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The Human Rights House Foundation is immensely pleased to announce that Nasha Niva, the last independent Belarusian language weekly, has been awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation / Zeit Stiftung´s joint Free Press of Eastern Europe Award. Nasha Niva´s editor Andrej Dynko, right, well known to the Human Rights House Network, is in Norway to receive the award on behalf of his newspaper. (21-JUNE-07)
   

The Baku-based news agency Turan has been awarded the independent media institution the Freedom of Expression Foundation / Zeit Stiftung´s Free Press of Eastern Europe Award. Turan´s director Mehman Aliyev, right, is in Oslo to receive the prize. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights House Foundation jointly nominated Turan. Read our full nomination below. (21-JUNE-07)
 

To mark Aung San Suu Kyi´s 62nd birthday, Burmese women were joined by numerous sympathisers this afternoon in a one-hour long demonstration outside the Norwegian parliament, demanding the release of Suu Kyi and the approximately 1100 other political refugees in Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar). Displaying pictures of some of the prisoners, the demonstration also featured a release of 150 gas-filled balloons, symbolically foreboding the release of the political prisoners. See more pictures below. (19-JUNE-07)
 

1 June, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the assasination of Dr. Masuq al-Kaznawi, right, the Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurds (RKR) appeals to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to put pressure on Syria to initiate an independent investigation of this murder, with a view to bring the responsible to justice. (17-JUNE-07)
 

On the occasion of Aung San Suu Kyi´s birthday 19 June, the Norwegian Burma Committee (NBC) will host a seminar for Burmese women in Norway. Instrumental in arranging this two-day event are NBC´s two interns, Naw Khin San Htwe from the Burmese Women´s Union and Lway Dang Jar from the Paulang Women´s Organisation, right. Their hope is to inspire Burmese women in Norway to take a more active political role. (15-JUNE-07)
 

Tomorrow, Wednesday 13 June, the Kurd leader Abdullah Öcalan´s lawyer Ömer Günes, right, will visit the Human Rights House. Günes is in Oslo to meet with specialists in the medical and legal professions, media and representatives of the Union of Trade Unions´ international department. To mark the occasion and draw attention to Öcalan´s plight, the Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurds (RKR) invites to an open meeting. (12-JUNE-07)
 

Despite some recent optimism and new talks starting on 18 June, the conflict in Western Sahara – with its heavy continuing costs on all the parties – won’t be resolved without a fundamental change in the UN Security Council’s approach.The International Crisis Group releases two reports on the conflict today. (11-JUNE-07)
 

Morocco is cracking down harder than usual on independence activists in Western Sahara raising doubts about peace talks due to start next week, the Polisario independence movement said on Monday. “Morocco´s behaviour may jeopardise the negotiations, as it could also jeopardise peace and stability in the region,” Polisario´s foreign affairs spokesman Mohamed Salem Ould Salek told a news conference in the Algerian capital. (11-JUNE-07)
 

Moroccan internet users have been unable to access YouTube since last week, amid fears that the country´s government is imposing restrictions on independent media. State authorities blame a technical glitch but bloggers suspect an attempt to stifle pro-independence protesters in Western Sahara. Latest: YouTube is back on, with Maroc Telecom representatives siting a technical problem as the cause. (30-MAY-07)