A year has passed since the Presidental election in Belarus and a wave of persecutions of human rights defenders, independent media actors and political opponents, has followed in its tracks. On the January 25, Anna Gerasimova, Director of the Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius, will visit us to talk about the current human rights situation in Belarus.
(Updated in January 2012) East Africa encompasses Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and in a wider sense also Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia (including the self-declared republic of Somaliland). The East African region is long subjected to economic underdevelopment and unequal terms of trade and conflict. At the same time, it [...]
(Updated in January 2012) The era after gaining independence has been turbulent for the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia is still described as one of the most repressive regions in the world. Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources [...]
Human rights defenders across Southeast Asia’s lower Mekong countries are fighting against restrictions on freedom of expression. The situation, however, is extremely varied across the nations: while there is widespread fear and over 2,000 activists in prison in Burma, activists in Thailand are able to publicly discuss and criticise restrictions on peaceful free expression. Democracy [...]
On the occasion of the Human Rights Day on December 10, and in view of the upcoming Kosovo parliamentary elections on December 12, Youth Initiative for Human Rights and Civil Rights Defenders call upon all political parties in Kosovo to increase their efforts in promoting the respect for human rights.
(Updated in September 2010) Upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in October 2010 have marked the past year and seemed to have delayed the attempts to bring much needed constitutional changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 2009. Efforts made during Swedish and later Spanish EU presidency by EU and US to bring the [...]
(Updated in September 2010) Macedonia has not developed the way many had hoped for, during the last few years. The country has still not met the necessary requirements set up for beginning negotiations for EU membership. The reasons for this are many but the unsolved name issue with Greece and the failure to include the [...]
(Updated in October 2011) Moldova is a country in political and constitutional crisis. Moldova held parliamentary elections twice in 2009 and once in November 2010. The results of the elections show a country that is almost evenly divided between the Communist Party, on the one hand, and pro-Western parties on the other. The pro-Western parties [...]
(Updated in September 2010) More than two years after independence Kosovo is far from being a state based on the principles of rule of law, democracy and human rights. Kosovo is today far from being a consolidated democracy but rather a state where ever more power seems to be consolidated around individuals, some government officials [...]
(Updated in September 2010) The parliamentary election held in June 2009, has had far reaching consequences for political developments in Albania. OSCE described the election as marking progress compared to past elections, but not fully realizing international standards. The Democratic Party (DP) won a narrow victory over the Socialist Party (SP), which still does not [...]
(Updated in September 2010) The event with greatest consequences for Serbia in the past two years was the declaration of Kosovo independence in February 2008, only 16 months after the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Since then, relations between Serbia and some of the neighbouring countries have become strained and foreign [...]
(Updated in September 2010) Montenegro is a potential candidate for EU membership. Montenegrin officials expect that candidate status will be obtained until the end of 2010. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU entered into force on May 1, 2010. Montenegro, as part of Serbia and Montenegro, additionally fulfilled the majority of the [...]
Our guest speaker in this spring’s last seminar in the series “One hour of human rights,” talks about the human rights situation in Vietnam. What issues are most important? How is the civil society organized in the country and how much do ordinary people know about human rights? Giang Nguyen was born in Vietnam and [...]
In cooperation with Centre for Advanced Legal Studies we established the Coalition Against Discrimination to lobby for an inclusive Law against discrimination. In 2009 it was finally adopted by the Serbian government. We now continue lobbying for other laws in the human rights field.
Together with Youth Initiative for Human Rights, we work to increase awareness on human rights concerns in Montenegro. We do so by monitoring crucial human rights issues and reacting on serious human rights violations.
In the fourth report about the human rights situation in Belarus, Belarusian and international organisations urge the EU to prolong the temporary cancelation of sanctions in order to achieve permanent changes.
The Belarusian government’s policies have remained largely unchanged since the last monitoring report was released in March 2009. While isolated concessions were made to the political opposition and civil society that allowed them carry out some activities without harassment, repressive measures remained in place and continued to be enforced on a selective basis. No changes [...]
Together with the Swedish photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin we have made a photo exhibition to show our work for human rights in a contemporary context. The exhibition opens September 11 at 13.00 on the Central Station in Stockholm and will be shown September 11-13. Place: Entrance Hall at Stockholm Central Station
(Updated December 2011) The overall situation in Belarus seemed to remain on a stable, negative level during 2009 and 2010 with small improvements as a result of the dialogue between Belarus and the EU. However, since the elections on December 19, 2010, the human rights situation has hit an all time low with a massive, [...]
(Updated in May 2011) The overall human rights climate in Russia remains very negative. Russia is a highly corrupt country at all official levels, which undermines the observance of the rule of law. Russia is also ranked among the top ten of the most dangerous countries in the world, and has undergone a massive rise [...]
(Updated in September 2009) It is easy to assert that Sweden does not have problems with serious offences against human rights as compared to other countries, but this is of little comfort to the individual whose rights are being violated. One of Civil Rights Defenders’ main tasks is to survey and report on the state [...]
Turkmenistan has one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. The country is also rich in fossil gas, and multinational companies will do almost anything in the competition for a contract. With a lot of humor and skilled story telling the director Arto Halonen questions the morale of some of the world’s largest companies [...]
The minor changes made since the EU started a dialogue with Belarus, have not altered the fundamental problems of civil society in Belarus, says the Swedish Helsinki Committee, together with a group of NGO:s, in a report on the human rights developments in the country. Read the latest report describing the human rights situation in [...]
Alternative report to “Comments by the Government of Sweden on the Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee”. The report is prepared by Civil Rights Defenders (former Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights) and the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights. Download the report.
Regarding Sweden’s fourth periodic report, April 2002. Participating organisations: Civil Rights Defenders (former Swedish Helsinki Committee), Save the Children Sweden, Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights, Swedish Red Cross and the Swedish Section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Download the report.
With respect to Sweden’s commitments under the International Convenant on civil and political rights. The report is prepared by the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights and Civil Rights Defenders (former Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights). Download the report.
The EU meeting in Gothenburg in 2001 attracted a huge media attention. What was meant to be peaceful demonstrations turned into fierce riots with extensive destruction of personal property and attacks towards the police. There were also examples of police acting surprisingly harsh. Civil Rights Defenders (former Swedish Helsinki Committee) closely followed the legal consequences [...]
In the fight against crime it is probably not possible to completely avoid the use of secret surveillance, but it is an absolute necessity to provide reliable guarantees of the citizens’ legal rights. Civil Rights Defenders’ (formerly the Swedish Helsinki Committee) report (publ. 2000) shows that the present Swedish legislation lacks such guarantees. (in Swedish) [...]
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