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Newly elected EC member of ESIB, the National Unions of Students in Europe, Taciana Khoma, right, has been expelled from Republic of Belarus State Economic University and thrown out of her dormitory. The decision is based on accusations that she has not given proper information reagarding her work in ESIB. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights House Foundation condemn her expulsion which they consider is politically motivated and notify the authorities in a letter that several basic human rights have been violated. Read the letter here. (02-DEC-05)
 

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, right, with whom HRH continues to work closely, will undertake a fact-finding mission to Brazil from 5 to 20 December 2005 at the invitation of the Government. The Special Representative will assess the situation of human rights defenders, and examine in particular both the legal framework as well as any possible limitations on the right to defend human rights in the country. (02-DEC-05)
 

Nizhni Novgorod: Two Russian police officers have been convicted of crimes relating to the torture of Aleksei Mikheev in detention in September 1998.The court sentenced the two police officers to four years´ imprisonment. Amnesty International welcomes the conviction and calls for full redress for Aleksei Mikheev. Photo: Amnesty International (30-NOV-05)
 
 

Nora Sveaas, right, leader of the International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR), one of the in-house member organisations of the Norwegian Human Rights House, was yesterday elected one of five new members of the United nations? Committee on Torturethe Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has lobbied for Sveaas?s candidature, announces. (01-DEC-05)
 

Colombian paramilitaries are to lay down their arms by January. – Demobilized paramilitaries are recycled into the conflict, the Colombian human rights lawyer Alirio Uribe Muñoz warned when he visited the Norwegian Human Rights House recently. Along with the UN and international human rights organisations he said that the rights of victims are not sufficiently respected in the demobilization process. (01-DEC-05)
 

World Aids Day provides an annual landing place to review what has been achieved, and what still needs to be done, in confronting what is the preeminent threat facing world security. We have, inevitably, a mix of the positive and the negative. In the negative scale is the fact that this year saw an estimated 5-million new infections world-wide. Half the new infections last year affected young people, posing a threat to the future of entire nations. (01-DEC-05)
 

Oslo: The Human Rights House Foundation and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee ask Azerbaijani authorities to initiate an immediate and impartial investigation of the violent outcome of the demonstration Saturday the 26th of November. In a letter sent to the Azerbaijani President today the organisations strongly condemn the brutal use of police violence against demonstrators. (1-DEC-05)
 
 

-Condoms are embarrassing to buy, they spoil sex, and if your partner insists on using one then they obviously don’t trust you. It’s a familiar refrain the world over, but in Angola, where hammering home the safer sex message is vital if the country is to avert a widespread HIV/AIDS pandemic, making condoms widely available and ‘cool’ to use is paramount. On the eve of HRH’s first visit to Angola, www.humanrightshouse.org marks World Aids day with an article from a country remarkably spared by the deadly virus. (01-DEC-05)
 

Along with dozens of other free speech groups, Index on Censorship and Article 19 had long questioned the suitability of Tunisia to host last week´s United Nations World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS). Following days of mayhem, rights abuses and attacks on freedom of expression, Tunisia proved that concerns were justified. Index on Censorship reports from Tunis. (25-NOV-05)

The human rights activists of Republic of Belarus are against the introduction of the political articles in the criminal legislation.  On November 25, 2005 the chamber of representatives of the Belarusian Parliament adopted in the first reading a bill brought by Mr. Lukashenka before the parliament as an emergency measure. Many human rights activists share the opinion that this bill is quasi-legal and shows that the dictatorship is becoming increasingly scared to lose power.(30-NOV-05)
 

The violence, conducted by the law-enforcement representatives toward peaceful demonstrators in Baku on the 26-th of November caused lots of negative reaction both in Azerbaijani society and in international community. The preparation of the Azerbaijani authorities to disperse the peaceful  demonstration – dozens of trucks with soldiers of the internal troops, columns of police, 2 water dispersing cars, specially trained dogs, tear gas balloons – shocked the people (30-NOV-2005).

-The Norwegian Tibet Committee is seriously concerned about the curfew imposed on the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, says Chungdak Koren, right, Secretary general of the Norwegian Tibet Committee. The curfew was declared by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP) of the government of the “Tibet Autononomous Region” in the aftermath of the protest from the monks of the monastery on 25 November 2005. (30-NOV-05)