Latest

The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) in Norway organized International Conference on “Peace through Human Development” in Oslo on 5 May. The Rafto Foundation participated at the conference. The Conference was attended by Norwegian, Vietnamese and international participants, scholars, Buddhist monks from Norway, Sweden and from chapters of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in Europe, Australia and the USA (25-JUN-07).

Niels Jacob Harbitz, right, programme co-ordinator for Africa for HRH F, recently represented the international human rights community on the investigation into an incident reported by Save the Children in the Kotido district of Karamoja in which thechild rights agency alleged that 66 children were killed. Harbitz concludes that “on the basis of what our investigation found and on the balance of evidence accumulated by other investigative missions, children were killed as a direct consequence of the UPDF’s attack.” (25-JUNE-07)
 

The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights launched its new project entitled “Strengthening the rule of law and human rights protection in the Republic of Poland through involvement of business entities, civil society groups and individuals in strategic litigation activities” 18 June. The conference included several dozen representatives from the worlds of science, business, media and NGOs. (20-JUNE-07)
 

A new Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights project entitled “Strengthening the rule of law and human rights protection in the Republic of Poland through involvement of business entities, civil society groups and individuals in strategic litigation activities” was inaugurated on 18 June during a conference that included several dozen representatives from the world of science, business, media and nongovernmental organizations. (20-JUNE-07)

The Human Rights House Foundation is immensely pleased to announce that Nasha Niva, the last independent Belarusian language weekly, has been awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation / Zeit Stiftung´s joint Free Press of Eastern Europe Award. Nasha Niva´s editor Andrej Dynko, right, well known to the Human Rights House Network, is in Norway to receive the award on behalf of his newspaper. (21-JUNE-07)
   

The Baku-based news agency Turan has been awarded the independent media institution the Freedom of Expression Foundation / Zeit Stiftung´s Free Press of Eastern Europe Award. Turan´s director Mehman Aliyev, right, is in Oslo to receive the prize. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights House Foundation jointly nominated Turan. Read our full nomination below. (21-JUNE-07)
 

To mark Aung San Suu Kyi´s 62nd birthday, Burmese women were joined by numerous sympathisers this afternoon in a one-hour long demonstration outside the Norwegian parliament, demanding the release of Suu Kyi and the approximately 1100 other political refugees in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar). Displaying pictures of some of the prisoners, the demonstration also featured a release of 150 gas-filled balloons, symbolically foreboding the release of the political prisoners. See more pictures below. (19-JUNE-07)
 

The United Nations Human Rights Council ended its disappointing first year by adopting a package of procedural measures that lay a foundation for its future work, but fall short of providing it a firm footing, Human Rights Watch said today. “The council has left key questions unanswered, which gives leeway to countries that seek to weaken human rights protections,” said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. Through the Norwegian NGO forum for human rights, HRH F is involved in lobbying for the same. (19-JUNE-07)
 

Carlos Reyes-Manzo and Bill Samuel’s photography exhibit, Children of the Clouds, at Foyles Bookshop in London is a showcase of the Saharawi refugees’ lives in the arid landscape of the Sahara desert, where they have lived in exile for more than 25 years.  The exhibit, which ends 23 June, showcases photos taken in January and February at four refugee camps in the Tindouf area of Algeria.  (15-JUNE-07)
 

On 19 June, Aung San Suu Kyi (right) will celebrate her 62nd birthday. But she will be celebrating her birthday alone, under house arrest. A world-wide campaign each year takes place on her birthday. There will be a gathering at the Rafto Human Rights House on 19 June at 19:00, arranged by the Amnesty International Bergen office and Burma room at the Rafto House (18-JUN-07).

The Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal assistant, Myo Thant (right), visited the Rafto Human Rights House on 14 June. Mr. Thant was sent into exile in 1999. He has since then kept residence in the United States, and today is in the forefront of Burmese liberation organization abroad, attempting to unite the dispersed oppositional groups around the World (18-JUN-07).

On 19 June, Aung San Suu Kyi will celebrate her 62nd birthday. But she will be celebrating her birthday alone, under house arrest. A world-wide campaign each year takes place on her birthday. There will be a gathering at the Rafto Human Rights House on 19 June at 19:00, arranged by the Amnesty International Bergen office and Burma room at the Rafto House.