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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)

Chinese police raided two hide-out places in the outskirts of Beijing, and arrested 65 North Korean refugees and 2 activist workers on October 26th.  Among them, there are 11 teenagers and 1 senior aged over 70. In a press release, the Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag (NK Gulag) urges chinese government to immediately release the North Korean refugees and the South Korean human rights workers. (29-OCT-2004)  

For her steadiness and her steadfast belief in the powers of democracy and peaceful protest, 40.4% of voters nominated Aung San Suu Kyi as Asia´s Online Hero for 2004, organized by Time Asia. In 1990 she was awarded the Rafto Prize, and in 1991 she was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. She remains the only living recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who is still incarcerated. (5-OCT-2004)
 

The Uyghur American Association and the Uyghur Human Rights Project is pleased to congratulate Rebiya Kadeer on winning this year´s Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize. “It´s a great day not only for Rebiya Kadeer, but for all Uyghurs as well,” Nury Turkel, UAA President said. “Wining the Rafto prize is recognition of not only Rebiya Kadeer´s promotion of human rights for the Uyghur people, but it also is further recognition by the world community that the People´s Republic of China is mistreating the Uyghurs.” (29-SEP-2004)

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) urged European Union member states and the European Commission to condemn China¹s latest crackdown on independent websites and publications at the same time as holding dialogue on human rights with the EU. While no announcement has been made on the outcome of the 24 September meeting in Beijing, the international press freedom organisation urged them to react to a wave of closures of publications and arrests of journalists. (29-SEP-2004)

The Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for 2004 is awarded to Rebiya Kadeer, from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), People’s Republic of China. Kadeer is a prisoner of conscience and a prominent symbol of the Uighurs’ struggle for basic human rights. Through this award, the Rafto Foundation directs a strong appeal to the Chinese government to respect and protect the civil, economic and cultural rights of the Uighurs as well as other minorities in China(23-SEP-2004)
 

The Republic of South Africa announced its official recognition of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), according to a joint communiqué signed today by the Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Salek and Mrs. Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma, South African Minister for Foreign Affairs.The communiqué, of which SPS received a copy, declares the decision of the two countries “to establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level as of Wednesday, 15th of September 2004”. (19-SEP-2004)