SIXTH KIEV DIALOGUE

The 6th Kiev Dialogue will take place from October 28th until October 30th 2010 in Kiev.

The theme for this year's dialogue will be "Corruption in politics, economy and administration - Civic society´s and international Counterstrategies".

BELARUS BETWEEN LOCAL AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

On the 28th of June, a press conference on the local elections in Belarus with perspectives on the coming presidential elections, and on the situation of human rights in Belarus took place at the Helsinki Foundation in Warsaw.

On the 29th of June, a discussion concerning the same topics was held in Berlin. Click here to view the photo gallery. 

With: Vladimir Labkovich, Lawyer and Expert for election monitoring in Belarus, Human Rights organisation "Viasna", Minsk; Juraś Hubarevič, Movement for Freedom; Presentation : Adam Busuleanu, European Exchange.

Please find the link to the press articles.

EUROPEAN EXCHANGE AND GERMAN-RUSSIAN EXCHANGE PUBLISH EU-RUSSIA POSITION PAPER

The German-Russian Exchange and European Exchange Berlin have developed a position paper “For a New Start in Civil Society Cooperation with Russia”, which has already been signed by a number of European foundations and non-governmental organisations. The signatories appeal to the EU and its member states to make it more straightforward for Russian civil society actors to cooperate with their European partners, and to markedly increase the financial resources available for this key area. The demands include the creation of an EU-Russia Civil Society Forum and visa-free travel for civil society actors.

You can read and dowload the paper (in English) by clicking the link below.

EU-Russia Position Paper

Here you can download the "KO-RUS-Kurier", newsletter of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs from June 2010 by Dr. Andreas Schockenhoff, Member of the German Parliament and coordinator for German-Russian civil society cooperation. He gives a report on the discussions about the Role of the EU in Russia's Modernization, that took place on the 6th of May, 2010, both in the German Parliament and in the Representation of the European Commission.

BELARUS LOCAL ELECTIONS - 25TH APRIL 2010

On the 25th April 2010, Belarus held local elections. European Exchange, in cooperation with the Human Rights Organisation Viasna and the Belorussian Helsinki Committee, has been reporting regularly on the important developments in Belarus in the run-up to the elections. A weekly newsletter has been produced in both English and German. Read more.

LOCAL ELECTIONS AZERBAIDZHAN 23RD DECEMBER 2009 - CRITICAL REPORT OF DOMESTIC ELECTION MONITORING NETWORK EMDS

Preliminary_Statement_on_the_23_December__2009_Municipal_Elections_of_EMDS.pdf

According to the findings of EMDS, a network of domestic election observers in Azerbaidzhan, the local elections in Azerbaidzhan held on 23rd December 2009 suffered from several violations of the national election law and international obligations. EMDS observed the election with 96 long term observers and 1400 short term observers in all 118 election districts. The most severe violations occured in the registration process of candidates, in restricition of freedom of assembly and access to mass media for opposition candidates and in intransparency during the vote counting. 35,076 candidates were registered, 17,688 of them were members of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP). The voter turnout was about 17 percent. Read the report of EMDS here.

Report on the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Meeting in Brussels 16-17th November

bericht_eastern_partnership.pdf

On November 16-17th, the European Commission hosted the first Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership in Brussels. More than 200 representatives of civil society organisations from the six countries of the Eastern Partnership attended the event. Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt congratulated the participants and encouraged constructive co-operation with the European Commission. Please read the report from the meeting here. (in German)

FINAL STATEMENT OF THE "GOLOS" - ASSOCIATION ON THE REGIONAL ELECTIONS IN RUSSIA ON 11TH OCTOBER 2009

 

The Association “GOLOS”, a domestic election monitoring organization that operates according to internationally accepted standards of election monitoring, hardly criticized the process of the local elections in Russia. More information can be found at www.golos.org.

ACTION ON POLITICAL MURDERS - FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL RUSSIA!

Gemeinsamer_Aufruf_russischer_und_deutscher_Nichtregierungsorganisationen.pdf

Russian and German non-governmental organizations signed a common declaration on the occasion of the third anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Three years ago, on 7th october 2006, the Russian journalist and civil rights activist Politkovskaya was murdered in the stairwell of her flat in Moscow. The case remains unsolved. For further information please open the paper above.

Annual Report European Exchange 2008

Please find here the 2008 annual report of the European Exchange.

 



The photos record impressions of three young photographers and journalists during the election campaign in Minsk, Grodno and Witebsk within an organized tour for journalists during the 2008 parliamentary elections in Belarus. Photos: Anne Ackermann, Stephan Pramme, Jan Zappner