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The administrative service of the President of Republic of Belarus has notified the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), an affiliate of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, of the termination of the Committee´s office rental contract, and has ordered the Committee to vacate its office. Right, BHC´s Executive Director Oleg Hulak and Lawyer and Vice President Harry Pogonjalo. (25-JAN-07)
  

On 16 January, the Polish government presented a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women from the execution of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). A few days earlier (on 12 January) the members of the Committee met with the representatives of Polish women’s organizations and familiarized themselves with the shadow report that they prepared. (25- JAN-07)

The administrative service of the President of Republic of Belarus has notified the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC), an affiliate of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, of the termination of the Committee´s office rental contract, and has ordered the Committee to vacate its office. Right, BHC´s Executive Director Oleg Hulak and Lawyer and Vice President Harry Pogonjalo. (25-JAN-07)
 

The prominent Armenian writer and publisher Hrant Dink, right, was shot on January 19 just outside of the office of the Armenian newspaper AGOS in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey. Dink was a brave defender of the Armenians’ rights, human rights and multicultural Republic of Turkey. He was sentenced several times for “insulting and denigrating Turkishness”. As others journalists and writers in the Republic of Turkey Dink was threatened to death on several occasions. He informed authorities about these threats, but he never got any kind of protection. (24-JAN-07)
 

Yesterday, 23 January, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the decision of the Regional Court of the Russian Federation to liquidate our organization, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. The liquidation ruling came into force immediately. -We are definitely going to appeal to the European Court on Human Rights, says Oksana Chelysheva, editor of RCFS, right. (24-JAN-07)
   

Today, the Supreme Court in the Russian Federation will decide on the fate of human rights organisation Russian-Chechen Friendhip Society. It now pleads to European Members of Parliament for help. So far more than 80 persons have signed an open letter of support , including Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, Noam Chomsky, and a number of European MPs. You can send an email with your signature to ivanah@ned.org (National Endowment for Democracy) and frank@ihf-hr.org (International Helsinki Federation)(23-JAN-07)
 

On 12 January of this year, attorney Marek Antoni Nowicki, the president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, was appointed by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo Joachim Rucker, upon the proposal by the President of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, as a member of the Human Rights Advisory Panel. (22-JAN-07)

The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights has issued an appeal to Chinese authorities urging it to put an end to the reported harassment of the 2004 Rafto Prize Laureate Rebiya Kadeer´s family as a reaction to her peaceful human rights activities. If you wish to support the action, print out the appeal, sign it and post it by air mail to the Chinese authorities. Thank you! (20-JAN-07)
 

The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights has issued an appeal to the Chinese authorities and encourages people and organizations who care about the human rights issues to show their support to 2004 Rafto Prize Laureate, Rebiya Kadeer and her family. The appeal urges the Chinese government to put an end to the reported harassment of Rebiya Kadeer´s family as a reaction to her peaceful human rights activities. If you wish to support the action, print out the appeal, sign it and post it by air mail to the Chinese authorities. Thank you! (20-JAN-07)

2006 saw the emergence of a series of worrisome trends, concludes the US based freedom of expression and human rights monitoring and lobbying organisation Freedom House. Among the most troubling trends, says Freedom House, is a growing ´pushback´ against organizations, movements and media that monitor human rights or advocate for he expansion of democratic freedoms. (20-JAN-07)
 

There is more discussion of climate change taking place in the UK than ever before. At the same time, challenging the dominant view on climate change is fast becoming taboo. Academics and lobby groups who argue that the dangers and extent of climate change are being over-exaggerated are being labelled ‘climate change deniers’ and have, in some cases, been directly compared to holocaust deniers. There have even been calls to make the denial an offence, equating the questioning of scientific theory with a crime against humanity. For many, this has been seen as preemptive censorship and a hindrance to rational debate. Furthermore, there are worries that the public is being given access to only one side of an ongoing debate. (19-JAN-07)
 

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee´s adviser on the Balkans, Ole Benny Lilleås, right, will observe the parliamentary elections in Serbia on Sunday 21 January. The elections are the last before the process to decide on the status of Kosovo will be brought to its conclusion. The nationalists have scored high on the opinion polls and an election result reflecting that may not only affect the decision on Kosovo, but also the human rights situation in both Serbia and Kosovo. (19-JAN-07)