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Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code remains a dangerous tool to silence critical voices in Turkey, despite being amended in April 2008 and official reports that charges under this article have decreased this year.

ARTICLE 19 believes that the risk of prosecutions under Article 301 continues to pose a significant threat to freedom of expression in Turkey.

Strasbourg, 20 October 2009. - During the 20 years of its existence, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has been at the forefront of efforts in Europe to stamp out ill-treatment by State officials. It has conducted some 270 visits in 47 European States, examining the situation in thousands of places of detention. In its 19th General Report, published today, the CPT takes stock of what has been achieved over the last two decades and reflects on the challenges that lie ahead.

Strasbourg, 19.10.2009 – “The daily lives of millions of people are already being affected by the natural effects of global warming. Basic human rights - such as the right to life, health, food, water, shelter or property - are also threatened” said Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in his latest Viewpoint published today.

Calling for a spirit of global solidarity and the recognition of interdependence among countries, the Commissioner stresses the need to develop a stronger focus on the relationship between climate change and human rights.

“A year ago the global economy was on the verge of collapse. As the economic crisis swept from country to country, it pushed millions of people into poverty and entire families into unemployment. Although economists are now seeing signs of recovery, it is likely to have little if any impact on the daily lives of many millions of the world’s poorest people for a long time to come.

The prosperity of our society tomorrow depends to a considerable degree on the situation of our children today. Children of poor families are amongst the hardest hit in times of economic crisis, and the lack of social protection measures will have lifelong consequences for them, and for the societies in which they live.

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Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is due to go on trial for war crimes next week. But the truth about the infamous 1995 Srebrenica massacre is still being sought by victims' families, who say the world has forgotten this terrible crime.

Hasan Nuhanovic has the eyes of a man who has seen too much. His day job is helping to pursue international sex traffickers. In the evenings and at weekends, he hunts for the remains of his murdered family. "There is no closure – closure only comes when we die," he says. "But I need to bury them."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday opened the first ever UN human rights office in the European Union, and said she hoped this development would mark a new era of closer cooperation between the UN human rights system and European institutions based in Brussels, Strasbourg and Vienna, as well as with individual EU states.

The new Brussels office is the 11th regional office set up by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which is headquartered in Geneva but has never before opened a national or regional office in Western Europe.

We all are prisoners of our own preconceived perspectives. The stronger the prejudices we have, the thicker the walls of the prisons that hold us captive. When it comes to religions, unfortunately, these prisons are much more isolating than we can imagine. Protestants are one of the most stigmatized groups in Turkey.

Having had the privilege of being their lawyer for many years, I believe I have gained a deeper understanding of the collective unconsciousness of the state elites in Turkey.

GENEVA -- “The rapid expansion of informal settlements and the particular vulnerability of low-income groups to the effects of climate change is a major challenge,” warns Raquel Rolnik, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing. In her view, “the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day –‘Planning our Urban Future’- is an urgent call to address the challenges faced by urban dwellers, specially the most vulnerable.”

“Disasters caused by extreme-weather are not simply a result of natural events, but reflect also a failure of urban planning and development policies” stresses the UN expert,” noting that around one billion people worldwide live in precarious and overcrowded housing conditions, in slums or informal urban settlements, many located on sites at risk from flooding or landslides.

Strasbourg, 01.10.2009 –The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has initiated a dialogue with Turkish authorities on minority rights and on the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. He published today reports on these two issues based on a mission from 28 June to 3 July during which he visited Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara. With the reports and their recommendations he also made public the written comments by the Turkish government.

Refugees from Iraq’s minorities face insecurity and risk losing their religious and cultural identity as they try to seek refuge in neighbouring countries and Western Europe, a report by Minority Rights Group International says.

In a landmark new report on the situation of Iraqi uprooted minorities, MRG says that many of the people who flee Iraq undertake very dangerous journeys to get to Europe often only to be met with restrictive asylum policies, discrimination and in some cases forcible return.