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The Kurdish human rights defender Remzi Kartal was arrested in Germany in January and faces extradition to Republic of Turkey, with the high likelyhood of being tortured upon return. The Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurdish People, one of the member organisations of the Human Rights House in Oslo, has appealed to the German government to release him and refuse any request for extraditon to Republic of Turkey. (21-FEB-05)
 

Carl Gershman is the president of National Endowment for Democracy(NED), the foundation that has been sponsoring the International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees since 1999. This interview, by the online newspaper DailyNK, was conducted during the 6th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights. (21-FEB-05)
 

Last October, both houses of Congress unanimously passed and President George W. Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. The Act promotes improving human rights in North Korea as an integral part of broader U.S. policy on the Korean peninsula. It also calls for protecting North Korean defectors as refugees. Surprisingly, the most vocal criticism has come not from North Korea, but from South Korea. (20-FEB-05)
 

When the U.S. Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act last October, some of the most negative reactions came from supporters of the South Korean government. Several members of the ruling Uri Party indignantly insisted that the act could threaten peace on the Korean peninsula and damage relations between Pyongyang and Seoul. (20-FEB-05)
 

The new Azerbaijani oil boom has brought a flood of foreign investment to Baku, but many local Azerbaijani employees are complaining they are working hard in poor conditions and reaping none of the rewards. Mirvari Gahramanly, chairman of the Committee of Oil Industry Workers´ Rights Protection,  says that the contracts signed by the CCIC, main contractor in the construction of BTC, were not in keeping with Azerbaijani employment practices. (21-FEB-2005)

The World Bank approved a US$11.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Economic Development Support Project.  This project aims to improve living conditions, enhance economic opportunities and prospects for social integration for IDPs. Azerbaijan’s armed conflict with Republic of Armenia over the Upper Garabagh region, which lasted from 1992 to 1994, left over 30,000 dead and over 1 million people displaced. About 575, 000, or 15 percent of the country’s population, became “internally displaced persons.” (17-FEB-2005)

In a ground-breaking judgment delivered today, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the libel trial launched by McDonalds against two campaigners who had criticised its social and environmental practices, often referred to as the McLibel case, had been unfair and violated their right to freedom of expression. Article 19 reports. (16-FEB-05)

In a ground-breaking judgment delivered today, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the libel trial launched by McDonalds against two campaigners who had criticised its social and environmental practices, often referred to as the McLibel case, had been unfair and violated their right to freedom of expression. Article 19 reports. (16-FEB-05)
 
 

The grave human rights and refugees situation in North Korea is addressed at the 6th International Conference that opened in Seoul this week. The Human Rights House Foundation is present, and will co-host the next year´s conference with the Egil Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen. (16-FEB-05)
 

In September 2004 two leaders of entrepreneurs movement, Valery Levanewski and Aliaksandr Vasilyew, were sentenced to 2 years of colony for insult to Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Nevertheless, the pressurization of entrepreneurs is still not over. Several days ago individual entrepreneurs held nationwide strike of protest against the new agreement between the Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus as a result of which many of them can lose their jobs and profits.(15-FEB-2005)

According to the minister of information of Republic of Belarus Uladzimir Rusakevich, in 2004 the ministry suspended the issue of 25 mass media and issued about 160 warnings. In his recent interview to “Interfax” agency he also supported the existence of criminal punisment to journalists for insult of honor and dignity of state officials: — Someday, when the level of the political culture of the society will be much higher, this norm will become unnecessary, but it won’t happen quickly.(15-FEB-05)

Belarusian authorities often don’t let the foreigners who have active contacts with public and political activists into the country or deport them. Sometimes even Belarusian citizens aren’t allowed to go abroad, which can be a sign of restoration of the so-called “iron curtain” that existed during the soviet times. Several cases have already taken place during the first two months of 2005.(15-FEB-2005)