In the December issue of the Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, we bring an interview with Christian F. Rostbøll, Professor of renowned Copenhagen University, on the relationship between freedom of expression and religious tolerance. Among other articles, Jan Lhotský reports from a conference in Maastricht which covered the institution of Universal Periodic Review conducted by the UN Human Rights Council.

Bulletin is available here (in Czech).

In the November issue of the Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, Petr Přibyla interviews Anja Mihr, Associate Professor of renowned Utrecht University, on the relationship between human rights and democratization. Among other articles, Matej Kurian writes about his experience as an election observer in Zambia and we further inform about the new decision of the Czech Constitutional Court on fare evaders.

Bulletin is available here (in Czech).

Monika Mareková, a member of CCHRD, is the winner of the competition for the best human rights diploma thesis of the year 2011 in the Czech Republic. The thesis focuses on the conflict of the right to respect for private life with the protection of public safety. The competition was organized by the League of Human Rights in the cooperation with the vice-president of the Constituional Court of the Czech Republic Eliska Wagnerova which expressed her opinion on the thesis at the award ceremony: "Her paper is extraordinarily excellent and thoroughly written. That topic is very actual and we have to deal with this issues very frequently at the Constitutional Court.

On December 6, 2011, a discussion on the topic of "Occupy Wall Street" took place at the Faculty of Social Studies. Via video call, Jana Kovačovská from Columbia University shared her first hand experience from New York, where the demonstrations took place. Afterwards the phenomenon was discussed fromm various perspectives by a lawyer Ladislav Vyhnánek, an economist Vladan Hodulák and a politologist Ondřej Císař. The event was moderated by a member of CCHRD Hubert Smekal.

Three members of the CCHRD attended the Seminar Armed Conflicts and Human Rights which took place on November 25, 2011 at the Faculty of Social Studies. Hubert Smekal gave a speech about the role of the European Union during the Arab Spring, Katarína Šipulová talked about human rights and the transitional justice and Ľubomír Majerčík presented his contribution Intrastate Prosecution of War Criminals - Universal Jurisdiction.
On the same day Katarína Šipulová and Hubert Smekal took part in the debate with the students and activists from Ukraine, Tchajwan and Barma. Together they discussed the topic of the European system of human rights and the role of the human rights in the transformations towards democracy.

It is a great pleasure to present you a new issue of our biannual Bulletin. The highlight of the issue is the interview with one of the most influential world philosophers of the last decades - Peter Singer. Moreover, we inform about new human rights development in the Czech Republic.

The English issue of the CCHRD Bulletin is available here.

On November 3rd 2011, Hubert Smekal held a presentation in the Czernin Palace at the Czech Foreign Policy Symposium on the topic „International commitments of the Czech Republic in Human Rights". Other members of the CCHRD, Linda Janků a Katarína Šipulová and Jozef Janovský, have also contributed to the text of the presentation. By employing of a quantitative overview the text tries to find out, how active is the Czech Republic in international human rights treaties contracting and to what level its behavior corresponds with the declared prioritized role of the human rights in the Czech foreign policy.

In the October issue of the CCHRD Bulletin, Martin Kopa writes about his experience as an intern with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Our member Monika Mareková has been serving as a UN youth delegate and even held a speech in the UN General Assembly in New York and chatted with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. You can read all about her experience in our Bulletin. The current issue of the CCHRD Bulletin is available here.

September issue of the CCHRD Bulletin features the second part of the exclusive interview with Peter Singer, a well known professor at Princeton University, concerning euthanasia, abbortion or animal rights. You will also find some firsthand human rights news from Luxembourg written by Helena Bončková. The current issue of the CCHRD Bulletin is available here.

Summer issue of the CCHRD Bulletin contains a lot of interesting texts. We are proud to present you also the interview with Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of bioethics at Princeton University. Peter Singer is internationally known author and thinker. He is a laureate professor at University of Melbourne and has been standing at the forefront of debates about our ethical obligations and approaching global poverty, euthanasia, abortions and animal rights for more than three decades. The interview is focused on the questions about global poverty, human rights and ethics. Where are the boundaries of our moral obligations in eradicating global poverty? At what point can we speak of a fetus as a human being? For what reason is it necessary to reach reassessment of our view of human rights concept?

The bulletin is available here (in Czech).

June issue of the CCHRD Bulletin features several interesting texts. Jan Lhotský from Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, writes a report from Geneva from a perspective of a direct participant in the negotiations of the UN Human Rights Council.

