will screen documentary film called “The Kingdom of the Dead Mice” (2009, 88 min., director Viktar Dashuk).
Afterwards we will have a discussion with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarus Watch, Eastern Europe Studies Centre and actual participants of demonstrations that took place in Minks on 19th December, 2010. The discussion will be held in English.

The Rafto Foundation is seeking nominations for the 2011 Rafto Prize for Human Rights. Every year since 1987, the Rafto Foundation has awarded the Rafto Prize to advocates of human rights and democracy.

Voluntary organisations, institutions and individuals worldwide are welcome to nominate candidates for the 2011 Rafto Prize for Human Rights. The Rafto Prize, awarded in memory of Norwegian professor Thorolf Rafto, is awarded to an individual or organisation that embodies and upholds the principles of the Human Rights Charter through activism or engagement.