• Plainclothes policemen detain an opposition supporter during an anti-government protest in central Baku on May 25, 2012.
    © 2012 IRFS
    Azerbaijan: Peaceful Protest Crushed Ahead of Eurovision Final
    The Azerbaijani authorities detained over 70 peaceful protesters gathered on a seaside promenade in the capital, Baku.
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Reports

Europe/Central Asia

  • Belarus: Free Rights Activist
    May 30, 2012
    The Belarusian government should immediately release the prominent human rights defender Oleg Volchek, who was convicted for an apparently politically motivated administrative offense.
  • Azerbaijan: Peaceful Protest Crushed Ahead of Eurovision Final
    May 29, 2012
    The Azerbaijani authorities detained over 70 peaceful protesters gathered on a seaside promenade in the capital, Baku.
  • Azerbaijan: We should be able to enjoy the songs without complicity in ruthless forced evictions
    May 26, 2012
    As I approached National Flag Square in Baku, the entryway to the glittering Baku Crystal Hall where the Eurovision Song Contest is being staged tonight, I remembered Arzu, a single mother forced to flee her apartment here with her two young children when bulldozers arrived without warning at 5am one day last October to destroy her building, burying many of their belongings in the process.
  • Hungary: New Laws Curb Media Freedom
    May 25, 2012
    The Hungarian government has ignored recommendations by the Council of Europe to revise controversial laws that limit media freedom.
  • China: EU Rights Talks Sliding Toward Irrelevance
    May 25, 2012
    The European Union needs to hold China accountable for its human rights obligations under international law or face the prospect that its human rights dialogue with the world’s second largest economy will become irrelevant.
  • Uzbekistan: Rights Defender Threatened, Attacked
    May 24, 2012
    Uzbek authorities should ensure the security of the human rights activist Gulshan Karaeva, who was attacked and threatened after she publicly refused to become a government informant.
  • Azerbaijan: Eurovision No Party for Peaceful Protesters
    May 24, 2012
    The Azerbaijani authorities roughed up and arbitrarily detained at least 30 and possibly more than 70 peaceful protesters today as dozens of local and international journalists looked on.
  • HRW Submission to the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee
    May 24, 2012
    Human Rights Watch welcomes the publication of the Foreign Office annual report on human rights and democracy.
  • Azerbaijan: Eurovision – The View From a Courtroom
    May 24, 2012
    The capital of Azerbaijan is alive with preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest finals on Saturday. Yet sadly, it's business as usual in the city's courtrooms. I came here to document human-rights violations—including, as it turns out, a violent crackdown on protesters on the eve of Eurovision's entertainment extravaganza.
  • Azerbaijan: Authorities Violently Disperse Peaceful Rallies
    May 22, 2012
    Azerbaijan sent an ominous message about the government’s commitment to fundamental freedoms as the police violently dispersed two peaceful protests on May 21, 2012.
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