Another promising article is an interview with Dr Zaid Eyadat, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Jordan, who had recently taught a course on islam and human rights at the Faculty of Social Studies.

The bulletin is available here (in Czech).

Lukáš Hoder, recipient of Fulbright scholarship for 2011/2012 at the Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) has recently published an article Middle Eastern Cold War and Obama's Democratization Turn [in Czech] in the June issue of the Mezinarodni politika journal. The text follows the article published by the same author in April Bulletin of the Centre. Together with dr. Petr Suchý, Lukáš Hoder has also published in the Obrana a strategie journal. The study was named Bush Doctrine in the Middle East.

EurActiv.cz, Czech version of the Brussels website www.EurActiv.com, re-published article by Petr Přibyla, CCHRD intern, from the May issue of the Bulletin. The text deals with freedom of speech and with persecution of journalists in Turkey.

May issue of the bulletin features number of interesting texts, the most unusual probably being the article on the human rights activism carried out by ex-president of the International Automobile Federation, Max Mosley, who made a complaint to the ECHR on Great Britain stating that it had not protected his privacy after his sexual encounters had been revealed by the press.

The topic of May issue is nonetheless Robert Fremr's candidacy for the International Criminal Court. The process of candidacy as well as the chances of Czech candidate are being discussed in the interview by Ľubomír Majerčík with Renáta Klečková from the Czech MFA's Department of International Law.

The Bulletin is available here.

Hubert Smekal, current Fulbright scholar at the UC Berkeley in California, participated in a conference Harmony and Dissonance in International Law in San Francisco, where he presented a paper "Non-Majoritarian Difficulty Squared" in which he discussed democratic legitimacy of the international human rights courts.

Ladislav Vyhnánek, assistant at the Constitutional Court, participated in a conference that took place in the Senate of the Czech Republic with a paper on direct election of President.

EurActiv.cz, Czech version of Brussels website www.EurActiv.com, published an article by Hubert Smekal from the april issue of the CCHRD Bulletin concerning the reaction of the European Union to the ongoing revolutions in the Middle East. The text criticizes EU's inability to reach a consensus on the basic questions of the EU "common" foreign policy.

April issue of the Bulletin published by the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization is now available. It features the interview with Jan Kaminek on his observation mission in Sudan, text by Petr Schmied, current director of the People in Need mission in Cambodja, on his studies at Oxford Brookes University and other topics.

Hubert Smekal published in this Bulletin his text on the reaction of the EU to the revolutionary developments in the Middle East.

The Bulletin is available here.

It is a great pleasure to present you the second issue of the Czech Republic Human Rights Review. While we publish our newsletter on human rights from all over the world in Czech monthly, you will find an overview of main developments in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the English bulletin bi-annually.

The Centre for Human Rights and Democratization has only been established recently, yet we are the first institution of its kind in the Czech Republic, publishing on the topic and organizing conferences and seminars. If you are interested in human rights developments and questions both in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we would be happy to assist you with our expertise.

Monika Marekova, intern at the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, who is currently studying at the Laurentian University of Sudbury in Canada, published her text in the edited volume Právo na soukromí (Privacy Law). This collection includes fifteen essays dealing with the issue of the privacy law. The authors attempt to analyze in legal terms those situations when our comfort and well-being comes at a fairly high cost: We are monitored by surveillance cameras, we leave a trace of which websites we have visited while browsing the internet, our mobile phones allow continuous signal tracking, databases of personal information are being created, satellites keep track of our car's location, we subject our bodies to security screening, and so on. The book may be ordered here.

Moreover, it is not the state who is primarily responsible for these examples of encroachment upon our privacy; rather, it is private companies. The authors in this volume, including judges, lawyers and legal scholars, therefore focus their attention on issues such as wiretap disclosure, internet privacy, constraints on media functioning, and violations of privacy due to GPS tracking. Because the issue of privacy protection is still very much alive and concerns the whole of society, the collection will be useful and illuminating both for lawyers and wide public.

March issue of the Bulletin features number of articles, news, review of the book on the ECHR, interview with Australian student of law, and a report from a conference in Mexico, among other things.

The main article is written by Hubert Smekal, current recipient of the Fulbright scholarship at the prestigious University of California in Berkeley, USA, who analyzes the Test-Achats case.

The Bulletin is available here.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization of the IIPS MU is planning an expert seminar on the topic of "Protection of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights by the Constitutional Courts". The seminar will take place on the 21st of April 2011 at the Faculty of Law of the Masaryk University in Brno.

