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	Crisis Management in Europe in the Context of Events in Ukraine by European Leadership Network, agencies   Aug 2014   The Task Force on Cooperation in Greater Europe believes the current crisis is putting the security of everyone in Europe at risk and is potentially pitting nuclear armed adversaries against each other in a highly volatile region. In its second position paper on Crisis Management in Europe in the context of events in Ukraine, the Task Force calls for both sides to:   Exercise full military and political restraint not only themselves but also on the part of all of their relevant allies and partners in the wider East and South-East European region. Other frozen conflicts in Georgia, Transdnistria and Armenia-Azerbaijan exist. Escalations in any of them, triggered by third parties acting independently as in the case of the recent downing of flight MH17, could deepen and widen the crisis between Russia and the West even if neither side intends it.   The Task Force also calls for both sides to:   Embrace increased military to military communication, information exchange and transparency measures in the interests of avoiding unintended military engagements between NATO and Russia. There have already been several near misses and action is needed both to reduce their likelihood and increase leadership decision time in a context where thousands of nuclear weapons remain on high alert on both sides.   Engage in direct dialogue with each other on underlying issues of concern in the NATO-Russia relationship, not least on fundamentally differing interpretations and narratives with regard to the principles enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act.   In their first position paper published in January 2014, the Task Force argued that if Europeans did not begin pursuing a new, Greater European cooperative project, then divisions between the EU and Russia could create a new period of confrontation in Europe.   The Task Force is supported by independent research from a consortium of think-tanks: the European Leadership Network (ELN) in London; the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) in Moscow; the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) in Warsaw and the International Strategic Research Organisation (USAK) in Ankara.   http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/crisis-management-in-europe-in-the-context-of-events-in-ukraine_1710.html http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/daily-updates
	Bahrain/Azerbaijan: Human Rights Defenders Arrested by Human Rights agencies   September 2014   Maryam Al-Khawaja, a leading human rights defender in Bahrain and co-founder of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, is facing imprisonment following her detention at the Manama airport on August 30th.   Based abroad for the last few years, Maryam has been a leading advocate against the regime’s human rights abuses. In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 30, she was arrested on a trip back to Bahrain, where authorities must now decide if it’s best to face the condemnation of locking her up for a long time or better to have her return to the international political circuit where she so brilliantly exposes their false claims of reform.   Maryam told me on Thursday that she wanted to go back to Bahrain and see her dad, who’s on hunger strike in prison. She knew there were risks since she’s been regularly targeted by the Bahraini authorities since she left the kingdom in 2011. She was hopeful though since her visit there in January 2013 didn"t result in her arrest.   When Maryam landed in Bahrain, the police were waiting for her. She’s been detained since, facing charges of assaulting police officers at the airport during the confiscation of her phone (a charge she denies) and possibly other offenses.   For more than three years, Maryam has been one of the most effective international critics of Bahrain"s brutal crackdown on human rights defenders. She"s kept the issue of Bahrain"s human rights abuses on the agenda by criss crossing the globe on behalf of the Gulf Center for Human Rights and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. She educates government officials, journalists, activists and anyone who’ll listen about the crackdown against pro-democracy protesters since February 2011.   I’ve worked Maryam on various stages of that journey – in Washington and New York, Cairo and Tunis, Dublin and Geneva. I have never seen an activist lobby better than she does. She’s 27, articulate, driven, funny, always prepared and constantly busy. She’s presented Bahrain’s abuses to the U.S. Congress more effectively than anyone else I know.   Maryam"s expertise is not surprising. Her father Abdulhadi is sentenced to life in prison for his part in the peaceful protests and is currently hunger striking to draw attention to the widespread problem of arbitrary arrests. Her older sister Zainab spent most of last year in jail, too, for nonviolent dissent against the regime and faces further charges in the coming weeks.   