February 18, 2010, from the 4 PM newsblock of the national channel ONT (“Nation-Wide Television”) we found out that the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko officially charged Secretary General of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus Leonid Maltsev with the task to work on the draft of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Alternative Military Service”.

 Today, on January 29, 2010, a court hearing of the case on Ivan Mikhailau - a parishioner of Messianic Jews community “New Testament” and the oldest son in a family with many children.

Ivan Mikhailau refuses military service upon his religious beliefs and demands assignment of civil (alternative) service to him, which goes along with provisions of Art. 57 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

Activities of the officers of Belarusian law-enforcement bodies during peaceful actions of February 8, 14 and 16, 2010, as well as the situation around the “Union of Poles in Belarus” have caused deep concern from the side of publicity and human rights community.

On February 11, 2010, a court hearing will start on the case of Yauheni Yakavenka, who is occused of failure to show up to the military recruitment procedures (Art. 25.1.3 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Belarus).

Tomorrow, on February 11, 2010, a court hearing is scheduled on the case of Yauheni Yakavenka who is conscientiously objecting to military service and insists on application of alternative civilian service, which goes along with provisions of Art. 57 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

It has become the practice when the officers of the Customs Department of the Revenue Service do not allow the Armenian language printed products into Georgia. According to verbal explanations issued by the customs officers such restrictions are imposed by Georgian legislation.

On 27th of April, 2009, government and civil society experts from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia and Ukraine began a three-day meeting in Vilnius to discuss improving human rights education for young people.

Government and civil society experts from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia and Ukraine began a three-day meeting in Vilnius today to discuss improving human rights education for young people.

The meeting, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) with Lithuania's Ministry of Education and Science, will examine achievements in the area of human rights education to identify good practices that can be replicated in other countries.

One of the biggest regional Human Rights centres in Russia may become “homeless” in some months to come.

Voronezh House of Human Rights – a union of regional and inter-regional human rights and civil organizations – was founded at the beginning of 2009 to strengthen the positions of the human rights organizations in the region, building dialogue with the authorities, joining the efforts in defending and promoting Human Rights.

This document was initiated by the Human Rights Watch, the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Inter-regional Human Rights Association "Agora", the Youth Human Rights Movement and the Human Rights Resource Centre. The proposals of human rights defenders directed to the Ministry of Justice are the results of discussion at the "round table" which took
place on April 8th in the Independent Press Centre. The initiatives to change the NGO legislation concern establishment and registration, reporting and inspections of the Russian non-governmental organizations.

Police in the capital, Chisinau, took no action yesterday as the Chair of Amnesty International's branch in Moldova, Igor Grosu, and several other participants of a peaceful demonstration were injured.

"It is not the first time that the police in Moldova have failed to protect demonstrators from unidentified attackers, thus violating the right to freedom of expression," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

Interview with Mohammed Thamir -Assistant Director of programmes (ATHAR Center For Development) AND Ali Nais -Board member (ATHAR Center For Development)

Reporter: First of all, which are main issues Iraq has to deal with today?

Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina is the director of the Alternative Studies Center of the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement. The Democratic Youth Movement was founded in 1994 in the city of Guantanamo, and works to denounce the violation of human rights. The movement is commited to defend freedom and justice in a peaceful and non-violent way.

Fight for freedom, fear of prison...

Prison is one of the main threats the Cuban human rights activists need to deal with.

Declaration on Building Georgian-Russian Civil Dialog

Download in English *.pdf

Download in English *.doc

On the 27th of June 2008 the regional conference «Civil actions against racism and xenophobia» took place in Kharkov.

The Conference's organizers were the Kharkov charity foundation «Social service for help», Youth Human Rights Movement Ukraine, Youth Human Rights Group-Kharkov and Civil Freedoms Centre (Kiev).

Narek Hovakimyan, a member of Armenia’s pro-democracy youth movement Hima, was attacked and beaten yesterday, June 25, 2008, in downtown Yerevan.

Narek, a 19-year old freshman at Yerevan State University, was approached by an unknown young man, as he was leaving school after classes at around 3:30pm, and was asked to “have a conversation” outside the campus.

Notwithstanding the hot sun thousands of people are going up to the Matenadaran square, shouting “Freedom”, “Free, independent Armenia”, etc.

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Azerbaijan.

Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source and Antenna International, member organisation of OMCT SOS-Torture network, that Mr. Emin Huseynov, director of the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety (IRFS), was subjected to severe beatings during his detention on 14 June 2008 in Baku.

June 14, in the "Alaturka" Cafe, an event organized by the "Che Guvera Fan Club" to mark the 80 birthday of Che Guvera and attended by a representative of the Cuban embassy was raided by police. Out of the approximately 25 people present, 20 were detained by police and taken to Nasimi District Police Department #22. Among those detained were IRFS Chairman Emin Huseynov and IRFS researchers Rasim Aliyev and Mirrehim Hasanov. The three had gone to conduct monitoring of the event.

“All human beings are born free and equal...”