If you choose to present  a paper, please contact us to consult the topic. We welcome the abstracts send to lidskaprava(at)iips.cz until 14th of April, 2011. The presentations should last approximately 15 minutes.

Last year, Hungary announced its intention to adopt a law that would enable the state to destroy the original archive documents on the acitivies of the communist "state security", StB, Ministry of the Interior, and police.

As a reaction to this activity, international petition was organized, supported by personalities such as Lavinia Stan (St Francis Xavier University) or Christopher Adam (Carleton University). The petition was also supported by the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization of the IIPS MU.

February Issue of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization Bulletin features number of current texts on the questions that are being rather overlooked in the Czech Republic, the main topic of the Bulletin is nevertheless the one of revolutions in Arab world which gains lots of media attention.

In the article on the role of social networks in contemporary revolution events, Petr Přibyla tries to moderate the enthusiasm of technological optimists and turns his attention towards the real problems of the region's inhabitants.

In the February issue, we also put together an outline of current scholarly articles with human rights focus. The Bulletin is available here.

In the first Bulletin of the year 2011, we would like to draw your attention to the article by Helena Bončková on a question of communist past of judges in the Czech Republic. The text deals not only with a decision of the Constitutional Court which enabled publication of the information on comunist past of the judges, but also with other circumstances of the entire debate.

Among other articles featured in the January issue, there is also an interview with Pakistani fighter for human rights Mukhtār Mā‘ī who has been recently awarded a honorary PhD by a Canadian Laurentian University. Monika Mareková interviewed Ms Mā‘ī on this occasion.

The Bulletin is available here.

One-year European Master in Human Rights and Democratisation (E.MA) is receiving applications until 20th March 2011. The program is a result of cooperation of more than forty European universities. The study is divided in two terms, while the first one is being spent in Venice in Italy (September 2011 - January 2012) and the second in one of the participating universities. These encompass Leuven, Utrecht, Copenhagen, Graz, Dublin, or Uppsala, among others, as well as Masaryk University.

More information is available on the website of E.MA. You may also contact Hubert Smekal, Assistant Director of the E.MA program for the Czech Republic (hsmekal(at)fss.muni.cz).

The last issue of the Bulletin in 2010 is focusing on the WikiLeaks phenomenon in terms of human rights. Data leaks show US embassies engagement in investigation of the events linked to the US war against terrorism.

To remind the most important developments in the world of human rights during the last twelve months we also prepared a summary of the events for the 2010. Bulletin is available here.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization has been established in 2009 as an independent non-profit institution dealing with multidisciplinary research of the human rights. The Centre operates under the International Institute of Political Science of the Masaryk University. Four members and nine interns cooperated in the Centre during 2009/2010.

The Centre organized two conferences at the Faculty of Social Studies and together with ELSA Košice it also contributed to the organization of the conference in Košice. It published monthly Bulletin, two studies and one policy paper and members and interns published their articles in numerous journals and presented their papers in a number of conferences.

The annual report of the Centre is available here.

Hubert Smekal and Helena Bončková from the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization published their article "Fragmentation of shared values?" in the last issue of a journal named "Soucasna Evropa" (2/2010), which is being published by the University of Economics (VŠE).

The entire text is available here in the Czech language.

Members of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization Ladislav Vyhnánek, Ľubomír Majerčík and Lukáš Hoder published their articles in Czech yearbooks of international law. Ladislav Vyhnánek and Lenka Popovičová, intern at the centre, published on "The Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Czech Republic in 2008/2009 - Selected Decisions on Issues of International Law". The text was featured in the Czech Yearbook of International Law.

Ľubomír Majerčík and Lukáš Hoder published their texts in a different Czech Yearbook of International Law. The entire article by Ľubomír Majerčík is available here and here you can find the review by Lukáš Hoder.

The november issue of the Bulletin has just been published. First of all, it contains an interview with former Force Commander of UNAMIR, The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, which was conducted exclusively for the Bulletin in Canada by Monika Mareková.

Another interesting text is the one written by Petr Preclík who served as an electoral observer in African Guinea and can thus offer critical view on current ethos, weaknesses and perspectives of the global democratization project.

