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According to the Analytical Note prepared by Belarusian and Russian HR defenders from the International Mission for Human Rights Situation Control in the Republic of Belarus, detentions on the presidential election day in Minsk and during the post-election period were characterized by violence, inhuman and degrading treatment, while trial proceedings failed to meet the criteria of a fair trial.

“Pressure on defenders in the Republic of Belarus does not allow them to perform their job”, concludes the Committee of International Control over the Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Belarus in its review. The document offers a systematic compilation of facts of interference in the activitiy of human rights organizations in the Republic of Belarus in the circumstances surrounding the presidential election in the Republic of Belarus.

Генеральны сакратар ААН заклікаў вызваліць журналістаў, апазіцыйных кандыдатаў у прэзідэнты і іх прыхільнікаў, якія працягваюць утрымлівацца пад вартай у Беларусі пасля выбараў. Грамадзянская супольнасць краіны заклікае міжнародную грамадскасць працягваць ціск на ўлады, але просіць не ізаляваць ад свету простых грамадзян Беларусі.

From January 12 to October 31, 2010, MSF medical teams in Haiti treated more than 358,000 people, performed more than 16,500 surgeries, and delivered more than 15,000 babies, new MSF review’s numbers show. Today one of the main issues on the island is the cholera epidemic and sexual attacks on women, the newest Amnesty International report says.

-We appeal to the international community to set in motion a dedicated collective action to end the violations of freedom of expression and the culture of impunity, if peace is to come back to Republic of Somalia. There will be no peace without justice for human rights.—Omar Faruk Osman Nur, right, General Secretary of the National Union of Somali Journalists, Republic of Somalia, December 2010.

A number of organizations in the Norwegian NGO-forum for Human Rights submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding Norway’s respect of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The report presents alternative information to the Committee regarding the implementation of ICCPR by Norway. The report also suggests recommendations to both Norway and the Committee.

The new amendment to the Law on Police clearly demonstrates the undemocratic trend that Georgian legislation is moving towards. It shrinks the scope of fundamental human rights and freedoms, thus, violates the individual liberty enshrined in the Georgian Constitution.

English PEN calls for the immediate release of all journalists and activists who have been detained in the Republic of Belarus for practising their right to free expression, for the dismissal of all politically-motivated criminal cases, and for a full and proper investigation into the troubling reports of ill-treatment. English PEN calls to take urgent action by writing and sending letters of appeals to Belarusian authorities.

Four candidates for presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus in 2010 – Aliaksei Mikhalevich, Uladzimir Niakliayeu (right), Andrei Sannikov and Mikalai Statkevich – are still in custody along with campaign leaders, relatives and party leaders and activists, Human Rights Center Viasna, partner of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, reports. Several of the prisoners have been severely beaten and in need of medical attention which they are denied.

“An unprecedented wave of violence, intimidation, arrests and prosecution of journalists” – a grim description of situation in the Republic of Belarus after the presidential election by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic. The human rights defenders are doing what they can to oppose the terror campaign towards dissidents and political opponents of the Belarusian government.

SLUG invites to a seminar to launch the report “Debt at the expense of human rights” that looks at how debt servicing goes beyond health care, education and other services that all people, according to their individual and universal human rights, are entitled to. The report’s author is Line Madsen Simenstad from SLUG.

The Turkish / British author and former head of International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Moris Farhi, holds the lecture “The Courage to Forget” in which he asks whether we have the courage to forget about wars and conflicts. Interview with Norwegian journalist Christian Borch and debate after the lecture. Tuesday 15 February at 19:00, the House of Literature, Amalie Skram.