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The Norwegian Helsinki Committee participated in a picket in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Oslo, passing on a statement to Counsellor Vitalii Pantus. The statement comes as a reaction to the recent violent attacks on a peaceful demonstration organized by Ukrainian LGBTI organizations, where several activists were victims of violence.

The Public Hearing on the Human Rights Situation in the Peasant Communities of Bajo Aguán, Honduras, was convened by nine organisations and international networks that in recent years have been monitoring the human rights situation in Honduras and in particular that of the peasant communities in the Bajo Aguán region. This monitoring effort has been carried out in coordination with local organisations.

On 16 April Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly Vanadzor, a partner organisation of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, was subject to harassment by a large crowd on the eve of a public movie screening. Police authorities did not protect the human rights defenders, and damage was made to the premises of the organisation.

The trial of General Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb army chief accused of orchestrating war crimes and a campaign of genocide, has begun at a special UN court at The Hague in the Netherlands. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia recently made their opening statements against Mladić, almost a year after his arrest in Serbia and subsequent deportation. Mladić is accused of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including orchestrating the week-long massacre of over 7,000 Muslim boys and men at Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian war.

After working for more than a decade to put land on top of the international agenda, FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) welcomes the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) adoption of the FAO (the U.N. Food and Argiculture Organization) guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest in the context of National Food Security.

Parliamentary election on 6 May was Armenia’s first electoral campaign since the disputed 2008 Presidential race that led to massive protests and eight persons being killed by security forces. There were a few improvements as compared to the previous election, but abuse of administrative resources and pressure on voters remained a serious problem.

On 6 May citizens of Serbia, EU-candidate state, voted in presidential, parliamentary, regional and local elections. Even though the support for the need for European integration is greater now than it was in 2008, it is obvious that candidates struggle to prevent that this ambition alienates voters.

Beginning May 2010, a number of criminal cases were opened against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. On 11 October 2011 she was found guilty of abuse of power, and sentenced to seven years in jail. Norwegian Helsinki Committee considers her case to be politically motivated.

The 2009 Religion Law of Kyrgyzstan fails to comply with the Constitution and with international human rights standards, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee states. Moreover the law severely restricts religious freedoms, including imposing registration requirements that in effect ban registration of new religious communities other than the Orthodox Church and the Spiritual Board of Moslems. Authorities should take steps to initiate an open and inclusive process of revising the Bakiyev-era Religion Law.