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Last month, the first ACTS (Applied Conflict Transformation Studies) started in the Balkans. ACTS programme is designed for people who want to develop skills and wider competence they need to build greater peace and justice in their own communities and countries. Participants are working in fields such as peace, human rights, and development, or looking for ways to become engaged in these, or related fields. (03-NOV-05)
   

“The state guarantees the right to choose the language of education and upbringing in conformity with the law”. In the case this Constitution article was really respected in real life, most probably the agenda of the assembly of Frantsishak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society (the largest public NGO dealing with defense of national values) that took place on 30 October would have sounded like “Success and progress in development of Belarusian, the state language” and the authorities wouldn’t have twice refused to provide the room for this event. (2-NOV-05)

The Kenyan Government has failed to acknowledge a request for invitation from the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani (right). Three years after President Moi lost power, Kenyan human rights defenders continue to be harassed and intimidated. State bodies are the main perpetrators. (01-NOV-05)
 

Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip has been honoured as one of Time magazine’s 2005 European   heroes, it was announced on 24 October at a ceremony in London. Khalip, who is deputy editor-in-chief of bi-weekly independent newspaper Delovaya Gazeta (BDG), has reported widely on corruption, drawing attention the deterioration of human rights in the country. (31-OCT-05)

6 November 2005 is the day of Parliamentary elections in Republic of Azerbaijan. The upcoming elections cause a lot of interest not only within the country, but also outside of its borders. The whole international community is watching the uneasy processes prior to the elections and gives its opinion about the situation. During October 2005 the Azerbaijani government has probably received the maximum number of recommendations, opinions, and reports than ever. Below you can see the extracts from the opinions/reports of highly authoritative institutions and / or persons about the pre-election situation and upcoming elections (31-OCT-2005).

6 November 2005 is the day of Parliamentary elections in the Republic of Azerbaijan. In a statement from the 29th of October EU underlines its deeply concerns of the use of excessive force by  police. Below you can see the extracts from the opinions/reports of highly respected institutions and persons about the pre-election situation and the upcoming elections (31-OCT-2005).

On 28 October, Leszek Bubel was sentenced for making anti-Semitic statements. In a rare verdict, the District Court in Warsaw ruled that Bubel committed a crime by insulting the Jewish nation in his statement. (29-OCT-05)
 

The complicated situation and the permanent pressure exerted by the authorities on the civil sector of Republic of Belarus are frequent topics for both the country’s society and the international community. But what happened the other day staggered even some of the most sophisticated human rights activist and representatives of other NGOs in the Republic of Belarus. In the night of 24 October a window of the office of Zhodzina-based regional branch of the Human Rights Center Viasna came under gunfire. (28-OCT-05)

One of the most famous personalities of modern American history, a racial equality activist, Rosa Parks, has died at the age of 92. Almost fifty years ago, her act of civil disobedience had enthused the forces of perhaps the biggest social change of the 20th century. (27-OCT-2005)

Mrs. Ludmila Alexeeva, the chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group and Mr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, the chairman of the Republic of the Sudan Social Development Organization, received the annual award from the organization Human Rights First in New York on 24 October. (27-OCT-2005)    

Last week the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev (right) dismissed the Minister of Economic Development and the Minister of  Healthcare and arrested the former Finance Minister.  He was charged with arranging financing for opposition clashes against the police on the eve of the opposition leader planned return before the parliamentarian elections.  The opposition leader ,Rasul Guliev, denied to have any contacts with the ministers. The run-up to the parliamentary election on November 6 is chaotic (Baku 24-OCT-05)
 

After the possibility that Ivica Rajic, also know as Viktor Andric, (left) been transferred from the ICTY to Sarajevo, he proposed Plea Agreement between with the Prosecutor, and at the hearing on Wednesday 26 October 2005, he entered a guilty plea to the four counts listed in the amended indictment. In the Plea Agreement, Ivica Rajic and the Prosecution agreed to recommend a single combined sentence in the range of 12 to 15 years’ imprisonment. (26-OCT-05)