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European Youth Peace Summit
Last week Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, hosted European Youth willing to make world changes. Summit maintained from 07-10 of May and gathered around 550 young leaders from the whole Europe, motivated to make an influence on the global changes. (17-MAY-04)
Support group for North Korea at the Rafto Human Rights House
The support group for North Korea was established as part of a continuation effort following the Rafto Prize for the year 2000. North Korea can be characterised as one of the worst totalitarian and closed societies in the history of the world. “The beloved leader” Kim Jong-II is one of the worst tyrants in modern times and is in charge of a regime were human rights consistently are broken. (10-MAY-2004).
Marking the Norwegian Liberation Day 8. May at the Espeland Prison of War Camp.
For the second consecutive year representatives from the Rafto House participated in marking the Liberation Day (the 8th of May) at Espeland Prison of War Camp. Through lectures in human rights for school children in the 6th, 7th and 8th grade from Ytre Arna, the people from the Rafto House gave their contribution to the Activity Day. (10-MAY-2004).
A Tolerant Krakow?
The Festival of gay and lesbian culture, organised by the Campaign against Homophobia, took place in Krakow between May 6th and 9th. One of its main events was the march of gays, lesbians and the Campaign´s supporters to Wawel castle, which took place on May 6th. It was accompanied by an illegal counter-demonstration the participants of which threw eggs, stones and bottles at the marching group. (12-MAY-04)
photo © gaylife
The conclusions of the Annual Meeting HCHR BiH
The April 2004 at the HCHR BiH ended with a very important happening, a long-prepared Parliamentary Annual Meeting. All members of HCHR BiH, other NGO`s guests and the most of media in BiH, were presented and followed the main conclusions of the annual work of HCHR BiH. (10-MAY-04)
Conference about the cultural memory in Stolac
A long – time tendencies for protecting cultural rights in Hercegovina region, town Stolac, resulted positively. HCHRBiH, with the help and assistance of The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, hold the International Conference „Human Rights and Destruction of Cultural Memory: the Stolac Case“in Sarajevo, 23 and 24 April 2004. The hosts are satisfied with the same Conference and with the final conclusions which were brought. (27-APR-04)
Independent observers on the streets of Warsaw during the European Economic Summit
Warsaw is preparing for the European Economic Summit that will commence on the 28th of April 2004. It is expected that the arrival of politicians will be the cause for the arrival of various alterglobalist groups. Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights representatives are going to monitor the situation on the streets. (23-APR-04)
Leyla Zana to challenge imprisonment verdict at European Court of Human Rights
Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) is to assist Leyla Zana and three other
imprisoned former Democracy Party (DEP) parliamentarians in taking cases to the
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), following the decision of Turkish courts
today to confirm their fifteen year prison sentences. (22-APR-2004)
The Rafto Prize to Daddach gives legitimacy to Saharawi people’s struggle
Erik Hagen is a member of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara. He was arrested on April 5
by Moroccan security forces in the capital of Western Sahara, l’Ayoune, and deported to the
neighbouring country of Mauritania. Hagen was in the Moroccan occupied territory to interview
human rights activists and former political prisoners, among them Sidi Mohammed Daddach,
who two years ago was awarded the Rafto Prize for his lifelong struggle for an independent
Western Sahara.(20-APR-2004)
Ten years since the massacres in Rwanda
On April 6th, a meeting was held in the Rafto House in commemoration of the genocide in Rwanda. Astrid Arne, anthropologist and former aid worker in Burundi, and Laurent Sinamenye, a Rwandan student living in Norway, gave lectures. (20-APR-2004)
The Palestinian Refugees (1948-2004)
In 1948 more than 900,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their houses,
by a deliberate mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.
Today, there are more than 5 million Palestinian refugees in the world,
out of a population of 9 million Palestinians in total. (20-APR-2004)
Siba Shakib – the author of “Where God Cries”
On the International Women Day, the Iranian writer Siba Shakib visited Bergen as the guest of the Norwegian Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Committee and the “March 8th Initiative” in Bergen. Siba Shakib is the author of a book on Islamic Republic of Afghanistan entitled ”Where God Cries”. The book is a story of an Afghan woman, Shirin Gol, and her experience during the different regimes of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. (22-MAR-2004)