On May 15, 2012, Sergei Kovalev, the Chairman of the Russian organization "Memorial", and Oleg Orlov, the Chairman of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial", wrote an open letter to members of the Presidential Council for Human Rights (text of the letter see below).

They call on colleagues to abandon the work of the Council under President Vladimir Putin.

On April 28, 2012, at a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev in Gorki, members of the Human Rights Council under the President gave him a letter requesting him to use his influence to contribute to the release in Belarus of the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski. The letter was given to Medvedev at the end of the meeting.

See the text of the letter below.
To the President of the Russian Federation
D.A. Medvedev:
Dear Dmitry Anatol'evich,

From March 7th to 15th,  Sing for Democracy campaign coordinator Rasul Jafarov met with journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and experts in Germany and Austria to discuss the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

The South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders have sent a statement to the Azerbaijani authroities on 10 March 2011 to condemn the recent interrogation of human rights defenders and last week arrests of youth activists and bloggers in Azerbaijan.
 
The statements calls upon the authorities to stop the repression of the civil society, and immediately release the five detained youth activists and  urges the  to respect freedom of expression and assembly of the people in Azerbaijan.

Aleh Aheyeu was Ales Mikhalevich’s lawyer just a little more than two months. He took the risk of protecting the interests of the presidential candidate, who was accused of the mass riots. Aleh Aheyeu was among those four lawyers, who at one stroke were deprived of their licenses in February last year. In the media there were just short reports about the pressure on the defenders of the "political" accused and there were no details. One year on we talk about what was really happening.

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

Brussels, The Hague, Vienna, Almaty, Tashkent 7 March 2012. A new 36-page report published today by a coalition of five human rights groups from Europe and Central Asia highlights serious threats to fundamental freedoms in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, these countries continue to be ruled by authoritarian leaders, who have monopolized power, marginalized and silenced the political opposition and curtailed the rights of citizens to express their views, ideas and convictions.

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".

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.

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 2 March 2011 in the premises of the Kyiv City Migration Service (KMS), right after receiving a rejection in refugee status from that authority, a refugee Denis Solopov was detained by police. Migration Service where refugees are supposed to come and ask for protection turned out to be a trap, where they are caught on demand of their persecutors.  

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.

The seminar, organized by Projekthaus Potsdam Babelsberg (Germany), was held from 3 to 12 September, 2011 in Potsdam. This is the second stage of the pilot program and a logical continuation of the training course "satire and humor against contemporary fascism”, which took place in Voronezh (11/28-12/05 2010).

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has received new information on the following situation in the Republic of Moldova/ Region of Transnistria.

New information
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source and Antenna International, a member organisation of OMCT SOS-Torture Network, that Mr.

The Promo-LEX Association, a Non-Governmental and apolitical Organization, which aims to promote democracy and human rights, welcomes the efforts and the results achieved by the constitutional authorities of Chisinau in the release of both The Mayor of Corjova and a Local Councilor, Valeriul Mitul and Iurie Cotofan.

 As the consequences of recent political uprising; civil unrest, instability and lack of state security continues to threaten civil life in Tunisia, Italy has called upon EU and Frontex to secure its borders from those who seek to escape from these fearful conditions.

Liberal legislation guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms has been one of the most important achievements of Georgia throughout its transition to democracy. However, what remained problematic was implementation of those laws in practice.
Impunity for violating human rights and freedoms was a long-established practice in Georgia.1 Human Rights Defenders have documented dozens of such cases in recent years and continuously called upon the relevant authorities to eliminate these trends, undermining the very foundations of society.