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On 19 December last year we witnessed thousands of peaceful citizens gathering in central Minsk, protesting the oppression and the stolen presidential elections. That night all hope of progress was shattered as we saw police forces batter the protesters and arresting them by the hundreds. Presidential candidates, opposition leaders, civil society leaders and unorganized citizens were all herded into vans and brought to prison. Thousands fled, running away from soldiers and police beating indiscriminately. Belarusian citizens keep running still a year later

A delegation with members from Norwegian and Danish PEN was denied visa at the Minsk airport and had to return home. At the Minsk airport in Belarus on December 5th a delegation with members from Norwegian PEN, board member- William Nygaard, publisher- Trygve Åslund and secretary general- Carl Morten Iversen) and Danish PEN board member and journalist- Niels-Ivar Larsen was denied visa and, consequently, entry to Belarus

On the 12-14 December Norasia arranges the Conference of the Network for Asia Studies at the University of Oslo. The theme is “Asia’s Century: Where is the Asia Research?” There will be a special panel discussion at the conference dedicated to the Norwegian Burma research.

In celebration of the international Human Rights Day, December10, the human rights organization FIAN International invites people worldwide to participate in an art contest.

according to Bjørn Engesland the general secretary of Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Duma elections in Russia from the very start seem to be unfair and undemocratic. There have been serious complains regarding election monitoring, vote counting and other related procedures. Independent national observers all over the country have registered countless violations in the election legislation, including pressure against voters to vote for the ruling party United Russia

Following a visit to Kosovo 13-18 November, a delegation of Helsinki Committees calls on authorities there to improve the rule of law and the fairness and efficiency of the justice systems for all, and to extend a hand to its minorities and demonstrate in practical terms that the local and central government takes care of the needs of its citizens. The recent events in the North of Kosovo demonstrates the need for Prishtina and Belgrade to seriously engage to avoid further escalation in conflict levels and inter-ethnic tension

Having experienced economic growth, while granting limited freedoms to its population since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has recently been shocked by terrorist acts. In Atyrau, Western Kazakhstan, on 31 October four young men placed bombs close to security service instalments. In a further serious development, on Saturday 12 November, a young man killed five law enforcement officers, two bystanders and himself in a shooting spree in Taraz, Southern Kazakhstan

On 15th November 2011 PEN International, the worldwide association of writers, marked the 30th Annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer; an international day of action intended to recognize and support writers who have resisted repression of their basic human right to freedom of expression

Fra en bakgård i Oslo kjemper journalistene i Democratic Voice of Burma mot et av verdens verste diktaturer. Vi følger tv-kanalen når de går live for første gang under Burmas hittil eneste valg siden 1990, og dekker løslatelsen av demokratiforkjemperen Aung San Suu Kyi direkte minutt for minutt.