The main topic of the Bulletin is an article written by Helena Bončková named Human Rights Harvest in Luxembourg, where the author analyzes human rights judicature of the European Court of Justice of the past two months. The Bulletin is available here.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization of the IIPS MU and People in Need invite you to the discussion with former Cuban dissident Roland Jimenéz Posada which will take place on Wednesday, 1st December 2010 at 12am in the U52 room at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. Posada and his family were recently given political asylum in the Czech Republic. Posada left prison earlier this year after an agreement between the Cuban government and the Catholic church was reached.

The debate will focus on Posada's experience from life in Cuba, the reality of prison and the question of suitable policy towards "the island of freedom".

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, operating under the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University, is looking for interns - students of law and social science. The interns will be involved in conferences' organization, research within grant projects, and production of the information Bulletin in the following specializations:
- International Legal Justice
- International Politics and Human Rights
- Czech Republic and Human Rights
Applicants should send their CV and cover letter to hoder(at)iips.cz until the 14th November 2010. Don't forget to put "internship" in the subject of the e-mail as well as mention the specialization you are interested in.

The topic of October issue of the Bulletin is Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Chinese dissident Liou Siao-po. This event has provoked the discussions on the topic of human rights in China, but also on the relations between the USA and China and US foreign policy.

The article by Lukáš Hoder follows up on the September Bulletin and shows the risks of excessive pressure from the US side towards China not only in human rights domain. Will pragmatic President of the USA want to risk worsening of fragile relations with China due to human rights? The bulletin is accessible here.

The Czech Republic held a parliamentary election in the last week of May 2010. We have examined how much space was devoted to human rights in the programs of the main political parties and what their preferences were concerning human rights. We have also analyzed the Czech "opt-out" from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and concluded that, similarly as has been pointed out in the cases of the UK and Poland, the opt-out might not have the effects their proponents hoped for. The Supreme Administrative Court dissolved the xenophobic Workers' Party in one of its most elaborated judgments; we offer a summary of the decision and fragments of our interview with the head of the court's chamber dealing with political parties. Also some problematic issues that have spoiled the human rights reputation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia - the sterilization of Roma women and the Labsi case in which Slovakia has not followed an interim measure of the European Court of Human Rights.

You can download the Bulletin here.

Ladislav Vyhnánek, member of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, is one of the authors of new Commentary on the Czech Constitution, which has been published by Linde Praha. The commentary encompasses case law demonstrating the functioning of the constitutional system of the Czech republic. Other co-authors include Vojtěch Šimíček, Radovan Suchánek, Pavel Molek, Milan Podhrázký, Jan Filip and Lenka Bahýľová.

"The Constitution represents not only fundamental law of each state, but also its fundamental text, from which it should be recognizable which state does it concern, which goals are being pursued and which policy is to be anticipated. That's why it is important to not only know the text of the Constitution, but also its inner logic, its connections with the entire legal order, principles, on which it is founded and the way of its practical fulfilment. This Commentary on the Constitution aims to provide the reader with a thorough information on intentions of original fathers of Constitution as well as on constitutional conventions and it also offers alternative views on how the Constitution should be fulfilled and respected."

September issue of the Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization has just been published. The main topic of this issue is existing U.S. foreign policy under Obama from the human rights point of view. On which does the change announced by president Obama when assuming office lie? How does real foreign policy look like two years after the end of George W. Bush presidency? Traditionally, you will also find articles on international legal justice as well as on development of human rights in the European context in this issue.

The Bulletin is available here in the Czech language.

Katarína Šipulová and Lenka Lakotová, interns at the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, have reviewed the book "Responsibility to Protect: New Hope or Old Hypocrisy?" by Veronika Bílková, which has been published in the Czech language by Charles University in Prague.

"The book is divided into three parts: the first one deals with a development and alterations of the concept since its origins until an establishment of its contemporary version. The second one deals with a content and a nature of the concept and the last one is focused on a practical implementation using case studies. When elaborating on the concept, the author has used an interesting metodological combination of both law science and international relations approaches and the entire text stems from constructivism-positivism. She thus analyzes R2P not only as an emerging norm, but she also focuses on its internalization by states by means of a process of socialization. The publication represents well done analysis of an issue which haven't been elaborated on within the Czech environment yet."

Lukáš Hoder from the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization of the IIPS MU attended Graduate Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research, which took place at the end of August in Dublin. The event has been hosted by the Dublin City University and aside from main program encompassing papers presentations by PhD students from the entire Europe, the lectures by internationally renowned scholars were also scheduled (Mick Cox from London School of Economics gave a speech among others). Lukáš Hoder presented a paper on teoretical concepts of international legal compliance and on issues related to research of topics on the boundary between social science and law.

