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Azeri authorities must stop the harassment of independent journalists, political activists and human rights defenders. This is the message in a statement from the Human Rights House Network in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Poland, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia, England, Republic of Kenya and Republic of Uganda, the Swedish Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Defenders Office of the International Service for Human Rights adopted 8 September in Baku. (20-SEP-05)
 

On 9 September the Russian State Duma sent an appeal to the Head of State re. the regulation of the process of adoption of Russian children. The appeal proposes a temporary moratorium on the adoption of Russian children by citizens from the US and also a bilateral agreement as an obligatory condition for adoptions. This is the reaction towards several cases of murder of adopted Russian children in the USA in recent years. Boris Altshuler (right), the head of the “Right of Child” human rights organization sees a lot of serious problems in this project. (27-SEP-05)
 

On 7 September, the Human Rights House Network, in cooperation with OSCE, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Geneva, and the Swedish Helsinki Committee organized a conference in the Azeri capital of Baku. The conference focused on the human rights situation in the Republic of Azerbaijan, especially in the build-up to the Parliamentary elections in November. (26-SEP-05)
 

Hina Jilani (right), United Nations’ Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, was a special guest at the Human Rights House Network Meeting, which took place 7-10 September in Baku. During the conference, she presented her activity under her UN mandate, as well as assumptions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. (26-SEP-05)
 

This article about the human rights NGO the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), has a direct connection to the recent HRH conference, workshop and annual meeting in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. First published in the New York Times last week, it was made available to www.humanrightshouse.org by Tatiana Banina (right) of RCFS, who came to Baku, unlike her colleague Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, who was prevented by Russian police from going. (26-SEP-05)
    

A joint campaign of the Polish media entitled “The Controlled Campaign” has been underway since the end of August. Its aim is to expose the lies used by politicians in their election campaigns. This operation is of particular significance, because this year the Poles are electing the parliament (September 25th) and the president (October 9th– I round, Octomer 23rd – II round). (23-SEP-05)

Between the 13th and the 15th of September, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights hosted a visit of 11 attorneys from Dniepropietrowsk, Ukraine. They belonged to the Foundation of Constitutional and Civil Rights, and to the District Association of Attorneys. (23-SEP-05)

On 9 September, representatives from the international human rights community came together to issue a joint press statement, expressing their concern for the treatment of independent journalists, political activists, and human rights defenders in the Republic of Azerbaijan. They also called for free and fair elections, due to take place on 6 November. (23-SEPT-05)
 

On 21 September 2005, Trial Chamber III granted the Prosecution’s motion to join six cases involving nine of the highest-ranking officers of the Bosnian Serb Army. The charges against the accused relate to the forced removal of the Bosnian Muslim population from the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves in Eastern Bosnia. It said the trial would avoid duplication, ensure consistency and lessen the hardship for witnesses. One of the nine suspects, Zdravko Tolimir, is still on the run, but the other eight are in custody. No trial date was announced. (23-SEP-05)

Human rights defenders in Serbia including Sonja Biserko, the chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia are being subjected to more physical violence, threats, and hate speech in the media than ever before, according to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) in Vienna, which counts the Helsinki Committee among its 44 affiliates throughout the OSCE region. (22-SEP-05)
 

The Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for 2005 is awarded to the Chechnyan lawyer and human rights advocate Ms Lida Yusupova, in recognition of her brave and unrelenting efforts to document human rights violations and act as a spokeswoman for the forgotten victims of the war in the Chechen Republic. The Rafto Foundation is among the organisations based at the Egil Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen, Norway. (22-SEP-05)
  

Azeri authorities must stop the harassment of independent journalists, political activists and human rights defenders. This is  the message in a statement from the Human Rights House Network in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Poland, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia, England, Republic of Kenya and Republic of Uganda, the Swedish Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Defenders Office of the International Service for Human Rights adopted 8 September in Baku. (22-SEP-05)