The annual Václav Havel Human Rights Prize will be awarded by the assembly, in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation. Individuals, non-governmental organisations and institutions working to defend human rights can be nominated for the award worth €60 000.
According to research, the number of prisoners held in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine is double the Council of Europe average of 149 prisoners per 100 000 inhabitants. Prison over-crowding is also worrying in Serbia, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and France.
The Tuesday 19 March event will feature expert contributions on the emergence of laws across Europe which ban so-called “homosexual propaganda.” Organisers of banned gay pride marches in St Petersburg and Belgrade are scheduled to attend.
Parliamentary Assembly experts want to use today’s zero tolerance for female genital mutilation as the springboard to a safer and more just world for women.
After suffering genital mutilation twice, Teliwel Diallo became an outspoken critic of the practice. Her defiance made her enemies. Her life was endangered and she was forced to flee her home in Guinea.
