New law on judicial reform could return Ukraine to secretive court proceedings
The changes, proposed by President Poroshenko, would be a serious step backwards away from the greater court transparency achieved since Maidan …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
The Victory at Stake in the Russian-Belarusian War Games
Despite all the reputational risks posed by its war games with Russia, Minsk is trying to reap diplomatic benefits from them. The Belarusian military can show Western observers that Minsk’s guarantees can be trusted. On the other hand, it can convince Moscow that the country isn’t “going down the Ukrainian route,” because it...
Crimean Tatar abducted after ‘search’ by masked men in Russian-occupied Crimea
Renat Paralamov has not been seen since masked men carried out what they claimed to be an ‘inspection’ of his home in Nizhnegorsk, in Russian-occupied Crimea. Even if, as seems likely, the Russian FSB is behind this latest seizure, there is every reason to consider that their treatment of the young Crimean Tatar should be viewed as an...
How Attorneys in Ukraine Can Use Health Law to Save Lives
In Ukraine and other parts of the world, attorneys who understand how laws governing justice and health intersect have a much better chance of protecting their clients—both literally and legally. …read more Source: Open Society...
Will Ukraine’s Parliament Accomplish Anything This Fall?
On September 5, a new political season began in Ukraine. Parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy has already branded parliament’s new plenary session “the autumn of reforms” by promising to deliver results on some of the most hot-button issues, including healthcare, pension, education, and judicial reforms …read more Source: Kharkiv...
European Court of Human Rights intervenes over Russia’s abduction of 19-year-old Ukrainian
The European Court of Human Rights has given Russia until September 25 to provide medical documents for Pavlo Hryb [or Gryb], the young Ukrainian whom Russia is believed to have forcibly taken from Belarus and imprisoned …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
FTAC: 9/11 – Sixteen Years of Accelerating, Expanding Conflict Between Archaic Worlds and the Modern One
The medieval worldview and its marriage to financial and political power may be archaic in the modern world. Faith in God and religion may be good things, but as demonstrated by the Islamists, by the Saudi Royals and their spreading of Wahhabi madrasas, and by related clerical wealth dependent on subscription plus political repression, too much...
Russia's ploy with UN forces in the Donbas
At the BRICS summit in China Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would propose a draft resolution on the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in Donbas. …read more Source: Centre for Eastern Studies...
“Proof that history can be changed”
Irina Scherbakova was born in 1949. She is a civil rights activist, historian, and German scholar. In 1988, she was one of the founding members of Memorial – the first Soviet human rights organization. Simone Brunner spoke with her: Ms. Scherbakova, two years ago a book consisting of a dialogue between you and the German historian Karl Schlögel...
Narrowing Perceptions Meet Sustained Disunity – Part 1
This paper was written for the ‘V4 for Europe — Developing positive scenarios for Europe’s future’ workshop, organised by the Hungarian Europe Society in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Budapest on 16 May 2017. Whereas foreign relations and security concerns have gained a broader and comprehensive understanding under...
