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ARTICLE 19 calls for lifting of the blanket ban on all protests on the Habib Bourguiba Avenue of the Tunisian capital and for investigation into the heavy-handed tactics used by Tunisian security forces to disperse thousands of protestors – including journalists, unionist and civil society representatives – that were commemorating Martyrs’ Day on the Avenue on 9 April 2012.

Burma’s by-elections on 1 April have been widely covered by international media. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she hopes Sunday’s by-elections marked the start of a new era in Burma.

Invisible Children, a charity organization based in San Diego, launched an internet campaign to bring accused Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony to justice. Invisible Children posted a half-hour film about the rebel leader online, hoping to spark international action. The film about the abuse of children in Africa has been watched more than 50 million times on the internet within four days of its release, and almost six million people, including US celebrities George Clooney, Rihanna and others, have tweeted about the campaign using #StopKony.

The 2012 Rafto Prize laureate will be honoured at a ceremony and concert to be held on Sunday, 4 November 2012, at the National Venue of Theatre in Bergen, Norway.

The 2012 Rafto Prize laureate will be announced at a press conference to be held on Thursday, 27 September at 10:00, at the Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen.

Alexander Lukashenka’s regime in Belarus has often been called by international media “the last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe”. Gennady Grushevoy, the 1999 Rafto Prize laureate, shares his thoughts on the current political situation in Belarus.

Martin Paulsen (33) is the new Head of Rafto Prize Committee. He is a Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bergen specializing in Eastern European languages and literature, as well as Internet studies.

Rafto Laureate 2011 Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) by Frank Mugisha gravely opposes the Parliament’s re-tabling of Hon. David Bahati’s notorious “Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 on 7 February 2012 at the opening of the 9th Parliament.

The authoritarian Central Asian state’s leader, who assumed power in 2006 after the death of eccentric President Saparmurat Niyazov, faces seven loyal members of the elite on the ballot, none of whom dared to criticise him during the campaign. In turn Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is predicted to win vote with critics branding rival candidates as token challengers