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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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 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
They flee Countries like Syria, where their lives are endangered, but are rejected by the local population who sets up barricades and fires. The tragedy of asylum seekers in Serbia
Thousands of women were victims of sexual crimes during the Balkan conflicts. Most of them receive no support from the region's states, despite the progress marked by international criminal law in prosecuting these crimes
The recent presidential elections in Azerbaijan, regarded by the OSCE as probably among the worst ever seen in the history of this institution, were deemed free and transparent by MEPs led by Italian Pino Arlacchi. Our analysis
The Council of Europe against Republika Srpska. Strasbourg reports serious offences committed by the police in Banja Luka, allegedly guilty of crimes that qualify as torture
