The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) today presented its 2005 annual report. The report covers main human rights developments in 38 member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the calendar year 2004. The IHF report deals, inter alia, with the following issues: freedom of expression and the media, anti-terrorism measures, judiciary and the right to a fair trial, torture, ill-treatment and other police misconduct, minority rights, racism, intolerance and xenophobia. Read summary of the report Read full report on each country

   As the the UN currently decides on whether Kosovo should obtain political independence from Serbia and the international community, serious human rights concerns must be addressed immediately.
   Thus concludes an international human rights fact-finding mission to Kosovo 18-22 June 2006, headed by the International Helsinki Federation (IHF).
  "Fear, insecurity and low confidence in domestic as well as international institutions is still widespread in minority communities in Kosovo, especially amongst Serbs and Roma. Representatives of minorities maintain that public institutions, police and justice institutions, domestic as well as international, do not offer effective protection of life, health, property and other rights. Besides the donors’ fatigue and decrease of financial support for return of refugees and displaced persons, these conditions inhibit return, and make it merely formal or hardly sustainable where it has already taken place," reads the conclusion. (Photo: Prizren, Kosovo)
 Read the particular recommendations to Kosovo leaders, civil society, media, UN and the OSCE.

   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee alerts the United Nations' Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in Kazakhstan of several cases of Uighur refugees illegally being deported to China.
   Deportations take place in spite of the persons having an UNHCR certificate not to be deported while waiting for their application of asylum being processed.
   Such deportations from Kazakhstan of Uighur refugees to China has taken place for a long time, in spite of well documented reports that deported uighurs face torture or other types of persecution upon return to China. These practices violate Kazakhstan's international obligations, both as a party to the UN Convention against Torture, which Kazakhstan acceded to in 1998, and as a party to the UN Refugee Convention. Read the letter to the UNHCR 

   William R. Pace, Convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, introduces on current challenges of the ICC. He points to the need for continued support by Norway and other state parties. The role of non-governmental organizations related to the ICC and international justice issues will also be discussed at the seminar.

International Criminal Court homepage
Coalition for the International Criminal Court homepage

   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) took part in seminar discussions for a civil society campaign to abolish death penalty in Central Asia in Almaty 29 May 2006.
   Central Asian and international NGOs were gathered to finalise a strategy for a campaign to raise awareness and encourage discussion of the death penalty as a human rights concern in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and to promote political and social support for the full abolition of the death penalty in these countries.
   The campaign is organised by The International Helsinki Federation (IHF) in cooperation with local and international non-governmental organisations.
 Death penalty status in Central Asian countries (IHF) 
 NHC intervention: Death Penalty Abolition Arguments 

   The Norwegian Helsinki Committee strongly condemns the arrests of Belarusian oppositional leaders and demands their immediate release.
   Aleksander Milinkevich, leader of the coalition of opposition and presidential candidate during the elections of March 19, was today sentenced to 15 days in prison for 'organising an unsanctioned rally' during the 20-year anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophy yesterday.
   Milinkevich and three other central figures of the opposition were arrested yesterday and today. Also Popular Front leader Vintsuk Vyachorka and Labour Party leader Alyaksandr Bukhvostau were this afternoon sentenced to 15 days in prison. Communist Party leader Syarhei Kalyakin received a 14-day sentence.
   The convictions are obviously politically motivated, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee fear for the security of the opposition leaders. Read the letter to Belarusian authorities

   The Norwegian government condemns the detention of Milinkevich and his colleagues.
   "Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will discuss this matter with his colleagues at the meeting of NATO's foreign ministers in Sofia today", says Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg Press release from the Office of the Prime Minister

    Head of the Belarusian coalition of opposition, Aleksandr Milinkevich, today met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Minister of International Development Erik Solheim.
   The Foreign Minister said that following Milinkevich's meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday, the Norwegian government agreed to extend the financial support to civil society, human rights organisations and independent media in Belarus. He suggested to channel the support through the Norwegian Helsinki Committe, which has worked in Belarus for years and has an extensive network of contacts in civil society.
   - We are happy to be able to further extend the the support we have provided for more than a decade, says Helsinki Committee Secretary General Bjørn Engesland. More on Belarus

    The Belarusian delegation visiting Norway this week held a media conference and a seminar at the Human Rights House in Oslo today.
   Following the meetings with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs the oppositional and organisational leaders expressed great satisfaction with the support from Norwegian authorities.
   - In Norway there has been no need to explain the difficult situation in Belarus. They have cut straight to the core and asked "what can we do for you, how can we work together?" We are pleased to see how actively the Prime Minister and the parlamentarians support our democracy movement. We have talked about the moral support that allready exists, and discussed possibilities for additional financial support to the Belarusian opposition, said Aleksandr Milinkevich, head of a coalition of 10 political oppositional parties and 200 organisations.
   His wife and director of an organisation supporting victims of governmental reprisals, Inna Kulej, said that since January 2006 about 1200 people have been imprisoned for 4-15 days, of whom 12 are now risking several years in jail for "nonsense offenses" such as swearing, resisting the police, political graffiti and shouting slogans such as 'Live Belarus'. She pleaded that the international community organises support for these victims.
   Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and now head of the internationally recognized organisation Charter'97, Andrei Sannikov, said that the democracy movement depends on external assistance to succeed in the future. He asked the international community, in particular the European Union, to make use of other types of sanctions against the regime than merely travel restrictions. He also asked for international pressure on Moscow:
   - Russia has no right to the G8 chairmanship as long as they support the Belarusian dictatorship, as long as there are political prisoners and as long as the cases of killed and 'disappeared' oppositionals have not been investigated. We understand the need for Russia and for their oil and gas, but we would like to see a democratic world stand up for and defend the principles on which it is founded. Belarus supplies you with the perfect opportunity to show such solidarity, Sannikov said. More on Belarus

    Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg received the Belarusian oppositional leader Aleksandr Milinkevich today.
   Stoltenberg assured Milinkevitch of his support and said that Norway's most important contribution to the democratization process in Belarus is to receive oppositional leaders and representatives on a high political level, while at the same time joining European travel restrictions against dictator Lukashenko and his administration.
   - Two days ago we introduced travel restrictions against 31 central political leaders in Belarus. It is a strong and clear political signal that we do not wish to talk to the leadership, Stoltenberg said.
   The PM demanded that all countries contribute to direct international attention to the "unbearable" political and human rights situation in Belarus.
   - Massive public attention will make it much more difficult to persecute and imprison representatives of the opposition, he said.
   Aleksandr Milinkevich only got 6% of the votes after the presidential election on March 19, while dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko got 83%. The election was not conducted according to international standards for free and fair elections, and several hundred activists were arrested during the following days of demonstrations.
   - The authorities thought they managed to suppress us, but quite the opposite happened. Over the last few weeks people seem to have gained more courage and will power to work against the regime, Milinkevich told Stoltenberg today. He announced new demonstrations in the week to come.
   - Important for us at this time is to support those who are the most vulnarable, in particular students who have been kicked out of universities and people who have lost their jobs due to political reasons, Aleksandr Milinkevich said.

   Following the grossly falsified presidential elections in Belarus on March 19th, thousands of people protested against their dictator on the October Square in Minsk. Several hundreds were arrested and sentenced to jail. Among these were journalist Andrej Dynko, who runs the independent, and therefore illegal, newspaper Nasha Niva. He was allegedly arrested for "swearing too much".
Read his article Sacrificial Therapy - letter from a prison in Minsk 
Read also "a letter of women, who were taken to the prison in the town of Zhodzina".