Today some 50 people attended a Norwegian Helsinki Committee seminar on Kosovo and human rights in the shadow of nationalism and final status.
   Serbian authorities have signalled that they might not want to meet the UN Special mediator for the talks of future status, Martti Ahtisari, or the Kosovo-Albanian leadership when Ahtisari's report is released tomorrow.
   - This is the most important agreement in Kosovo for many years, and we can only hope that the Serbians will treat it with decency, said Kai Eide, former UN Special Envoy in Kosovo.
   It is equally important that Kosovo-Albanians reach out to the Serbian minorities and consider minority rights. They have not done so sufficiently in the past, and need constant reminders, Eide further stressed. 
   - There has been so much focus on political questions in the status process, it has overshadowed basic on-the-ground human rights problems and the question of how to solve them, said Julie Chadbourne, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee regional representative in Kosovo.
   She said the most critical human rights concerns are minority issues (such as freedom of movement, return of refugees, isolation and segregation and harassment), impunity and access to justice and education.
Read more in the newspaper Dagsavisen (Norwegian only)
Read Chadbourne's article Will 2007 be the year of Kosovo's new beginning?

    600 experts discussed conscientious objection in Istanbul 28-29 January, and concluded that Turkey needs a change of legislation.
    Turkey and Azerbaijan are the two remaining member states in the Council of Europe that do not recognize the right to conscientious objection. Objectors face imprisonment and deprivation of rights and services that are only provided to those that have completed the military service.
   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee financed the conference. Said Deputy Secretary General Gunnar Karlsen:
   - Supporting this conference we hope for increased understanding in Turkey and other countries for the inherent dignity of all persons, giving them a right to decide whether they will attend military service or not. Establishing respect for the right to conscientious objection is an important part of democracy and human rights.
   A conference report will shortly be published in English and Turkish, to provide human rights activists, academics, and objectors with arguments and information. Read preliminary conference minutes

   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee welcomes the statement by the European Union condemning harassment of the Belarus Helsinki Committee.
   Last week Belarusian authorities ordered BHC to vacate its office in Minsk, terminated the rental agreement and refused to let other vacant rooms to the organisation. BHC also faces loss of its legal address. This may lead to the closure of the human rights organisation - the last remaining registered in the country. Read the EU statement  Background info
(Photo: Minsk city, 2006) 

   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee just released a new human rights report on Turkey.
   Turkey officially started negotiations on EU membership on 3 October 2005. The decision by the EU to start these negotiations signalled that it accepted that legal amendments in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms made by Turkey did fulfil the 1993 Copenhagen criteria. Recent developments, with increased violence particularily in the southeast part of the country, killings and renewed police and security brutality raises questions whether the human rights gains originating from the EU initiated reform process are about to be lost.
   The report deals with issues of torture, 'war' against terror, the Kurdish problem, freedom of thought and expression and freedom of organization. Read the report

   Uzbek police detained medical doctor Gulbakhor Turaeva on 14 January 2007 at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border on charges not known.
   Unofficial information has it Mrs. Turaeva may be accused of attempting to smuggle into Uzbekistan written material, which calls for the overthrow of the current regime. If charged, Mrs. Turaeva may face up to 15 years in prison and risks being tortured. 
   Mrs. Turaeva is a specialist in anatomic pathology, and she was one of the main sources of information about the death toll after the Andijan massacre (13 May 2005). Since then her movements and activities have been closely monitored by National Security officers in Andijan. Mrs. Turaeva has received warnings and threats from representatives of the authorities after meeting with human rights groups.
   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee considers the arrest and detention of Mrs. Turaeva to be illegal and unjustified, and demands president Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov to release her immediately. 
Read the letter to president Karimov More on Uzbekistan