Latest

On January 24 a Supreme Court of Republic of Belarus starts hearings of the case at the suit of Justice Ministry to a public association “Belarusian think-tank”. It was stated at a briefing in the US Embassy in Minsk by a Belarusian sociologist Aleh Manaeu. As said by him, Justice Ministry demands to suspend activities of the organization.(23-JAN-06)

23 January, the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) and the ‘Rossia’ Television Channel accused British diplomats of espionage and maintaining contacts with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including the Eurasia Foundation and the Moscow Helsinki Group (24-JAN-06).
 

The hunger strike of youth activists, which were fighting for the restoration of the rights of two expelled students – Turan Aliyev and Namig Feyziyev for political motives – succeeded. The protest action, which continued since the 28-th of December ended up with the restoration of the expelled students to the universities. The success of the action also was realized due to wide national and international support and appeals to the administration of universities and the ministry (19-JAN-2006).
 

On 16 January, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights as the first non-government organization appeared as amicus curiae (friend of the court’) in a trail held before the Constitutional Tribunal. During the hearing of the constitutional complaint filed by Tomasz D. the HFHR was represented by Professor Andrzej Rzeplinski, see picture. (20-JAN-06)
 

On 16 January, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights as the first non-government organization appeared as amicus curiae (‘friend of the court’) in a trail held before the Constitutional Tribunal. During the hearing of the constitutional complaint filed by Tomasz D. the HFHR was represented by Professor Andrzej Rzeplinski, see picture. (20-JAN-06)
 

For four years Guantanamo’s high profile obscured a far shadier world of US-sponsored interrogation chambers around the world. Only now is the world finally asking about the archipelago of US prisons around the world, and the fleet of CIA aircraft ferrying prisoners from one torture chamber to the next. Clive Stafford Smith reports for Index on Censorship (20-JAN-05)

16 January  the negotiations of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took place in Moscow. Angela Merkel has strongly raised questions concerning problems of human rights in the Russian Federation. At the Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel had a special meeting with representatives of the Russian human rights movement. (19-JAN-06)
 

16 January the negotiations of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took place in Moscow. Angela Merkel has strongly raised questions concerning problems of human rights in the Russian Federation. At the Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel had a special meeting with representatives of the Russian human rights movement. (19-JAN-06)
 

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, eleventh year in a row, reported about a state of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the PRESS Conference, held today, in the Human Rights House of Sarajevo, at the presence of more than 20 media agencies, Srdjan Dizdarevic, president of the Helsinki Committee, shortly presented mayor sequences of their findings on Human Rights situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005. (17-JAN-2006)

On September 16, 1999 in the Republic of Belarus a vice-speaker of the Supreme Soviet Viktar Hanchar and his friend businessman Anatoly Krasouski were abducted. The fates of the former Minister of Internal Affairs Yury Zakharanka and a cameraman of the ORT channel Dzmitry Zavadsky are unknown as well. Representatives of the civil society of Republic of Belarus proposed holding Days of Solidarity in the country. They called upon the citizens SIMPLY TO SWITCH OFF THE LIGHT at 8 p.m. on the 16th day of every month, and to light candles of Freedom for 15 minutes, as a sign of solidarity with political prisoners, disappeared oppositionists, their families, and independent journalists, with all who fight for freedom and democracy in the Republic of Belarus. (16-JAN-06)

Tuesday 17 January, the Norwegian Council for Africa and HRH co-hosted a seminar called ?Aid and the troubled democracies of East Africa?. The four speakers coming from Republic of Kenya and Republic of Uganda, including the well-known human rights defender Beatrice Kamau and the former editor at the Monitor, Republic of Uganda, Charles Onyango-Obbo all agreed upon the importance of a strong civil society for the functioning of a democracy (18-JAN-06)
 

The I edition of the Refugee and Migration Law Clinic organised by the Helsinski Foundation for Human Rights will begin on 1 March. Recruitment for the clinic will be held until the end of February. (14-JAN-06)