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A European Civic Commission will be established in order to monitor Turkish compliance with the EU accession criteria. This is a concrete result from the European Parliament Conference on The EU, Republic of Turkey and the Kurds, hosted by Rafto Foundation (Norway), Kurdish Human Rights Project (UK) and Medico International (Germany) The conference´s findings will be published and presented to the European Commission. In December 2004, the European Union (EU) will decide if Republic of Turkey is to be granted a specific date to begin accession talks. (30-NOV-04)

Human rights activists in Western Sahara have launched a campaign to pursue Moroccan authorities to hand back Sidi Mohammed Daddach, which is the 2002 Rafto laureate, his passport. The campaign has been initiated be a newly established human rights organisation in Western Sahara. The organisation is led by a former prisoner of conscious, Ali Salem Tamek, whom was handed back his passport two weeks ago after Saharawien demonstration in the Southern Moroccan city of Assa. (21-NOV-2004)
 

November 7th the 2004 Rafto laureate, Rebiya Kadeer, was celebrated with a ceremony to her honour at ‘Den Nationale Scene’ in Bergen. The ceremony was accompanied by artistic performances, through words, music and dance, and they were all performed as a tribute to Kadeer’s struggle for the Uyghurs’ basic human rights in the North-western province of the People´s Republic of China, Xinjiang. The peak of the ceremony was the moment when Kadeers daughter Akida expressed gratitude on behalf of her mother on a telephone line from the USA. (21-NOV-2004)

The conference on “The EU, Republic of Turkey and the Kurds”, which is being held on 22 – 23 November 2004 in the European Parliament, have been organized and sponsored by the Rafto Foundation, in co-operation with the Kurdish Human Rights Project and Medico International. Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu from South-Africa is the Patron of the Conference. The topics are “Human Rights Violations and Democratisation in Turkey” (session I), “Turkey’s European and International Obligations” (session II) and “Securing Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in Turkey” (session III).
(21-NOV-2004)

Recently, a mass grave was found in the north of Diyarbakir, the Kurdish newspaper, Welat, reports. According to the newspaper, this is not done by Saddam, but by the Turkish Army, maybe only ten years ago. It is claimed that the corpses belong to the villagers who were taken under custody during an operation which was hold by Turkish Army in 1993. No one has received any news from them since they were arrested. The bound and the stuff in the grave are delivered to the Puplic persecutor. (11-NOV-2004)

The Rafto Foundation together with Amnesty International has made a post card of appeal which can be sent to the Chinese government. The post card was introduced on Monday the 25th of October when Monica Mæland (Chief Comissioner of the City Government in Bergen) and Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen (the leader of the opposition in Bergen) signed a post card each.Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen said that it was an honour to sign the post card and by this act contributing to the campaign to free Rebiya Kadeer. Both politicians agreed that this was a political case they easily supported. (04-NOV-2004)

The “North Korean Holocaust Exhibition” will be held from November 8th through November 10, 2004, at the National Assembly Members Building in Yeoido, Seoul, Korea. This will be a powerfully dramatic depiction of the suffering of the North Korean people!  The exhibition will include hundreds of photos, letters, diaries, models, and artifacts by and from the refugees and NK people, which Mr. Moon from Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human rights and others risked their lives to collect over the past ten years.  (01-NOV-2004)

The Rafto Prize Ceremony 2004, honouring this years laureate, Rebiya Kadeer , will be held on 7 Nov. at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. Kadeers husband, Sidik Haji Rouzi, will receive the prize on behalf of his wife. Rouzi fled the People´s Republic of China in 1996 and was granted asylum in the USA. Distinguished Norwegian and international artists will participate at the Rafto Award Ceremony. The Rafto Symposium 2004 is named “Human Rights and Minorities in China: The Case of Xinjiang” and will be held on 5 Nov. at Clarion Hotel Admiral, Bergen. (01-NOV-2004)

In January 2004 the re-newed Department of Information- and Media Sciences was established at the University of Bergen. “In accordance with our scientific goals we want to create an agenda for public debate on the conditions for freedom of expression, and the challenges it is facing. This has now come about through an inspiring cooperation with the Rafto Foundation, the Institution Fritt Ord and Bergens Tidende,” says Professor Knut Helland. (30-OCT-2004)