Tag: human rights

An ally of President Vladimir Putin was heading for victory in a Moscow mayoral election on Sunday (8 September) but opposition leader Alexei Navalny's unexpectedly strong showing could alarm the Kremlin and fuel Russia's flagging protest movement.

Dozens of immigrants being held in a Greek detention centre hurled stones at police guards and set mattresses on fire in protest over the extension of their detention, Greek police said yesterday (11 August).

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to five years in jail for theft yesterday (18 July), an unexpectedly tough punishment which supporters said proved President Vladimir Putin was a dictator ruling by repression.

World Population Day is a day for the human rights of the girl child, women and mothers. The European Parliament currently has two chances to make a difference, argues French MEP Véronique Mathieu Houillon.

EU and Russian leaders appeared sharply divided over civil liberties in Russia and ways to resolve the Syrian crisis during a two-day summit that ended on Tuesday (4 June).

An EU-led donor conference agreed on Wednesday (15 May) to provide €3.25 billion to fund a sweeping development plan for Mali, but European donors made clear that the interim government must live up to its promises to democratic and social reforms in exchange for the international lifeline.

A world-renowned concert pianist was given a suspended jail sentence in Turkey today (15 April) for insulting religious values on Twitter, a case which has become a cause célèbre for Turks alarmed about creeping Islamic conservatism.

The parliamentary assembly of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe is considering a  ban on some of its far-right members if they are affiliated with parties that are “neo-Nazi, racist and anti-Semitic".

The human rights situation in the EU has deteriorated with the economic crisis, a Russian envoy said yesterday (6 December), citing xenophobia, racism, violent nationalism, police abuse and neo-Nazism among others. “We believe that nobody should have the monopoly to assess the human rights situation in other countries,” the envoy insisted.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee announces its 2012 laureate today (12 October), with prize watchers favoring east European dissidents, the European Union itself or religious leaders working on Muslim-Christian reconciliation.

The EU and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization have signed an agreement unprecedented in terms of its commitment to cooperation not only in education, science and culture, but also in press freedom and human rights.

Russian punk band Pussy Riot, whose three female musicians were sentenced to two years in prison after staging an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral, are among the candidates for the European Parliament’s annual Sakharov Prize, EurActiv has learned.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton strongly criticised Russia for its authoritarian tendencies since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in May, telling the European Parliament yesterday (12 September) she also welcomed the “awakening of the civil society” in the Union’s biggest neighbour.

Ales Bialiatski, an imprisoned Belarussian opposition activist, has been nominated for the European Parliament’s annual Sakharov Prize, EurActiv has learned.

Tensions between Belarus and the European Union are not new and follow a trend of increasing Belarussian alienation from the West. Although the dispute between Belarus and Sweden is the first these countries have had at such a high level, tensions are unlikely to grow since the West does not want to further isolate Belarus, argues Stratfor.

A new trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko - already serving a seven-year prison term on abuse-of-office charges - opened today (19 April) with the defendant refusing to attend on grounds of poor health.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, freed two jailed opposition leaders over the weekend, a move welcomed by the European Union, which called yesterday (15 April) on the release of all remaining political prisoners.

Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko will receive treatment for her back problems in a hospital outside the Kharkiv prison where she is presently detained, the country's authorities announced yesterday (2 April).

More than one billion people don’t have safe drinking water and more than two billion lack toilets, according to the UN. Access to reliable water and sanitation are now human rights, and the UN’s special rapporteur says the European Union could be doing more – at home and abroad – to uphold these rights.

In a rare show of unity in the European Parliament, political groups across party lines deplored the conviction of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as a violation of human rights and an abuse of the judiciary designed to silence Ukraine's leading opposition figure.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko will free all political activists from jail by early October as part of a drive to mend ties with the European Union, according to a document obtained by Reuters yesterday (1 September).

The United States has joined the EU in condemning the arrest of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, jailed for contempt of court for her behaviour during a trial on charges of abuse of power.

Turkey must get its own house in order in terms of human rights and uphold press freedom before urging reforms in other countries, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said during a visit to the largest EU candidate member. EurActiv Turkey reports.