Summer issue of the Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation has just been published. The topic of this issue is the study of human rights in Budapest. Aside from the articles on human rights in the Czech Republic and international criminal justice, there are thus also texts about the Total Law summer school in Budapest and about a study of Human Rights LL.M. at CEU in the same city. The bulletin is available here in the Czech language.

Hubert Smekal from the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization attended Diplomatic Conference in Venice on Review of the Human Rights Council, organized by the EIUC - European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation. The representatives of the scholarly public, European Union, foreign ministries of the EU Member States and UN human rights bodies all participated in the conference. Alongside of the assesment of an existing functioning of the Human Rights Council and sharing stances towards the review conference, which will be held next year, the criticism of not always harmonious cooperation among EU Member States on the UN ground has also been raised.

June issue of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization Bulletin has just been published. The main topic of this issue is a very interestinglegal dispute between two academics, on which Hubert Smekal reports under the heading " Fighting for Academic Freedom in Paris".

How much criticism is too much criticism when it comes to a book review of your colleague's book in a scholarly journal? How shouldan author's request for a withdrawal of the review be treated? Bulletin is available in the Czech language here.

In the study of the Czech Centre of Human Rights and Democratization, Monika Mareková and Katarína Šipulová show that Slovakia has violated its international legal obligations by the recent banishment of Algerian citizen Mustafa Labsi. The analysis is available here.

In the CCHRD analysis Helena Bončková and Hubert Smekal prove that recently negotiated "exemption" from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union doesn't have to affect the cases from which it should protect us according to the negotiators. More precisely, the problem, on which this exemption allegedly reacts, most probably doesn't exist at all.

The argumentation is backed up by the legal analysis of the Protocol No 30 concerning the Charter's implementation in Poland and in the United Kingdom. It deals with the debate about the exemption that has been ongoing in these countries, it brings short excursion into decision making process of the European Court for Human Rights and into assesment of after-Lisbon judicature of the European Court of Justice. In the context of our claim of the character of the exemption all negative effetcs which accompanied the Czech way towards the exemption are being pointed out. The alternatives for future developments are also being discussed, as due to the character of the Czech exemption it is unsure whether it will become legally binding. The analysis is available here.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization cooperated with ELSA Košice on the international conference named Human Rights Forum, hosted in Košice from 13th to 14th May. The event took place on the occasion of 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights and 20th anniversary of the Venice Commission. The conference was also attended by Slovak judge at the European Court of Human Rights JUDr. Ján Šikuta. Our Centre was represented by Hubert Smekal with a paper on the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Moreover, Ľubomír Majerčík, co-founder of the Czech Centre of Human Rights and Democratization, is nowadays guest of the prestigious legal blog "Jiné Právo".

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization has just published May issue of its Bulletin. Aside from papers on human rights protection in Europe and worldwide, the new issue also features an analysis of human rights related topics in the programs of Czech political parties before the upcoming parliamentary elections. We would like to know your opinions concerning this issue - our Facebook page is ready to receive any feedback you may wanna share. Bulletin is available here and has been published in the Czech language.

The second symposium on Czech foreign policy was hosted by the Institute of International Relations in Prague from 3rd to 5th May 2010 in the Černínsky Palace. Large conference with wide range of topics covered was attended by four representatives of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization. Ľubomír Majerčík presented a paper on relocation of people suspected of terrorism, as conducted by the United States. He argued that this practice contravened the international law. Helena Bončková and Hubert Smekal presented next paper, which dealt with the Czech Republic and its exemption from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The authors showed that this so-called exemption didn't really represent and exemption. Lukáš Hoder then presented a paper on atlanticism in the Czech foreign policy. All of the presented papers will be featured on the website of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization and they will also be published in a volume edited by the Institute of International Relations.

On 3rd May 2010, the Faculty of Social Studies of the Masaryk University hosted a conference named International Criminal Court - Perspectives of International Crimes Judging. The conference consisted of two panels in which both the practitioners and scholars presented various aspects of the functioning of the ICC. Their contributions demonstrated the fact that there were experts on the topic also in the Czech Republic and Slovakia interested in the topic and with plenty of ideas on it.

The Czech Center for Human Rights and Democratization organized workshop on the International Criminal Court together with the International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University and Faculty of Social Studies. The event was held on 3rd May 2010 at the Faculty of Social Studies. The aim of the workshop was to reflect the functioning of the ICC on the eve of the Uganda Law Reform Commission.

