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On 13-15 February a conference on “Additional guarantees and immunities for advocates of human rights” was held in Chisinau (Moldova). It has become an important stage in the work of graduates and experts of the Human Rights House Network Program “International Law in Advocacy” to support human rights defenders, including human rights lawyers. During the event, lawyers from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine discussed the existing and additional tools that would protect those, who work in the field of human rights, and guarantee their security and independence.

The Prague Civil Society Centre is established to support civil society and human rights defenders in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. “Civil society in the region has tremendous potential yet it is under growing pressure“, says the Centre’s director Rostislav Valvoda.

Belarusian human rights organizations have developed an analytical review, that defines the medium-term tendencies in the field of human rights, social, political and economic situation in Belarus. The prepared and published review covers the period from October to December 2014.

Representatives of the leading Belarusian human rights organizations met with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus Miklos Haraszti (right).

On 23 January Minsk hosted a presentation of the research project “The effectiveness of the use of international human rights mechanisms in Belarus.”

Graduates and experts of Human Rights House Network Program “International Law in Advocacy” are monitoring the situation with the arrest of Azerbaijani lawyer and human rights defender Intigam Aliyev. The colleagues of Intigam Aliyev from the Program are preparing to monitor the judicial process and the conference, which aims to develop ways to prevent and resolve situations where lawyers are under pressure.

In Minsk, civic activists were convicted for expressing solidarity with Ukraine – placing flowers and lighting candles near the monument to Taras Shevchenko. Participants of the solidarity action were fined and arrested for 5 to 15 days.

On 15 January a guidebook of the socio-political landscape of Belarus with stories about the Belarusians, who were directly related to the modern Belarusian history over the last 15-20 years, was presented in Vilnius. The presentation of “Contemporary History in Faces”, the book by a famous Belarusian journalist Aliaksandr Tamkovich (right) was held in the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House and gathered together several dozen of persons concerned – journalists, diplomats, human rights defenders, civil society activists.

On 13 January the court turned down the complaint about the decision of the District Department of Internal Affairs on her expulsion from Belarus, lodged earlier by human rights defender Elena Tonkacheva (right).