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The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and
Azerbaijan Federation of Human Rights Organizations (AFHRO) express their concerns regarding violence against women in the Republic of Azerbaijan at the 33rd session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(CESCR). (10-DEC-04)
 

-The donor community need to support the civil society movement in the Republic of Kenya. That is the only way that we can develop a critical mass of well informed people who can act as checks and balances to Government, said Professor Wangari Maathai in her acceptance speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony this afternoon. Maathai also emphasised the connections between environmental and land rights issues, poverty, social unrest and conflict. (10-DEC-04)
 

RSF/IFEX: RSF has called for the immediate release of independent journalist Mikhail Afanassiev, who was arrested as he prepared to travel to Moscow to receive the Glasnost Defence Foundation’s Sakharov Prize.(10-DEC-04).
 

Vienna: The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) express their grave concern over the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders in the Republic of Belarus. (7-DEC-2004)
 

Municipal elections will be held in the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 17, 2004.  According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), 21650 members to 2735 municipalities will be elected during the polls. At present, there are a total of 4,462,000 electorates in the Republic of Azerbaijan. During the elections, 38,866 candidates will run for municipal seats.(10-DEC-2004)

The international society is divided over the question of how to relate to Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar). While Western countries, including the EU and the US, have argued in favour of political and economic isolation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also the People´s Republic of China and Japan are all of the opinion that an open dialogue and ‘constructive engagement’ will take us further, faster. (10-DEC-04)
  

Wangari Maathai, founder of the Kenyan NGO the Green Belt Movement will today be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004. Since establishing her organisation in 1977, Maathai has been among the strongest oppositional voices in the Republic of Kenya. With the transition to democracy two years ago, she was elected Deputy Minister of the Environment. (10-DEC-04)
   

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has today published its first report on Republic of Azerbaijan, together with the Government’s responses. The report concerns the CPT’s periodic visit to Republic of Azerbaijan in November/December 2002.In the report, the CPT concludes that people detained by the police in the Republic of Azerbaijan run a significant risk of being ill-treated. The Committee recommends that a high priority be given to professional training for police officers and that the legal safeguards against ill-treatment (such as notification of custody, access to a lawyer and access to a doctor) be applied as from the very outset of deprivation of liberty. (09- Dec-2004) 

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has today published its first report on Republic of Azerbaijan, together with the Government’s responses.  In the report, the CPT concludes that people detained by the police in the Republic of Azerbaijan run a significant risk of being ill-treated. The Committee recommends that a high priority be given to professional training for police officers and that the legal safeguards against ill-treatment should be applied as from the very outset of deprivation of liberty. (09-Dec-2004)
 

On 4 December, the Federal Government of Nigeria foreclosed the prospect of releasing the official report of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa. Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Akinlolu Olujimi said the government has chosen to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court, which annulled the probe panel on the ground of unconstitutionality. (09-DEC-04)
 

HRH has received indepth information on DR Congo and the continuing conflict which has now cost up to four million lives. Now that neighbouring Rwanda again threatens to invade DR Congo as part of its attempt to settle its own ethnic issues, there is every reason to try to understand a conflict that affects the entire region better. (09-DEC-04)
 

With Gambia as its end-to-end example this article demonstrates that women’s liberation still has far to go in West Africa, or all of Africa for that matter. A quote from the Gambia Women, Law and Customary Practice book sums it all up: “Women’s value is positively and almost solely related to their sexual attractiveness to men and their marriage ability.” (08-DEC-04)