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Unnecessarily prolonged court procedures is one of the most frequent violations of fundamental human rights in the Republic of Poland. In his report from Republic of Poland, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles summarized the Polish judicial system like this: Slow justice is often equivalent to no justice at all. (02-FEB-04)
 

With the Union of Comoros’s late December ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights stating that an African Human Rights Court will be established as soon as fifteen states has ratified the protocol, such a court is now in the making. This may prove to be a major step towards strengthening the respect for human rights in Africa. (2-FEB-04)
 

Bruce Harris, the England-born human rights defender charged with defamation and for whom the plaintiff, at his client´s request, had suggested eight years´ imprisonment followed by immediate deportation and also $ 125.000 in damages, left the court as a free man last Friday following worldwide appeals from the international human rights movement´s for him to be able to do so. (2-FEB-04)
   

HRH belongs to the international human rights agencies now welcoming last Friday´s announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he will investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the context of the conflict in northern Republic of Uganda. (2-FEB-04)
 

Bosnia and Herzegovina has been given its first seat among the judges at the European Court for Human Rights. Professor Ljiljana Mijovic won the majority of the BiH Parliament`s votes and intends to represent her country throughout her six years´ appointment. (30-JAN-04)
 

Two representatives from the HRH secretariat leave tomorrow for South Africa. Executive director Maria Dahle and project manager Berit Lindeman will attend the World Movement for Democracy´s Third Assembly in Durban, but also visit human rights organisations in Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, all with a long term view to include these organisations in the HRH network. (30-JAN-04)
  

This morning, HRH was informed that human rights defender Bruce Harris, working for the Catholic charity Coventant House / Casa Alianza in Guatemala, may face eight years´ imprisonment if sentenced according to the accusers´ requirements. Read HRH’s urgent appeal faxed to President Oscar Berger. (30-JAN-04)
  

Norwegian Church Aid, whose Bergen office has just moved into Raftohuset, will carry out their annual information and fundraising campaign on March 23rd. This year, the focus will be on the fundamental right to water. Read what Jannike Hachvaag Grieg, the local project co-ordinator, has to tell about it. (28-JAN-04)
 

 Norwegian Church Aid, whose Bergen office has just moved into Raftohuset, will carry out their
 annual information and fundraising campaign on March 23rd. This year, the focus will be on
 the fundamental right to water. Read what Jannike Hachvaag Grieg, the local project co-
 ordinator, has to tell about it. (28-JAN-04)

Representatives of the Warsaw Human Rights House-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) have just returned from Iraq on a trip to investigate the possibility of establishing a permanent HRHF mission there. Their conclusion is that this will probably happen already in the spring of this year. If so, HFHR will be the second Polish NGO represented in Iraq, following the Polish Humanitarian Organisation´s permanent mission, which has been operating there since the middle of July 2003. (27-JAN-04)
 

Together with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, HRH faxed a letter today to President Vladimir Putin expressing deep concern about the security of Imran Ezhiev, the Chairperson of the Chechen and Ingush branch of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship (SRCF). Read the letter below. (27-JAN-04)
  

The HRH secretariat has received an invitation to be distributed throughout the network, for everyone interested to attend the Oslo based Centre for Peace-building and Conflict Management´s workshop to take place in Oslo from 22nd to 25th of April. Read more, and – if this is of relevance – sign up. (27-JAN-04)