On 20-21 September members of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum held their fourth meeting in Chisinau, which also hosted the EaP CSF Human Rights Conference “On the frontline” one day earlier. The Steering Committee welcomed the release of Hovsep Khurshudyan and expressed the need to make efforts that would lead
The Belarusian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum released a statement in which expresses its concern about how the legislative elections were organized in Belarus on 11 September 2016. The statement acknowledges minor positive changes during the electoral campaign. Compared to previous campaigns, the collection of signatures for nomination of candidates did not encounter major obstacles. Moreover, the conditions for organizing
The first and only Belarusian national hotline for domestic violence prevention celebrated its four-year anniversary in August 2016. Since 2012 it has received 8,445 phone calls. The Belarusian non-profit “Gender Perspectives” runs the hotline from Minsk. They pioneered the much-needed service, creating a point of entry for women who found themselves in dire circumstances. The number of calls reveals
The ‘Young European Ambassadors’ (YEAs) is an initiative launched within the framework of the EU OPEN Neighbourhood Programme (EU Neighbours East). It will take place in the six countries of the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) from September 2016 onward. The YEA network will connect at least 100 young people from all over Europe! The network
On 30 September 2016 the sixth annual meeting of the Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) will be held in Brussels at the Committee of the Regions. This years’ meeting will focus on the topics of political reports prepared ahead of the next Eastern Partnership Summit. A report on active citizenship as a way to strengthen local
Ilmi Umerov, the deputy head of the Mejlis, the main representative organ of the Indigenous Crimean Tatar people was detained on 12 May 2016 following the interview he gave the ATR TV channel on 19 March 2016 in Kyiv. He is charged with “separatism” under Article 280.1 – a new article introduced a few months after
The Monitoring Mission of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) on the civil society, media and human rights situation in Armenia visited Armenia during the period of 9-15 August 2016. The Mission’s team was composed of leading experts in the field of human rights from Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Its work was
“The network of like-minded friends and colleagues was another wonderful acquisition I got thanks to the ToT Programme of the Project “Civil Society.Dialogue for Progress” – Hovsep Khurshudyan, President of “Free Citizen” Civic Initiatives Support Center NGO (Armenia) Since Hovsep Khurshudyan is also a Coordinator of Working Group 4 (“WG4”) of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum
