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Svetlana Aleksejevna Gannusjkina, right, leader of the independent Russian human rights organisation Grazjdanskoje Sodestvije (Civic Assistance Committee) today received the Sakharov Freedom Award from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC). Gannusjkina also leads the IDP and refugee programme of the organisation Memorial´s human rights centre (29-NOV-08)
 

NUSOJ protests the 26 November 2007 arrest of journalists Abdiqani Hassan Farah and Mohammed Shakale in Las Anod town of Sool region. Somaliland armed forces arrested the two journalists separately in the city centre of Las Anod, according to news reports and journalists in Las Anod who reported to NUSOJ.  (28-NOV-07)
 

The row over whether David Irving and Nick Griffin should have spoken at the Oxford Union is not an argument about freedom of speech. The Union president chose to invite far-right demagogues to speak, rather than someone who actively campaigns for free speech. (28-NOV-07)
 

Welcoming the willingness of party leaders in BiH to return to the European agenda, Miroslav Lajcak (left) and Olli Rehn (right) today stressed the need to normalize the political situation in the country and get back to work.

Thursday this week, 29 November, the Freedom of Expression Foundation, together with Norwegian PEN and Culcom, University of Oslo, host a meeting at the new Literature House on ‘Freedom of Expression and Clash Philosophy’. More specifically, the purpose of the meeting is to shed light on how the strife following in the wake of the publication of the cartoons about the Prophet unfolded in different parts of the world. (25-NOV-07)
 

On November 21, Megjashi, a member of the Human Rights House in Skopje, received a document by which the Ministry of Defence is severing the leasing contract for their property. Unless another solution is found, one of the oldest and most recognized organizations for children’s rights in FYR Macedonia will be forced to close. (25-NOV-07)
 

Over the last couple of weeks, a digest of the independent Chechen journal ‘DOSH’ – ‘A word’ – has been launched in Brussels, Paris and Oslo. The journal has been published in the Russian Federation since March 2003. The Chechen journalists told European public figures, politicians, mass media representatives and human rights activists how hard it has become to be an independent journalist in the Russian Federation and what difficulties they face when democratic principles are not observed. (25-NOV-07)
  

While leaders from Britain and her former colonies discussed how to uphold democracy, human rights and the rule of law yesterday, violence erupted at a demonstration by up to 100 anti-government protesters questioning whether Republic of Uganda was a fit host, and whether Britain was a model. To curb the protests, more than 100 Ugandan police used batons and sticks. The demonstrators threw bottles and stones at the police. (24-NOV-07)
 

On November 21 the Third UN Committee adopted the resolution on Human Rights situation in the Republic of Belarus. The document was introduced by USA in co-authorship with Australia, EU, Israel, Canada, Switzerland and Japan. The resolution expresses ‘deep concern’ with the systematic HR violations in the Republic of Belarus and ‘further erosion of the democratic processes’. (22-NOV-07)
 

2 December 2007 – for this date the elections in the State Duma of the Russian Federation are set. Many independent foreign observers from various international organizations were going to come on this period. Among them there was the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). But the Russian authorities did their best to frustrate participation of the observers from the OSCE. As a result, the OSCE has simply refused to participate in supervision over such “elections”. (23–NOV–07)
 

Belarusian human right defenders express deep concern about the destiny of the political prisoner Andrey Klimau. They appeal to everyone to support Mr. Klimau as he is kept in very bad conditions in the prison. On August 1 he was convicted for 2 years of prison for the publications in the Internet. (21-NOV-07)
 

The Norwegian Tibet Committee (NTC) has alerted www.humanrightshouse.org to its sister organisation the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy´s (TCHRD) expression of shock and condemnation over the swift and extremely harsh sentence to Ronggye A´drak, right, and three other Tibetans by Kardze Intermediate People´s Court today. NTC adds its voice to the growing number of protests. (22-NOV-07)