Latest

Today representatives of many international human rights organisations, including members of the Human Rights House Network, addressed president of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite to take leadership in advocating for the release of political prisoners in Belarus. Human Rights Watch in its new report tells about a post-election crackdown in Belarus, mistreatments, pressures on relatives and lawyers.

On 13 March, Azerbaijani courts sentenced at least 30 people who took part in peaceful protests on 11and 12 March to between 5 and 8 days in prison. The trials were closed to the public. The rallies, in the wake of the mass protests in the Middle East, protested government corruption and called for the Azerbaijan leadership to resign.

On March 16, Human Rights Center Memorial published a comprehensive report covering political repression in Uzbekistan in the period 2009-2010. It shows that country has no legal opposition or independent media, civil society and religious communities are subject to severe pressure from the side of the authorities. Political repression is an inherent part of government policy and torture is practiced systematically.

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.