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This week the Human Rights Centre published its report ‘Repressive Democracy?! Chronicles of State Sponsored Violence in Georgia during the Spring 2009’, which reveals that the “Government of Georgia is using undemocratic and even illegal means to quash the dissent and maintain the power“.

Globovisión, a 24/7 news channel highly critical of the president, is under pressure to moderate its political stance. Steps taken by the government to remove Globovisión’s free-to-air licence pose a fresh threat to the country’s independent media. Daniel Duquenal reports

By a close margin of 20 to 18 with 9 abstentions, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on 18 June to approve the creation of an independent expert to closely scrutinize the human rights situation in the Republic of the Sudan, effectively continuing the mandate of the U.N.’s special rapporteur on Republic of the Sudan that was created in 1993. The term of the current special rapporteur on human rights in the Republic of the Sudan expires this month. Right, the current mandate holder, Dr. Sima Samar.

ARTICLE 19 welcomes the landmark ruling of the High Court in Belfast in the
case of investigative journalist, Suzanne Breen, which decided that a court order
forcing her to hand over her notes would have threatened her life and the lives of her family, and compromised the protection of her sources.

The review, initiated by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in collaboration with the Russian Union of Journalists, the Glasnost Defense Foundation and the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations as a part of World Congress in Moscow in 2007, examines 313 cases of died journalists in the Russian Federation since 1993, reviewing the circumstances around their deaths, the response of the authorities and the reasons behind the failure of the investigation.

The South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders is extremely concerned about the arrests of activists of Georgian opposition political parties and violence used against them. These events have been continuing during last two months, starting from the kick off of the public demonstrations on 9 April 2009 and escalating recently.

for journalists reporting on children issues

Center for Human Rights in Zagreb, has made last week public presentation of the research results “Human rights in primary schools – theory and practice”. The research has been conducted in 24 primary schools in the Republic of Croatia.

Non-governmental organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina demand from the responsible institutions to immediately sanction the hate speech made last week by Drago Kalabic, the Chief of the Club of Representatives of SNSD (Party of Independent Social Democrats) in the House of Representatives, during the TV program “Posteno”.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) launches its Annual Report 2009.

Civil Society Defence Committee was established on 11 June 2009 to achieve complete removal of the proposed amendments to Azerbaijan’s law “On Non-Government Organisations (public unions and foundations)” from the agenda and work plan of Milli Mejlis which is intended to be discussed at its extraordinary session on 19 June. The Committee is composed of the NGOs working in various spheres.

Lawyer Le Cong Dinh (right) has always worked to change the system from within – which is exactly why his arrest is troubling, says Roby Alampay