IHFs "Annual Report 1999"
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 21:16:59 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: IHFs "Annual Report 1999"
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: International Helsinki Federation <[email protected]>
IHFs "Annual Report 1999"
EMBARGOED FOR 17 JUNE 1999
Helsinki Committees Report on Human Rights Abuses in 1998
Vienna, 17 June 1998: The International Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights (IHF) today publishes its Annual Report 1999. The Report covers
the main human rights developments in 39 participating countries of
the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1998.
The contents are based mainly on information supplied by the IHF�s
affiliated Helsinki Committees.
The Report is being released at the IHF-Simon Wiesenthal Centre
Conference on "Confronting Crimes Against Humanity � From Human Rights
to International Responsibilities" in Vienna. A principal element in
its narrative chronicles the deterioration of human rights in Kosovo
and the rest of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during 1998.
"The IHF and other human rights organizations have warned for more
than a decade of the need for effective international engagement in
Kosovo," stated Aaron Rhodes, IHF�s Executive Director. "While our
movement tries to focus more and more on civil liberties in democratic
societies, in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia we are confronted
with massive, horrifying violations of humanitarian law."
"Increasing restrictions on expression, intellectual activity, and
civil society in Serbia were a prelude to the barbarity that has
followed in Kosovo," Dr. Rhodes said.
Increasingly, according to the IHF Annual Report 1999, freedom of
expression and the media were restricted in several other East
European and Former Soviet states during 1998. A few states, such as
Turkmenistan, practiced direct censorship. In a number of others,
indirect measures such as economic pressure, harassment of
journalists, and questionable "privatization" procedures were used to
silence criticism. In many countries authorities filed both civil and
criminal libel cases against critical journalists and newspapers, and
courts ordered them to pay huge fines, which not only ruined many
media outlets but also served as tools for promoting self-censorship.
Examples of countries cited in the Report for filing such cases
include Azerbaijan, Croatia, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.
Restrictive laws on the freedom of religion were adopted, or old
legislation was applied more strictly against minority religions,
which were often labeled as harmful or dangerous sects. Examples are
noted in the report from Austria, France, Latvia, Russia, and several
Central Asian countries.
The right to association was violated, often through refusal to
register human rights organizations and other NGOs, and political
parties. In some countries (notably, Belarus) authorities could
arbitrarily close virtually any organization.
The judicial systems in Eastern Europe suffered under the general
economic crisis, and were vulnerable to pressure or direct
interference by local authorities. The rights of defendants,
particularly access to legal counsel, were frequently seriously
violated.
The most widespread form of human rights violation was police
misconduct. It occurred in most states under review and varied from
slight harassment to ill-treatment and torture at police facilities
and prisons, often with fatal consequences. Such abuses were
frequently racially motivated, and targeted at foreigners and members
of ethnic/national minorities, particularly at Roma.
Increasing nationalism and xenophobia resulted in restrictions of
minority rights, for example, in Romania. The question of granting
citizenship to minority members remained high on the human rights
agenda in such countries as Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia.
On the positive side, in an October referendum, the Latvian electorate
supported legal amendments which, among other things, eased the
granting of citizenship to stateless (mainly ethnic Russian) children
born in Latvia. In another positive development, the new Slovak
government promised to make radical changes in its policies toward
minorities, which had deteriorated during the Meciar government.
Asylum seekers faced increasing difficulties in their search for
shelter from persecution. Despite the escalation of the Kosovo crisis,
many Western countries � for example Austria - kept their borders
virtually closed to Kosovo Albanians, and let the economically weak
neighboring countries carry the main burden of the mass influx. In
Bosnia-Herzegovina, only a handful of wartime refugees were able to
return to their pre-war homes.
The Soviet-era propiska (residence permit) was still practiced in many
former Soviet states, such as Moldova, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. This
system of requiring permits seriously restricts freedom of movement
and the right of individuals to choose their place of residence.
Copies of the 343-page report are available from the IHF Secretariat.
The Report can be accessed at http://www.ihf-hr.org in the near
future.
For more information:
Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director, tel. +43-1-408 88 22, 402 73 87 or
(mobile) 43- 676-3390506
Brigitte Dufour, Deputy Executive Director, tel. +43-1-408 88 22, 402
73 87
__________________________________
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is a
non-governmental organization, which monitors compliance with the
human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act and its follow-up
documents. In addition to supporting and providing liaison among 39
Helsinki committees and cooperating organizations, the IHF has direct
links with human rights activists where no Helsinki committee exists.
It criticizes human rights abuses regardless of the political system
of the state where these abuses occur.
________________________________________
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Rummelhardtgasse 2/18
1090 VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Tel. +43-1-402 73 87 or +43-1-408 88 22
Fax +43-1-408 74 44 E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.ihf-hr.org
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================