The International Platform “Civil Solidarity” is a union of non-governmental organizations and civil groups in the OSCE area which aims are to work out common position on issues of fundamental rights in the region and influencing international mechanisms of fundamental rights’ defense in the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the UN. The founding conference of the Platform was held in Vilnius (December, 2011), before the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

Valiantsin Stefanovich, deputy chair of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” has received copies of court rulings ordering to execute the decision by Minsk Partyzanski District Court of 16 December 2011.
Under the decision, the human rights defender is to pay over 31 mln. of income tax, 22 mln. of fine and 2 mln. of state duties. In case of failure to pay the sum within seven days, the human rights defender may face compulsory measures, including confiscation of property.
Source: http://spring96.org/en/news/50369

The “Final Human Rights Assessment of the Events of 19 December 2010 in Minsk, Belarus” has been issued for the anniversary of the events in the aftermath of the Presidential elections on 19 December. The advance version of this document in English was published on the website of the Committee on International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus.

The decision of the UN Human Rights Committee to acknowledge the right of Russian convicted presons to vote went unnoticed. Even in the time of never-ending election campaigns in Russia.
Prior to the elections to the State Duma (summer 2011) the UN Human Rights Committee came to the conclusion that Article 32 of the Russian Constitution, provided absolute deprivation of the right to vote of any individual sentenced to imprisonment, violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The right of the convicted persons to vote in democratic elections is violated.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation.

Brief description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by the Committee Against Torture about the judicial harassment against its Chairman, Mr. Igor Kalyapin, also Head of the Joint Mobile Group of human rights organisations in Chechnya (JMG).

Election commissions at all the levels, from the Central Election Commission to district election commissions, have discredited themselves and must be abolished. The principles on which election commissions are constituted should be changed.

"The Human Rights Council believes that at the present time the state of electoral institutions in Russia does not conform to the international obligations undertaken by our country, and domestic legislation governing elections is being violated.

We, civil rights activists of South Ossetia, appeal to our colleagues from Russian, CIS civic organizations  and also to the international community in connection with a current situation in South Ossetia.
In the last week the political situation in the Republic became strained, with the representatives of government and law enforcement agencies as well as civilians being involved.

Two seminars took place in Kyiv on the weekend, 15 and 16 October 2011. On Saturday, 13 young activists learned about human rights and human rights advocacy, and on Sunday, a slightly different group of 16 activists learned about the human integrity and education. Since there were two seminars, their programs and goals were different.

On 9 November, more than 130 organisations in 49 European countries organise over 250 activities in the frame of the "International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism".

Crude Accountability announces the publication of a new report, “The Private Pocket of the President (Berdymukhamedov): Oil, Gas and the Law, which examines the role of the State Agency for the Management and Use of Hydrocarbon Resources Under the President in the distribution of revenue from oil and gas sales in Turkmenistan.The report focuses on the creation of the Agency, which carries full responsibility for management of petroleum operations in Turkmenistan, including receipt of monies, exploration, extraction, transport and warehousing of oil and gas by foreign investors. The Agency reports directly to the President of Turkmenistan and is responsible for oversight of all monitoring of petroleum operations, including environmental, financial and labor issues.