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Widespread corruption scandals by judges and magistrates and inappropriate political interference in the judicial systems are denying people their right to a fair and impartial trial, said High Court Judge Stella Arach in an interview yesterday. Arach elaborated that the lower courts are the most affected with many magistrates receiving bribes from litigants.

When: Thursday, 9. October 2008 10:00 To: Thursday, 9. October 2008 Where: Sarajevo, Hotel Holiday Inn, Zmaja od Bosne 4 Host: Human Rights House Sarajevo Contact: Mirsad Pandzic (

When: Friday, 10. October 2008 09:00 To: Sunday, 12. October 2008 Where: Sarajevo, Ante Fijamenga 14b Host: Human Rights House Sarajevo Contact: Srdjan Dizdarevic (

On Tuesday 21 October, the Bergen International Film Festival and the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, will organise a movie and discussion seminar for pupils of secondary schools in the Bergen region. The focus will be on human rights violations in Burma and two movies will be used to illustrate the struggle of the citizens of Burma with their government.

The independent organisation Journaliste En Danger, JED, is extremely concerned about the safety of Radio Okapi’s Bunia correspondent Jean-Paul Basila, who has been the object of recent threats by officers with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).

According to Novaya Gazeta, an attempt has been made in France on the life of Russian human rights lawyer and World Movement participant Karinna Moskalenko, right. On October 13, the prosecutor in Strasbourg launched an investigation into the placement of mercury, a potent poison, into Ms. Moskalenko’s car. Ms. Moskalenko noticed that her health, and the health of her husband and children, has been deteriorating over the past week, but she does not know for sure when the car was contaminated.

Margaret Sekaggya, right, the newly appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and the chairperson of the Republic of Uganda Human Rights Commission was honored yesterday with a public lecture on the UN Special Rapporteur mandate she has jut taken over. The lecture was organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On 4 October, members of the security forces arrested Negin Sheikholeslami, a human rights activist and journalist from the Kurdish minority in Islamic Republic of Iran, at her home in Tehran. Sheikholeslami is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, says the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK).

Hawlati, an independent Kurdish newspaper, recently published articles debating the practice of female circumcision, often referred to as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), in Iraqi-Kurdistan. FGM is a major problem in most of Islamic societies, and the practice has a tremendous cost—many girls bleed to death or die of infection.

Ivar Dale, right, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee’s representative in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, was refused entry to the country when he returned there on Sunday after having attended a seminar in Norway. Bjørn Engesland, Secretary General of the NHC, believes the series of harassments the organisation has been subjected to is politically motivated.

In the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, an unidentified gunman assassinated Diyar Abbas Ahmed, a twenty-eight-year-old Kurdish journalist, yesterday. Abbas Ahmed worked for Iraq Eye Media and several other media stations, including a television station sponsored by a Kurdish political party. The Committee to Protect Journalists says that violence against ethnic minorities, journalists and human rights defenders is escalating in the area.

The Human Rights House Network observes that the status of human rights defenders is alarming.