RFE/RL WATCHLIST Vol. 1, No. 1, 14 January 1999
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Subject: RFE/RL WATCHLIST Vol. 1, No. 1, 14 January 1999
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RFE/RL WATCHLIST Vol. 1, No. 1, 14 January 1999
(From the moderator: In no way is it our intention to re-post all
RFE/RL publications, but we believe that information about this new
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Boris)
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL WATCHLIST
Vol. 1, No. 1, 14 January 1999
A Weekly Checklist Of Events Affecting Civil Societies In Eastern
Europe And The Post-Soviet States
Editor's Note: Launched today, RFE/RL Watchlist will provide a weekly
checklist of developments in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet states
that either promote or threaten the creation and growth of civil
societies there. It will reflect information gathered by RFE/RL from a
broad range of sources. We look forward to your comments and
questions.
MORE EXTREMISM AHEAD IN RUSSIA
Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin told ITAR-TASS on Dec. 29 that
extremist groups in Russia will become increasingly active in 1999.
AND YELTSIN PLEDGES CAMPAIGN AGAINST IT.
Speaking on ORT television on Dec. 26, President Boris Yeltsin pledged
that he would soon launch "a powerful offensive" against anti-Semitism
and extreme Russian nationalism.
HUMAN RIGHTS DETERIORATING IN POST-SOVIET STATES.
The Russian Federation is not the only place where human rights are
under threat. In its year-end report on Europe and Central Asia, the
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch decries the deterioration of human
rights in Belarus, Yugoslavia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, as well as in Russia.
NEW RUSSIAN LAW THREATENS NON-PROFIT GROUPS.
This month changes in the Russian tax code may cancel the tax
exemptions that humanitarian, educational and religious organizations
in Russia now enjoy. In Washington, Natalia Bourjaily of the Center
for Not-For-Profit Law says that groups engaged in charitable
activities in Russia are concerned that the new law will choke off
their funding.
KAZAKH ELECTION "FLAWED."
Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's president since 1991, was reelected
with 82 percent of the vote. The OSCE charged that the election had
been marked by "serious irregularities," while the U.S. State
Department called it "seriously flawed."
BELARUSIAN PROTESTERS PUNISHED.
In closed sessions, Minsk courts have punished nine people arrested
for staging a demonstration on Dec. 25 against the Russia-Belarusia
merger, the International League for Human Rights in New York reports.
KIDNAPPINGS CONTINUE IN CHECHNYA.
Kidnappings for profit constitute the key factor in the international
isolation of the Chechen people, keeping out humanitarian relief and
business investments while deepening poverty, according to the premier
issue of "The Cyber-Caravan," a biweekly journal on developments in
Central Asia and the Caucasus published in Washington by Johns Hopkins
University-SAIS.
BELGRADE FAILS TO BLOCK WEB SITE.
University of Belgrade computer experts have devised a way around
efforts by the Serbian government to block the state-run university
system's access to the Internet web site OpenNet, run by Belgrade's
independent Radio B92. Drazen Pantic of Radio B92 told RFE/RL on 5
January that some 14 web sites, most of them originating in Western
Europe, now "mirror" OpenNet material and thus allow approximately
30,000 readers access to this news source.
KOSOVO TO GET INDEPENDENT NEWS VIA LONDON.
In Kosovo, three independent radio stations, two in the Albanian
language and one in Serbian, have bypassed Belgrade's ban and are
broadcasting via London, courtesy of BBC's satellite relay, according
to the Open Society Institute's Washington office.
KOSOVO ALBANIANS TOP REFUGEE STATISTICS.
Ethnic Albanians fleeing Serbian-ruled Kosovo province made up the
largest number of asylum seekers in Europe in 1998. For instance, they
made up half of 31,000 asylum-seekers in Switzerland and one-third of
the nearly 100,000 in Germany.
CZECH SKINHEADS CHARGED IN ATTACK ON ROM.
On Dec. 28, six Czech skinheads were charged with a racially-motivated
attack on a deaf Rom at the Havlickuv Brod railway station on Nov.14,
according to a CTK report. The case is due to come before a court in
late January.
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Copyright (c) 1999. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
RFE/RL Watchlist is prepared by Charles Fenyvesi on the basis of a
variety of sources including reporting by RFE/RL Newsline and RFE/RL's
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