civil society

Chanting "Don't touch Valbona" and "No Waste Imports in Albania", several thousand Albanians attended a protest concert on Sunday in Tirana, invited by a group of artists from Albania and Kosovo who offered a free show dedicated to environmental issues.

The mainstream media in the country did not cover the event.

"There are still open wounds from the break-up of the Ottoman Empire. They have only been plastered over, but never given a chance to be healed. Maybe that is because our leaders never found an opportunity to properly address the regional problems on a long term basis, with consideration of the peoples' legitimate aspirations."

BELGRADE - The cultural heritage in Kosovo must not be used as a "political football" and both sides must acknowledge the destruction of cultural and religious monuments in the past, Karima Bennoune, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, told a press conference in Belgrade Friday.

On his visit to Macedonia, Commissioner Hahn is expected to try to end the political games over the dissolution of parliament in time for elections in December, as well as boost efforts to change the law in order to help the new Special Prosecution investigate high-level crime.

The remains of over 600 corpses have been unearthed in a field in the San Pedro municipality of northern Mexico’s Coahuila state, according to Grupo VIDA, a civil society group comprising the relatives of disappeared persons.
Bones, teeth, pieces of clothing and shoes were discovered in a 16-hectare field in San Pedro, west of the state capital of Saltillo.

Police have dispersed groups seeking to commemorate the first anniversary of the Oct. 10, 2015, Ankara bombing, detaining dozens of people.

The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize - which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights - was awarded on Monday to Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist who was kidnapped and detained by Islamic State, ISIS, in Iraq in 2014.

The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize - which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights - is to be awarded at a special ceremony on the opening day of the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Monday.

BIRN regional director Gordana Igric is among the three candidates for the award this year.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has stressed the urgency of reverting to "ordinary procedures" and safeguards in Turkey by ending the post-coup attempt state of emergency as soon as possible.

Civil society groups say legitimate complaints about Montenegro's electoral roll have not been addressed, raising concern about the outcome of the October 16 general election.