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Last month Archbishop Desmond Tutu accepted the International Campaign for Tibet’s Light of Truth award from His Holiness the Dalai Lama “on behalf of the heroes and heroines who often do not get mentioned.” In his acceptance speech Tutu drew comparisons between the fight to end apartheid and the Tibetan struggle. The Light of Truth award was also granted to the Herge Foundation, named after the creator of comic character Tintin. (04-JUL-06)
 

Tibetans and their supporters will hold protests worldwide tomorrow, 1 July, to denounce the launch of the railway that will connect Beijing and Lhasa, Tibet’s capital. The “Reject the Railway” campaign will see protests at Chinese embassies and consulates in major cities around the world, including Ottawa, New York, London, and Dharamsala, India. The Norwegian Tibet Committee is following the developments closely. (30-JUN-06)
 

The Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurds (RKR) asks Norwegian mayors to sign an appeal to support 56 Kurdish mayors in the Republic of Turkey. They are all charged to up till 10 years’ imprisonment for having written a letter to Denmark’s Prime-Minister Fogh Rasmussen asking him not to close down the Kurdish satellite channel Roj-TV which today broadcasts from Denmark in the Kurdish language. The Turkish Prosecutor- General considers this to be an expression of supporting the PKK-movement, which is forbidden in the Republic of Turkey.  (29-JUN-06)
 

Today, on UN’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, there will be far too many voices we won’t hear, namely the voices of those who are being tortured and continue to be imprisoned. Amnesty International’s latest annual report teaches us that torture is practiced in more than 100 countries. Nora Sveaass, member of UN´s Committee against Torture, analyses the difficulties in the fight against torture and today´s rays of hope. (26-JUN-06)
 

Nansen Dialogue Network (NDN) is recruiting students for another class of Applied Conflict Transformation Studies (ACTS). The two-year part-time course, which results in a Master´s degree, is a cooperation project between the University of Novi Sad, NDN and Responding to Conflict (UK). Below is further information, also on how to apply. (24-JUNE-06)
  

Earlier today, Niels Jacob Harbitz, right, HRH´s project manager for Africa, spoke at a seminar in Oslo arranged by Landsforeningen for lesbisk og homofil frigjøring (LHH) and Skeiv Solidaritet (Queer Solidarity), on how to support gays and lesbians in East Africa.  Below is an edited extract of Harbitz’s contribution. (20-JUNE-06)
    

Today, 19 June, is Aung San Suu Kyi´s 61st birthday. The Norwegian Burma Committee congratulates, but will not celebrate. The leader of Burma´s opposition is still under house arrest. Since 1989, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1991 has been imprisoned for more than ten years. The human rights situation in Burma is deteriorating, Åse Sand, right, of the NBC reminds us. (19-JUNE-06)
 

A delegation of the Russian civil society, including Stanislav Dmitrievskij, is visiting Norway to raise the Norwegian authorities’ awareness about the human rights situation in the Chechen Republic and to discuss possible strategies with their Norwegian human rights counterparts. Simultaneously Oleg Orlov, right, of the human rights organisation Memorial revealed pictures and footage of a secret prison in the centre of Grozny. (13-JUN-06)
 

Yesterday, the Convenor of the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court (the Coalition), William Pace, right, visited the Human Rights House in Oslo, on the invitation of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. During a seminar  Mr. Pace set out the International Criminal Court´s (ICC) main challenges for the near future. He was, however, based on the many achievement in the last century in the field of human rights, optimistic. (08-JUN-06)