Events and Campaigns

The Cuban government has refused to issue a visa for Markus Meckel MP, Member of the Bundestag and Deputy Foreign Policy Spokesperson of the SPD Parliamentary Group. Meckel had planned to visit Cuba between July 5 and 12 and to meet with representatives of the government as well as of the pro-democracy opposition, churches and civil society. He has visited Cuba already in 2003. Since then he has been committed to raise issues of human rights, freedom and democracy in Cuba, repeatedly criticized the Cuban government for its repressive practices towards opposition and called for the release of all political prisoners.

The Europe/Cuba NGO Network welcomes the EU Council's new conclusions on Cuba, due to the emphasis it placed on reaffirming the EU's commitment to prioritizing human rights; the release of political prisoners; and the relevance of the 1996 Common Position on Cuba. The full text of the EU Council?s Foreign Relations? conclusions released after their meeting in Luxemburg on June 15th, 2009 represents a more clearly articulated position than the one from 2008.

ISHR Armenian working group started on March 31, 2009 its project for disabled people "Our Right of Leisure" with a great three-hour-charity-concert in the large hall of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of Yerevan. More than 20 Armenian stars singers and dances, some of them disabled themselves like the blind singer Sasha Isaev were on the stage. This project is very necessary in Armenia because the disabled are the fringe group of the society.

The ISHR Macedonia National Group invites other ISHR Sections and Groups to its first working conference "Building the Future Together", which will take part on 4 - 5 October 2008 in Skopje.

This action of the ISHR Switzerland is to protest the host China?s government's lack of respect of human rights.
To demonstrate the peoples' opposition face of this shameful farce, we propose that artistic and cultural events be held wherever possible, throughout the duration of the opening ceremony in public places all over the world.

On 17th of June, the commemoration day of the national uprising in the former German Democratic Republic, the working group China organized a manifestation in the city centre of Heidelberg in order to raise attention on serious human rights violations in the People's Republic of China. These include systematic torture, censorship and total control of the media, oppression and persecution of religious groups and independent unions. The main focus of the activity in Heidelberg was the organ trade.

"Press in Bangladesh enjoys full and unhindered freedom without any kind of censorship" - so the official homepage of the Bangladesh Embassy in Germany. The persecution case of the Bangladeshi chief editor of two weekly newspapers Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury tells another story.
Choudhury is a Muslim journalist, publisher, author and peace activist, a persistent and outspoken opponent of the radical Islamists and advocate of human and religious rights. He is the only Muslim journalist facing sedition, treason and blasphemy charges for confronting culture of jihad and religious hatred as well as promoting interfaith understanding and establishment of relations between Israel and the Muslim nations. His next trial is on April 15, 2008.

The following is a joint statement issued by NGOs from across Europe working on the defence of human rights, the promotion of democracy, and support for civil society in Cuba.

Martin Lessenthin, speaker of the board at the International Society for Human Rights extends his heartfelt appreciation to four political sponsors for their support of the unjustly imprisoned human rights defenders in Cuba and for helping to bring attention to the significant problem - political prisoners in Cuba. 30 German politicians have adopted a Cuban political prisoner through the ISHR's program so far. Among the sponsors are the President of the European Parliament, Professor Hans-Gert Pöttering, and the Prime minister of Germany's State of Saarland, Peter Müller.

The ISHR exhibition "Discover the real Cuba" shows the hidden side of Cuba's reality - a police state, censorship, economic misery and severe persecution. It portrays cases of political prisoners in Cuba, their places of detention and prisons, the situation of their families and relatives. It explains the importance of tourism for Cuba's rulers and its outcome for the citizens. The exhibition opening took place on December 5, 2007 in the representation building of Saarland in Berlin and will be shown in 100 cities of Germany.

ISHR Australia: Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday, December 1, 2007.
Guest speaker: Dr Nouria Salehi (AADO) on Afghanistan.
John Launder, ISHRA Secretary, will speak on his recent Asian trip.

At the end of each year, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) sends little thoughtful presents to despots and dictators in order to raise their attention to the human rights violations in their countries.

China and Tibet, Burma, Cuba, North Korea - the human rights situation in these countries is a catastrophe: people are systematically persecuted, detained, tortured and in the worst case killed because of their political or religious views. The travelling exhibition "Fields of Shame", which could be seen in 36 German cities in summer and autumn 2005, documents human rights violation in these countries on 100 metres of hoarding.

"Daily reams of people loose their legs through land mines. Please help the victims!" (Printed on the back of cinema tickets)