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As part of his tour of the South Caucasus region the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Chairman of the Council of Europe´s (CE) Ministerial Committee Jan Petersen met with a group of key Azerbaijani human rights defenders on 12th of October.  On behalf of about 15 Azerbaijani human rights NGOs Fuad Hasanov, a local human rights activist, delivered to Mr. Petersen an open letter, where the human rights defenders highly encourage the establishment of a Human Rights House in Baku. According to the NGOs such a house will make the human rights movement more visible, accessible and improve the security for human rights defenders in the Republic of Azerbaijan. (22-OCT-2004)
 

“Norway is ready to assist Republic of Azerbaijan in European integration and we intend to develop relations with Republic of Azerbaijan. I welcome the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev´s latest amnesty decrees and I hope that the problem of political prisoners would be fully resolved in a short run in Azerbaijan”, Norwegian Foreign Minister, Chairman of the Council of Europe´s (CE) Ministerial Committee Ian Petersen, who arrived in Baku on last Tuesday as part of his tour of the South Caucasus region, told a news conference that he was satisfied with his visit to Republic of Azerbaijan. (22-OCT-2004)
 

The UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) Baku office has registered over 10,000 refugees from the Chechen Republic, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and Islamic Republic of Pakistan. 8,500 of these people are Chechens and some 1,500 Afghanis. (20-OCT-2004)
 
 
 

The United Nations World Food Program says it has been forced to cut its aid to displaced Azerbaijanis due to scarce funding. The agency´s decision is likely to make life much harder for the tens of thousands of civilians in the country who depend heavily on such foreign aid. Thousands of others — refugees from recent wars in the Caucasus and elsewhere — are also living in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and in even worse conditions, reports Jean-Christophe Peuch of Radio Free Europe. (20-OCT-2004) 

“Reconciliation resources”, a British non-governmental organization, presented a new project entitled “Audio diaries in Azerbaijan” last Wednesday. The goal of the project implemented with financial aid from the British government’s Global Foundation of Conflict Prevention is to offer facilities for ordinary people to express their views, eliminate existing stereotypes and promote tolerance. (30 Sep 2004)

In his article, Waiting in Pain, The Guardian´s Moscow correspondent Nick Paton Walsh writes about the protracted conflict between Republic of Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan that has left families of missing soldiers in agonies of uncertainty. The fate of the so-called “NK missing” has helped keep the two countries´ knives at each other´s throats. Republic of Azerbaijan claims there are 4,959 people “missing” since the war and charges that 783 are still being held captive by Republic of Armenia. Republic of Armenia claims 600 are missing. Republic of Azerbaijan says the Armenian claims they have only held 50 or 60 prisoners at a time are nonsense, as they released 1,086 people between 1993 and 2000. The areticle is published at www.humanrightshouse. org with the consent of the author. (29 Sep 2004)
 

Recently, The Guardian´s Moscow correspondent Nick Paton Walsh wrote an article, “US sidles up to well-oiled autocracy”, which is about the pressures, tortures  used against to oppostion activists,and the depression and hopelessness among the Azerbaijani society after the disputed presidential elections of 2003 in Republic of Azerbaijan. The HRH places this article in its website upon the consent of Nick Paton Walsh. (29 Sep 2004)
 

Republic of Azerbaijan and its partner team from Nigeria had won the largest worldwide school contest dubbed: “The Mondialogo School Contest”. (24-SEP-2004)

Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents held meetings in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan within the summit of the CIS heads of state last Wednesday, Assa Irada informed. The two mulled over the protracted Garabagh conflict between Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Armenia. The first meeting was attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven Mann (USA) and Henry Jacolin (France), who informed the two leaders of the work recently done in this area. (24-SEP-2004)