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Globalisation means increased business relations not only with developed democracies but also with states with serious challenges in the field of corruption and human rights. How do the two go together?

The situation in Aba prefecture, a heavily ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province, remains tense as Chinese security forces detained about 300 Tibetan monks for a month from the Kirti monastery. Chinese security forces launched a huge military crackdown in the region after the monk, named Phuntsog, died on March 17 after setting fire to himself and shouting protests against Chinese rule in Tibet.

After four years of wrongful imprisonment, the Azerbaijani government has pardoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. He was released ahead of Azerbaijan’s Independence Day on 28 May. His release was welcomed by many in Azerbaijan and also by international media groups, human rights, free speech organizations that had campaigned on his behalf for years.

The Human Rights House Foundation, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Rafto Foundation have appealed to the Crown Prince of Norway not to participate at the Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition in Baku 6-7 June. The three organizations fear that the visit can be misused by the Azerbaijani authorities. Read the full letter, in Norwegian, below.

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev is a 29 year old Harvard-graduate who organized the Facebook-event “Great Peoples Day” on March 11, calling people to join the Facebook-group and to protest the government. Officially, he was convicted for evading military service. On 4 May another youth activist Jabbar Savalan was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment for using Facebook to call for a “Day of Rage”.

The Moscow Helsinki Group, the oldest human rights organization in Russia, celebrates its 35 years’ anniversary today. Ludmila Alexeyeva, who has been a part of the organization since its first day and who is now at its head, says that the main organisation’s purpose is to force the authorities to observe the Constitution and human rights and to respect citizens’ dignity.

Shot clandestinely over a 2-year period by best-selling novelist and filmmaker, Robert H. Lieberman, this film provides a rare look at the second-most isolated country on the planet. It lifts the curtain to expose the everyday life in a country that has been held in the iron grip of a brutal military regime for 48 years.

The International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA) condemns the 4 May 2011 conviction of youth activist Jabbar Savalan, who was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment on politically motivated charges of drug possession.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) has announced its annual report and made a statement on democratic setbacks in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia. The new report focuses on 2010 events in Belarus, Russia, Central Asia and Caucasus countries and development of human rights internationally.