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Azerbaijani authorities detained 50 demonstrators in Baku on Saturday. On Friday 32 people were rounded up, following the 10 March Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan order for the Human Rights House Azerbaijan to cease all activities immediately. At least five social media and opposition activists were also arrested on 4-8 March.

A petition signed by 84,000 Karen from all over the world has been put forward to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take action against the Burmese junta’s violation of human rights and military campaigns against the ethnic Karen people in their own Karen state, Irrawaddy news says. It’s the first ever worldwide Karen petition.

English PEN is calling on our members to join a worldwide reading campaign for our Honorary Member imprisoned writer and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo. The aim of the campaign, organised by the Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin, is to encourage as many of Liu’s supporters around the world to stage a reading of Liu Xiaobo’s poem ‘You Wait for me with Dust’ on 20 March 2011.

Land grabbing was one of the main topics during the last World Social Forum in Dakar. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that in the last three years 20 million hectares have been acquired by foreign interests in Africa. The Eastern African Farmers Federation (EAFF) has cautioned that leasing farmland to multinationals could precipitate food crisis in the region. Foreigners are further acquiring farmland in Africa, however 43 of the 53 African countries do not produce enough food for their own population, FAO says.

Voluntary organisations, institutions and individuals worldwide are welcome to nominate candidates for the 2011 Rafto Prize for Human Rights. The Rafto Prize, awarded in memory of Norwegian professor Thorolf Rafto, is awarded to an individual or organisation that embodies and upholds the principles of the Human Rights Charter through activism or engagement.

On 11 February the inmates of the settlement colony 156/13 in Ust-Kamenogorsk, left the colony for a vacation until 6 March. The only inmate who was denied this vacation was the well-known human rights activist Evgeniy Zhovtis, after serving more than a year in the semi-open colony without being allowed to leave the territory.

On 31 January, a bill that would allow for a referendum on the extension of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s term of office until 2020 was rejected by the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan as un-constitutional. Instead, Nazarbayev has announced snap elections on 3 April. The idea of referendum was criticized by international community, elections however will not bring anything new if they are not democratic, NHC says.

On 31 January 40 people from different Norwegian human rights organizations and political parties showed for the second time their solidarity with Russian pro-democracy movement “Strategy 31” by gathering in front of the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo.

In solidarity with the Russian civil society, Norwegian organizations mark the 31 of January by requirering freedom of assembly in the Russian Federation, as stated in the article 31 of the Russian consitution.