E-newsletter Issue no. 1 (28 November 2014): the coalitions against Torture in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

This e-newsletter is the first in a series of newsletters issued by the NGO coalitions against torture in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR, Poland) and International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR, Belgium). It is produced as part of
a joint project of these NGOs, entitled “Action for freedom from torture in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan”.

We want to make this newsletter a useful resource for local human rights defenders and a source of information on activities and issues of concern of NGO coalition members for other interested local and international professionals.

An initial brainstorm of coalition members and international partner NGOs generated the following topics for future issues of this e-newsletter:
o Human rights defenders at risk: How can human rights defenders and NGOs enhance their security? What international organizations provide support? Where and how can human rights defenders find a safe haven in case of emergency?
o What if foreign agent laws are being prepared and adopted in Central Asia? – Interviews with colleagues from Russia and Belarus and their recommendations to Central Asian colleagues.
o Human rights work and burn-out: How to cope with work pressure, high expectations of victims’ relatives and stigmatization by the authorities and pro-government media?
o Interviews with experienced human rights defenders on their motivation to work against torture and advice they wish to give to young human rights defenders.
o Information about selected anti-torture activities carried out by NGO coalition members, HFHR and IPHR.

Your ideas for future issues of the e-newsletter:
Please contact the editor of this newsletter if you have ideas of other topics that you wish us to feature in the future (Anne Sunder-Plassmann, International Partnership for Human Rights, anne.sunderplassmann@iphronline.org). We are also happy to receive other feedback relating to the content of the newsletter.)

The newsletter is disseminated to human rights defenders and lawyers belonging to the antitorture coalitions as well as journalists, psychologists, independent experts, international human rights activists and diplomats and others interested in the fight against torture in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Read the newsletter here.