The Bahrain government, largely controlled by a ruling family, has a decision to make. While there are no doubt those in the regime who would be happy to see Maryam locked away for a long time, unable to advocate in person at the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, the European Parliament or anywhere else, there would be a high political price to jailing her. Her arrest is making headlines and Maryam"s impressive range of contacts in dozens of countries have already mobilized to put pressure on the Bahrain authorities to release her. Putting her in prison would make her more famous still, bringing fresh attention to the country’s human rights problems and ongoing political unrest. When her colleague Nabeel Rajab was jailed for two years, his reputation and authority grew. He emerged from jail in May of this year a stronger, more influential figure than ever. The same would likely happen if Maryam were to be jailed.   Some in Bahrain will see jailing or freeing Maryam as a lose-lose proposition for the government and perhaps it is. But what would really shut her up is genuine human rights reform, removing the basis for her complaints. Despite several years of promises, the core problems remain in Bahrain – impunity for torture and other abuses, the jailing of political dissidents and a lack of power sharing by the ruling elite. Until the Bahrain government takes steps toward genuine human rights reform, the regime won’t be able to silence the influence of Maryam, and others like her, inside or out of jail.   * Brian Dooley is director of the Human Rights Defenders program at Human Rights First   http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48646#.VAug8GP_J30 http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/%28httpNewsByYear_en%29/27B1B15729693CD0C1257DBD003BB628?OpenDocument   July 31, 2014   Azerbaijan: Leading Rights Defender Arrested.   (Berlin) – Azerbaijani authorities should immediately secure the release of leading human rights defender Leyla Yunus from pretrial custody, and drop the politically motivated charges against her and her husband Arif Yunus. The authorities should also end their ongoing harassment against the couple.   “The context leading up to these recent charges, including the harassment they have endured over the past four months, make it clear that the charges against Leyla and Arif Yunus are bogus and intended to silence them,” said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately end this campaign of intimidation against Azerbaijan’s leading human rights defenders and allow them to work unimpeded.”   Azerbaijan’s international partners, including the Council of Europe leadership and its member countries, should make clear that continued harassment of human rights defenders, and the Yunuses in particular, will have direct effects on their relationships with Azerbaijan’s government.   Leyla Yunus is the director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, a human rights group formed in 1995 that has focused on combating politically motivated prosecutions, corruption, violence against women, and unlawful house evictions. The organization has also been involved in projects aimed at improving people-to-people dialogue between intellectuals and community leaders in Azerbaijan and Armenia, against the background of the unresolved conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the autonomous enclave in Azerbaijan primarily populated by ethnic Armenians.   “This arrest and the charges have been in the making for some months now and appear to be in retaliation for the Yunuses human rights work and their outspoken criticism of the authorities,” Denber said. “The authorities should immediately release Leyla Yunus from pretrial detention and drop the charges in the absence of any credible evidence that they are justifiable.”   Azerbaijan has a long history of using bogus charges to imprison its critics, including on treason charges, Human Rights Watch said. In the past two years, Azerbaijani authorities have brought or threatened unfounded criminal charges against over 40 political activists, journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders, most of whom are behind bars.   The crackdown on critical voices continued even as, on May 15, Azerbaijan took over the rotating chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Europe’s foremost human rights body.   “Azerbaijan takes pride in chairing this important regional institution, yet routinely violates the very values and rights protections on which it is built and for which it exists,” Denber said. “The least Azerbaijan’s partners in the Council of Europe can now do is to urge the government to release Leyla Yunus from pretrial custody and end its escalating persecution of government critics.” For more details visit the link below.   http://iwpr.net/report-news/activists-arrested-azeri-crackdown http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/31/azerbaijan-leading-rights-defender-arrested http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=5bb0e289-bf17-4ee6-9381-eea53521ec96   * Access a summary of the UN Human Rights Council panel discussion on the importance of the promotion and protection of civil society space - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (A/HRC/27/33)   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Pages/ListReports.aspx Visit the related web page
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