MINELRES: Clearing House Review - the end of the story

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Tanya Oculy <Tanya.OCULY@coe.int>


It is with regret that we write to inform you that at the Governing
Board meeting of the International Institute for Democracy held, on the
6 October 2004, it was decided to suspend the activities of the
Institute indefinitely due to a lack of financial support.  As a
consequence of this decision, our bimonthly newsletter the 'Clearing
House Review' will no longer be published.

The main reason why the Institute was set up at the end of the 1980s,
was that international activities became more and more widespread
through the establishment of an increasing number of NGOs.  According to
its Statute, the Institute's main task was to collect and disseminate
information on the work of governmental and non-governmental
organisations, both national and international.  The aim was to help
avoiding duplication and the waste of resources, and to contribute to
creating links between organisations by spreading information on their
activities.  

The first issue of the "Clearing House Review", a very modest 4-page
list of events in the field of democracy and human rights, was published
in March 1992. Now, more than ten years later, the Clearing House Review
has reached issue n� 64.  It has grown gradually to an average of 20
pages which is published six times a year and distributed free of
charge.  

The last edition of the 'Clearing House Review', n� 64, was published in
September 2004.

So far this year, the review has contained information on 685 events;
conferences, seminars, round tables, training programmes, summer
institutes and online courses organised in 93 different countries
worldwide. It has also included information and calls for applications
for 8 specialised Master courses and 41 calls for papers, applications
for fellowships, sponsored training courses, awards and grants. Contact
information on over 300 different organisations (NGOs, parliaments,
institutions, publishers, associations and networks has been provided.  

The review, published in an English and a French version, has been sent
to readers not only throughout Europe, but also on all continents.  It
represents the specific characteristic of the Institute, for as far as
we know, no other NGO produces such a comprehensive list of forthcoming
events and recent publications of so many different organisations and
publishers in the field of democracy and human rights.

At the Institute we learned often only afterwards what use was made of
the Review and how useful it had been to a wide variety of people.

We would like to thank our readers, the individuals and organisations,
who have supported this publication over the years by contributing
information.


Enie Wesseldijk                                     Tanya Oculy
Editor in Chief                                       Design

 

International Institute for Democracy
Institut international de la democratie

Bureau 5019
Palais de l'Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
tel: +33 388 41 32 47
fax: +33 388 41 37 75
email: iidemocracy.info@coe.int
http://www.iidemocracy.coe.int