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The application for the 2011 session of the annual Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at Columbia University is now available.

1 July 2010 will mark a new era for Belarusian internet users. Many internet websites may be blocked. On that day, regulations prepared by the Ministry of Communication and Information will come into force, concerning material that contradicts law – pornography, extremism, terrorism, etc. Experts say the new regulations can affect sources that may pose a threat to the authorities.

Burma in 2010 will hold its first elections in twenty years. Given the restrictive provisions of the 2010 Political Parties Registration Law that bar anyone serving a prison term from membership in a political party, many imprisoned dissidents will be excluded from the process, unless they are released in the near future. The elections and the constitution they will bring into force will define the political landscape for years to come.

The European Union hopes to send a mission to Burma as part of a new approach to press the country’s ruling junta to adopt democracy. “There is a tendency towards a Dialogue,” said Jose Eugenio Salarich, a Spanish senior official responsible for relations with Asia and the Pacific.

A group of European human rights organizations, including the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, are calling for stronger support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the region. European states and the European Union (EU), among other actors, must ensure full support and cooperation to the ICC, to enable it to fulfill its mandate to deliver justice to the victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and to prevent the future commission of such crimes.

Four monks of Wara Monastery in Thangpu Township, Jomda County (Jiangda xian) in Chamdo Prefecture, “Tibet Autonomous Region” were arrested on 15 May under suspicion of leading and instigating protest at the county headquarters in Spring 2008 and two other official monks of the same monastery were arrested on 16 May for their failure to ‘educate’ the monks under ‘Patriotic education’ campaign.

When: Thursday, 3. June 2010 08.30-13.00 To: Thursday, 3. June 2010 Where: Oslo, Literature House, Wergelandsveien 29, Host: Norwegian Helsnki Committee Program[1]    08.30 Registration and coffee    09.00  Welcome. Recognition and remembrance of the   Srebrenica genocide in Norway Bjørn Engesland, Secretary-   General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee    09.10 Opening   State Secretary Gry Larsen, Norwegian Ministry […]

-Kazakhstan, the current chair of The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), does not fully abide with OSCE human rights standards, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Oslo Center say in a mutual statement made in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan on 11 May 2010. The statement follows a new round of talks with foreign minister Saudabayev.

Norwegian PEN, The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Human Rights House Foundation and Article 19 condemn the illegal confiscation of material and documentary footage from the Norwegian filmmaker Erling Borgen and the cameraman Dag Inge Dahl in Baku Airport on May 6, 2010.