Brussels, 10 December 2010. Today is Human Rights Day, which this year is celebrated with the particular aim of recognizing and acclaiming the achievements of the world's human rights defenders, many of whom work at great personal risk. The International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) would like to use this occasion to highlight the situation of human rights defenders in Central Asia, who face many and serious challenges in their work.

Because of their efforts to stand up to injustice, discrimination and abuse, Central Asian human rights defenders

During Visit, US Should Set the Record Straight on Need for Improvements

(Astana, December 2, 2010) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should use her impending visits to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to promote concrete human rights improvements, Human Rights Watch said today.

In Kyrgyzstan she should call for a thorough and impartial investigation into the violence in April and June 2010, fair trials for defendants in cases resulting from the violence, and improved security around the court hearings, Human Rights Watch said. In Uzbekistan

Date: 30 November 2010, Type: Book

A report based on a seminar held at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek on 12 October 2010, organized by the OSCE Secretariat and supported by the Kazakhstan's OSCE Chairmanship.

Contents:

Foreword by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office

Kazakhstan and the OSCE in 2010

Usen Suleimenov

Shaping the future: the Paris Charter as a vision and reference

Virginie Coulloudon

Political and strategic challenges in wider Europe: the last 20 years

S. N. MacFarlane

Kyrgyzstan: perspectives and implications for the region

Martha Brill Olcott

Executive summary

A number of transition challenges in the early years of independence heavily influenced living standards in Uzbekistan, especially in rural areas. Since 1996 the country has enjoyed steady but modest economic growth. While official unemployment is low, underemployment and low wages contribute to low living standards. The most vulnerable groups in terms of poverty are rural inhabitants, families with many children, people with disabilities, unemployed people, people with a lower level of education and households in which women are breadwinners.

Restoring Sight in Uganda

"The people had a deep sense of appreciation which touched the very core of my being" - IRT Volunteer Charles Narh, O.T.

In 1992 IRT began addressing the critical issues of eye disease, cataracts and vision loss through its surgical and clinical programs that have now been conducted in nine countries. Thanks to the generous support of our volunteers and donors, this legacy continues. In May, IRT partnered with The Africa Group (TAG) to launch its Sight for Life program in Uganda, a country of extreme poverty and few medical specialists.

Summary

The Desert Locust (SGR1) situation remained relatively calm in September throughout summer breeding areas. Only small groups of mature swarms were controlled in 900 ha in Pakistan in the Gothki area near the Indianborder. Scattered adults were reported in southern Mauritania, northern Mali, central Chad and central Sudan and small-scale breeding slightly increased locust numbers in some areas. Seasonal rains were winding down by end of September, but ecological conditions remained favorable in many summer breeding areas in the Sahel west Africa and along

General Assembly

Official Records

Sixty-fifth Session

Supplement No. 12

I. Introduction

1. Nearly sixty years after the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established by the General Assembly in December 1950, forced population displacement remains a major global issue. It has grown in magnitude and complexity. Today's global megatrends - including population growth, urbanization, food and energy insecurity, water scarcity and, particularly, climate change - are interacting with traditional drivers, such as conflict and violence,

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER'S PROGRAMME

61st Meeting

4 - 8 October 2010

NGO Statement on International Protection

Agenda Item 5. a)

Mr. Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen,

This statement has been drafted in consultation with, and is delivered on behalf of, a wide range of NGOs and aims to reflect the diversity of views within the NGO community.

NGOs would like to take the opportunity of this 61st Executive Committee meeting to address a number of particularly urgent country-specific protection concerns, as well as highlight some

Paul Holtom and Mark Bromley

SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security no. 2010/5

Summary

All European Union (EU) member states are required to submit information on arms export licences and arms exports for inclusion in the EU annual reports on arms exports.

The example of Central Asia- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan-shows that the data in these EU annual reports has only a limited utility for monitoring exports of arms and military equipment. The specific case of Uzbekistan, which