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-Despite the tragedy that hit Burma a week ago, the junta has been determined to carry through the national referendum on the constitution as planned, today. Only the hardest hit areas will instead cast their vote on 24 May. Exile media report that the turnout was low, and that many who actually showed up to vote were told that they had already been voted for and that the punishment for voting against the junta’s proposition is three years’ imprisonment, says Inger Lise Husøy, right, Director of the Norwegian Burma Committee (NBC) (10-MAY-08)
 

This afternoon, many of the 2100 Burmese living in Norway paid tribute to the dead and expressed concerned for the survivors of the cyclone Nagris that recently hit Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), to devastating effect. The public moment of mourning arranged in front of the Norwegian parliament was also a protest against tomorrow´s totally undemocratic referendum on a new constitution in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar). (09-MAY-08)
 

A natural disaster doesn´t in itself amount to a violation of human rights. It is the authorities´ handling of the situation that sometimes does. This certainly applies to the current situation in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), argues Marte Graff Jenssen, right, the Norwegian Burma Committee´s (NBC) information officer. (07-MAY-08)
 

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) today called on the Burmese regime to immediately allow international relief agencies unrestricted access to Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar), to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the cyclone that hit the country on 2 and 3 May 2008. (07-MAY-08)

-Burma’s May 10 referendum on a new constitution is a sham process aimed at entrenching the military, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released today. -So far all independent reports tell the same story. HRW’s report is just one more reason why the people of Burma should tell the regime ‘NO’ in the upcoming referendum, says Marte Graff Jenssen, information officer in The Norwegian Burma Committee (NBC). (01-MAY-08)
 

The International Contact Group (ICG), a loose network of countries trying to affect the situation in the Republic of Somalia meets in Oslo tomorrow to discuss the political process, the security situation and the humanitarian conditions in the country. To address ICG´s disputable role, representatives of many of the different Somali organisations in Norway will demonstrate outside the meeting. (29-APR-08)
 

Remzi Kartal , right, Vice President of Kongra-Gel, the Kurdish National Congress, visited the Human Rights House in Oslo on Friday, and painted a bleak picture of the situation in Kurdistan. Kartal, who lives in exile in Belgium, has spent time in prison and cannot go back to Republic of Turkey. Like his fellow political representative Leyla Zana, he once presented his oath to the Turkish parliament in Kurdish. (28-APR-08)
 

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are outraged by the methods being used by the military government to prevent the media from freely covering the views and activities of the supporters of a No vote in a 10 May referendum on a new constitution. -Let the press and the public discuss the draft constitution, says Marte Graff Jenssen, right, of the Norwegian Burma Committee. (24-APR-08)
 

Reporters Without Borders called yesterday for the foreign news media to be allowed back immediately into Tibet and nearby provinces with a Tibetan population, where the Chinese authorities have maintained a news blackout and have been conducting a massive propaganda campaign for the past six weeks. (24-APR-08)