Latest

The Norwegian Burma Committee, among the NGOs in the Human Rights House in Oslo, is critical of the City Council of Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway, who welcomes Total, the French oil giant remaining the biggest Western investor in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), as sponsor of its huge 2008 Cultural City project. Leif Johan Sevland, Major of Stavanger, waves off all protests. (3-SEP-05)
 

Last Saturday, that is August 27th, Lukashenko “ultimately dissolved” the issue of Poles in the Republic of Belarus by delegalizing the Board of the Association of Poles in the Republic of Belarus (APB), which was democratically elected in March, and appointing new Association authorities, obedient towards the President. (02-SEP-05)

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has voiced shock after masked men kidnapped the brother of an opposition daily journalist from a city centre and took him to a suburb where they beat him and threw him into a canal. Ramin Rzayev, brother of “Azadlig” journalist Mohammed Rzayev, was abducted on the evening of 30 August 2005 in the centre of Nakhitchevan, southwestern Republic of Azerbaijan. (2-SEP-05)
 

On August 27th, Lukashenko “ultimately dissolved” the issue of Poles in the Republic of Belarus by delegalizing the democratically elected Board of the Association of Poles in the Republic of Belarus (APB) and appointing new Association authorities, obedient towards the President. (02-SEP-05)
 
Related stories:
Belarus: Polish TV cameraman refused entry
Norwegian protests against harassment of Polish journalists in Belarus  
Letter from the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland 
Repressive measures against Poles in the Republic of Belarus
 

Four days in advance of the international conference, workshops and annual meeting of the Human Rights House Network, www.humanrightshouse.org regrets to inform that Stanislav Dmitrievsky, a delegate to the meeting, has received a summons from Russian police and will not be able to attend. It is assumed that the arrest was prompted by fear that Dmitrievsky would seek asylum in the Republic of Azerbaijan. (2-SEP-5)
    

Together with Norwegian PEN?s Secretary General Carl Morten Iversen, Board member, author and journalism researcher Elisabeth Eide will next week participate in the IFEX (International Freedom of Exchange) / TMG (Tunisian Monitoring Group) lead third observation envoy to Tunisia. (1-SEP-05)
 

Two years ago, the Bush administration admitted that the 15 uigurs currently serving at Guantanamo were sent there by mistake. Now, however, the same administration does not want to release them out of fear that they might have been influenced by other prisoners or in other ways developed misleading ideas. (31-AUG-05)
  

The West Saharan liberation movement Polisario´s chief negotiator Emhamed Khadad (right) visited the Norwegian Human Rights House yesterday. -Norway must do a lot more to push Moroccan authorities to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, Khadad stated. With its occupation of Western Sahara, declared illegal by the UN, Morocco remains Africa´s last colonial power. (31-AUG-05)
 

From the Norwegian Tibet Committee, one of the in-house member organisations of the Norwegian Human Rights House, www.humanrightshouse.org has received the following appeal, addressing the issue of violations of children’s rights, including Panchen Lama (right) in the People´s Republic of China. Please read and sign it, as soon as possible. (31-AUG-05)
 

The West Saharan liberation movement Polisario´s chief negotiator Emhamed Khadad (right) visited the Norwegian Human Rights House yesterday. -Norway must do a lot more to push Moroccan authorities to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, Khadad stated. With its occupation of Western Sahara, declared illegal by the UN, Morocco remains Africa´s last colonial power. (31-AUG-05) 
 

ARTICLE 19 has issued a public statement in the wake of the London bombings. The free expression organization has voiced concerns about how proposed security measures will affect fundamental freedoms. (30-AUG-05)

-In the last six month, the violence in Turkish Kurdistan has seriously escalated. In view of this, RKR (RÃ¥det for Kurdernes Rettigheter / The Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurds) considers it immensely positive that both parties to the conflict now seem to nurture a wish for peace, says RKR spokeswoman Liv Kjølseth (right) (30-AUG-05)