Last month has brought many news from the world of human rights. The Czech republic has again attracted attention of the international institutions (UN for this time) in terms of the situation of Romani people. Current case ECHR versus Croatia showed that it's not only the Czech Republic who is struggling with this issue. An unprecedented progress has been made within the field of international justice, when the ICC agreed on the investigation of a new situation - acts of violence that have followed the elections in Kenya. Last but not least, we'd like to congratulate the students of the Masaryk University who successfully attended moot court in Washington together with students from all over the world. This and many other news are included in the April Issue of the Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization. We wish you a pleasant reading. The Bulletin is available in the Czech language here.

In March 2010, new Bulletin of the Czech Centre of Human Rights and Democratization has been issued. It features an interview with Tomáš Vandas, leader of the abolished party 'Delnicka strana' as well as commentary by Ladislav Vyhnánek concerning this affair. Bulletin is available in pdf format here.

Third Bulletin of the Czech Centre of Human Rights and Democratization has been published in mid-February. It contains many news, commentaries, and articles dealing with contemporary human rights issues. In the February issue, you may find interview with Petr Preclík, who is currently employed at the delegation of the European Commission to the United Nations in New York. Bulletin is available here in Czech.

The Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization is hosting workshop named "International Criminal Court - Perspectuves of Judging of the International Crimes". Workshop will be held on 3rd May 2010 at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University in Brno.

Papers on following topics are welcome:
- International Criminal Court practice up to now
- changes in the Rome Statute
- challenges for the Czech Republic

In January 2010, second Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization was published. We would like to bring to your attention the interviews in January issue which were conducted with the candidates for the positions of judgesat the European Court for Human Rights for the Czech Repulic. The interview with last candidate, dr. Iva Brožová, will be published in the next issue. Among other texts, article on the ban of minarets in Switzerland as well as refugees situation in the Republic of South Africa are included in January issue. Bulletin is available here in Czech language. 

In January 2010, policy paper on the reform of the European Court of Human Rights was published by the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization. The Centre issued this paper in cooperation with non-governmental organizations as a reaction to Ministry of Justice, which encourages the discussion on the possibilities of reform of the ECHR with respect to intergovernmental conference that will deal with this topic in February in Interlaken.

Policy paper can be found here.

In December 2009, first Bulletin of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization IIPS MU, which will regularly bring news and commentaries from the field of human rights, has been issued. It contains the interview with Eva Hubálková, the director of the Czech office at the European Court of Human Rights, paper on illegal sterilizations, text about the ban of crosses in Italian public schools, among others. Bulletin can be found here in Czech.

The conference ‘60 Years of the Council of Europe - 50 Years of the European Court of Human Rights‘, organized by Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democratization, took place at the Faculty of Social Studies on 3rd December 2009.

The visitors have been provided with insights by experts on various practical issues nowadays related to the functioning of European Court of Human Rights.

Special guest speaker is giving speech at EIUC Lecture this year - dr Andrew Roberts from Northwestern University, which ranks among 20 top US political science universities. Dr Roberts will give lecture on Thursday, 10th December 2009 from 12am in P51 room. The title of his lecture is "The Quality of Democracy and Human Rights in Postcommunist Europe". 45 minutes speech in English will be followed by discussion.

Andrew Roberts is author of the book "The Quality of Democracy in Eastern Europe", which was published by Cambridge UP as well as author of many articles in top scholarly journals.

On 3rd December 2009, the conference '60 Years of the Council of Europe - 50 Years of the European Court of Human Rights' will be held at the Masaryk University. The conference is being organized by the Centre for Human Rights and Democratization operating under International Institute of Political Science of the Masaryk University in cooperation with the Council of Europe and the Faculty of Social Studies of the Masaryk University.

The conference will be attended by law scholars from the Masaryk University, Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights but also by political scientists or non-governmental organizations representatives. Organizers attempt to not only offer law point of view, but rather wide spectrum of the views on the agenda of both institutions.

People in Need organization and International Festival of the Documentary Films on Human Rights 'One World' are launching new project named History, Film and Human Rights, which aims to strenghten the education on human rights topics through documentary film and its incorporation into university curricula. Project is targeted mostly towards students of the master's programs in their graduate year and PhD candidates at the departments of history, law, international relations and other social science fields. This year's project will also launch one-week seminar at the end of November which will result in concrete film seminars for upcoming spring term.