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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), denounces the adoption on January 6, 2008 of a law that considerably restricts the activities of NGOs in Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. -I am deeply concerned, denounces Eric Sottas, right, OMCT Secretary General.

The War Crimes Section of the State Prosecution filed an indictment against eight former policemen from Prijedor for their participation in a crime committed at Koricanske stijene in August 1992. The indictment has been forwarded to the State Court for confirmation.

Сустрэча ў ДПЧ выкрывае кантроль над грамадскім меркаваннем па пытаннях гендэру ў Беларусі і Літве.

A torchlight procession for peace in Gaza is organised in solidarity with the victims of the war in the Middle East. Everyone who wishes a peacefull solution for this conflict is invited to take part in this non-political peace demonstration, in which many civil society organisations take part.
Demonstrations will also be held in Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, Stavanger and many other places in Norway.
For more information: check http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72561090184.

News that six Gambian journalists have been jailed for two years for “ridiculing the head of state” signal that the country has become one of Africa’s worst abusers of press freedom. The convictions could effectively be the end of the country’s independent press.

-The government of Islamic Republic of Iran should amend or abolish broadly worded national security laws used to stifle peaceful dissent in the country’s Kurdish areas and end arbitrary arrests of Kurdish critics and dissidents,-Human Rights Watch.

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights invites human rights activists, university teachers and representatives of institutions from all levels of public administration dealing with human rights issues from Central, Eastern European and CIS countries to take part in the Summer School on Human Rights.

On January 1st 2009, the Law on Suppression of Discrimination was officially adopted in the Republic of Croatia. The new law includes wide protection from discrimination. It defines precisely what consitutes discriminatory behaviour and determines the Ombudsman as the body in charge of suppression of discrimination.

When: Tuesday, 13. January 2009 15.00 – 17.30 To: Tuesday, 13. January 2009 Where: Warsaw, 11 Zgoda St. Host: Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights More info: www.hfhrpol.waw.pl/news200.html

There were 9.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Central and Eastern Africa region as of December 2008; according to a United Nations report released today, 400,000 less than at the end of June, but because of the fluidity of the situation officials advised against laying too much store on the reduction. They noted that IDPs are sometimes continually moving, either returning home or being uprooted a second time.
Right: An IDP camp

Amnesty International (AI) called the Charities and Societies Proclamation law (CSO law), adopted today by the Ethiopian parliament, a repressive law designed to strictly control and monitor civil society in an atmosphere of increasing intolerance of the work of human rights defenders and civil society organisations. Previous drafts of the CSO law imposed strict government controls and harsh criminal penalties on non-governmental organisations.

-The Ugandan government has a great opportunity to show its commitment to the rehabilitation of a child abducted into rebel military service, says Georgette Gagnon, right, Africa Director at Human Rights Watch. -Bushobozi Irumba was a child when abducted and a child when captured, and his treatment should reflect that.