Human rights

Azerbaijan’s Whitewash Summer Games

11/03/2015 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

In June 2015, Baku will host the European Games. Human Rights watchdogs believe the international event will serve to whitewash the country’s deteriorating rights reputation

Turkey: the murder of Aslan Özgecan

25/02/2015 -  Fazıla Mat Istanbul

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of a female student in Turkey, women associations come out in anger: "We are not mourning, we are in revolt"

A grass-roots initiative for media freedom in Europe

20/02/2015 -  Luisa Chiodi

On January 28th, at the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels, OBC hosted a discussion on media freedom in Europe. The welcoming speech of our director, Luisa Chiodi, summarizing the achievements of the project “Safety Net for European Journalists”

Choking up freedom in Azerbaijan

16/12/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

The arrest on spurious charges of investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova is being met by a disturbing silence of the international community, and shows there are no more boundaries for the Aliyev regime

Slovenia: tabloid journalism on the rise

05/12/2014 -  Stefano Lusa Koper

A tragic event shows the downhill path taken by Slovenian journalism – more and more scandal, less and less ethics

Nine out of 10 cases of journalists' murders go unpunished

24/11/2014 -  Svetla Dimitrova Sofia

Hundreds of journalists have been killed around the world in the past decade, with nine out of ten cases going unpunished, the UN and independent press freedom groups said in statements marking the first-ever International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2nd

Crimea: the concerns of Nils Muižnieks

29/10/2014 -  Danilo Elia

After last September's visit to Crimea, Council of Europe Commissioner for human rights Nils Muižnieks issued a report highlighting several human rights violations, severe intimidations, and attacks against journalists. Our interview

SOS: Dispatches from Azerbaijan

08/10/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

The Caviar diplomacy continues to be successful. The alarm messages arriving form Azerbaijan on systematic violations of human rights in the country are constantly dropping into the void

Crackdown on human rights in Azerbaijan

18/08/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Since the beginning of its presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organisation, Azerbaijan has been placing more and more people behind bars. A jarring contrast no one seems to notice

Teens left behind

25/07/2014 -  Cristina Bezzi

In her documentary "Aici... adica acolo", the journalist and director Laura Capatana addresses the issue of children left behind in Romania leading us through the daily lives of two teenagers

Azerbaijan from where Aliyev stands

03/07/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Baku currently chairs the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organization, while cracking down on political prisoners at home

The missing page in the Association Agreements

24/06/2014 -  Giorgio ComaiMirela Oprea

It might be one page, one paragraph, or just two lines. But the importance of including child protection in EU’s Association Agreements cannot be overestimated

Fleeing Crimea

13/06/2014 -  Danilo Elia

Thousands of Tatar families have left the Crimea after the annexation by Russia. The community, which has always been in favour of the union with Ukraine, feels now threatened by the new authorities. Many have found hospitality in Lviv

Concerns Linger About Sexual Minority Rights in Georgia

30/05/2014 -  Onnik Krikorian Tbilisi

Following last year’s rampage by conservatives targeting LGBT activists intent on marking 17 May as the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), the Georgian Orthodox Church this year instead declared the day as one celebrating family unity. And while civil society did not take the attempt to hijack IDAHOT lying down, some are concerned that this is just the start

LGBT in the Balkans: “Two steps forward and one step back”

12/05/2014 -  Tomas Miglierina Brussels

Dutch MEP Marije Cornelissen (Greens/EFA) – a member of the Parliamentary Group for the rights of homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons—describes the current state of the fight against homophobia and for LGBT rights in the Balkans

Arrest spree in Azerbaijan

08/05/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Baku is heading to chair the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organisation, with an embarrassing record of prisoners of conscience

Erdoğan’s “New Turkey”

29/04/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Istanbul

While Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan heralds the advent of a new Turkey, his war on social media and new powers granted to intelligence agencies raise fears about freedom of information and the state of democracy in the country

Armenians of Kessab: Hostages of the Civil War

24/04/2014 -  Mikayel Zolyan Yerevan

The small Armenian-populated town Kessab in north-western Syria found itself in the middle of a battle since the end of March. 99 Years after the Genocide the Plight of Syria’s Armenians Stirs Memories of 1915

Georgia’s European Integration Still On Track, But Stumbling Blocks Remain

22/04/2014 -  Onnik Krikorian Tbilisi

In Georgia the majority of the population is in favor of closer ties with the European Union. However this will depend on progress made in terms of human rights protection and it is in these issues that stumbling blocks might frustrate Georgian ambitions

Romania, the EU orphans

11/04/2014 -  Daniela Mogavero

The marginalization of vulnerable categories of citizens, namely minors, in Romania, must stop, says Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Nils Muižnieks

“Sins and Innocents”, by Burhan Sönmez

04/04/2014 -  Diego Zandel

Many small stories make up a larger one which takes place between Turkey and Cambridge (UK), linking memories and exile. Interview with the Turkish writer Burhan Sönmez

Winter asylum in the EU

02/04/2014 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Germany is reviewing its regulations in order to discourage false asylum seekers from the Balkans, mainly of Roma origin, knocking at its door. But not all Roma asylum requests are fake

Sicily, the second home

13/03/2014 -  Dražen Remiković

The Italian association „Luciano Lama“ gave hospitality to Bosnian war orphans for summer vacations in Sicily during the Nineties. Ties started 20 years ago are still strong

The rainbow colors are not for Azerbaijani taste

04/03/2014 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

The suicide of Isa, a twenty years old activist, reopens the painful question of LGBT rights in Azerbaijan. The slow and arduous path to tolerance of the country

Southern Europe continues to lag behind North on media freedom

19/02/2014 -  Svetla Dimitrova

Italy and fellow EU members Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Slovenia, as well as EU candidates Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are among the 180 states included in Reporters Without Borders (RWB) annual survey of press freedom in the world. Only three of them have improved their standings

Children of the South Caucasus

24/01/2014 -  Onnik Krikorian Tbilisi

Georgia's deinstitutionalisation policy has proved successful in addressing the needs of children deprived of parental care, but some concerns remain. In neighbouring Armenia and Azerbaijan, thousands of kids are still living in Soviet-era institutions

Deceiving internet freedom in Azerbaijan

20/12/2013 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Baku's official statements on freedom of expression are in jarring contrast with the number of journalists and human right defenders behind bars

Turkish Alevis after Gezi Park

08/01/2014 -  Fazıla Mat Istanbul

The dialogue between the government and Alevis stalls, while the largest Turkish minority is protesting against Erdoğan. The difficult situation in the province of Hatay

Fort Sochi

20/12/2013 -  Andrea Rossini

The Sochi Project, a digital tale showcased at the recent Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, is a powerful investigation into the next Winter Olympics, and on the human rights violations associated

The Vilnius puzzler

05/12/2013 -  Giorgio Comai

The Association Agreements initialled by Moldova and Georgia in Vilnius are not identical. There may be very good reasons for the differences, but some are more difficult to explain than other