News for July 2016
11.07.2016 Report on the registration of nomination groups
The process of registration of nomination groups (initiative groups) of candidates for the House of Representatives was more democratic than that during the previous election campaign.
11.07.2016 26 NGOs Call for Release of Bahraini Human Rights Defender Nabeel Rajab
Tomorrow, 12 July 2016, the trial of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab begins. Facing charges related to comments on the social media website Twitter, Rajab may be sentenced to more than ten years in prison.
08.07.2016 Political prisoner Zhamchuzhny reports harassment in prison
Political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny is facing severe harassment ‘on all fronts’ in penal colony No. 14 near Barysaŭ, according to his recent letters.
08.07.2016 Human rights activists criticize CEC head over ‘political qualities’
The term of ‘political qualities’, which has no explanation in the electoral law, but remains an important criterion for the selection of candidates to the election commissions, should be removed from the CEC’s Decision No. 18, says Pavel Sapelka, analyst of the campaign Human Rights Defenders For Free Elections.
08.07.2016 Provision of safe conditions for certain categories of prisoners in Belarus
It is generally accepted that prisoners, regardless of the nature of their offense, can enjoy all the basic human rights. These include the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
07.07.2016 Amnesty International: Belarus uses telecoms firms to stifle dissent
Viasna’s website was illegally blocked and the Skype chats of the organization’s leader, Ales Bialiatski, were intercepted with the aim of compromising the human rights defender, Amnesty Internaitonal said in a report entitled It’s enough for people to feel it exists: Civil society, secrecy and surveillance in Belarus.
07.07.2016 No choice in media coverage of elections, BAJ leader says
On July 4, the chairperson of BAJ Andrei Bastunets took part in the conference on "Media Freedom as a Cornerstone for Democratic Elections", organized by PACE jointly with the Venice Commission in Berlin.
05.07.2016 Riot police raid punk festival in Biaroza
A DIY punk music festival was brutally dispersed by riot policemen in the Biaroza district on July 2, reports in social networks say.
05.07.2016 World Congress against the Death Penalty calls on retentionist states to ratify Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR
Retentionist states should “follow the 81 countries that have already ratified the UN Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”, says the Final Declaration of the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, which was held in Oslo on June 21-23.
05.07.2016 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: June 2016
The Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) called on the Belarusian authorities to bring the national legislation into compliance with the ILO Convention No. 29.
04.07.2016 Belarus denies asylum to Iranian refugee facing death in home country
The Centraĺny District Court of Minsk has upheld the decision of the Department of Citizenship and Migration, which earlier rejected a refugee application by Mehrdad Jamshidian, an Iranian national sentenced to death in his home country for allegedly killing his mother and brother, nn.by said.
01.07.2016 Belarus: new UN resolution highlights the country’s appalling human rights situation
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council reminded the international community of the appalling situation in Belarus today by adopting a resolution that raises a wide range of human rights violations committed in the country.
01.07.2016 Observers report little political pluralism in formation of election commissions
Observers of the Human Rights Defenders For Free Elections campaign have summed up one of the key stages of this year’s parliamentary election, which will significantly affect the final assessment of the vote.
01.07.2016 Report on the formation of territorial and district election commissions
Lack of clear selection criteria results in the selective approach in the formation of election commissions.
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