On 15 April 2021, ODF co-hosted an online conference on the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime and the effectiveness of personal (targeted) sanctions in safeguarding human rights. The event was co-organised in partnership with the Italian Federation for Human Rights, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Freedom Kazakhstan Foundation and the Global Committee for […]
On 21 June 2021 the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), together with the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU), organized the online panel “Authoritarian countermeasures to targeted sanctions: China’s and other autocratic responses”. Hosted by ODF President Lyudmyla Kozlovska, the event gathered human rights defenders and an MEP affected by China’s countermeasures to discuss the reactions […]
This morning, 4 July 2020, Iskander Yerimbetov, Kazakhstani political prisoner released on 30 December of last year, arrived at the Geneva Airport, Switzerland, after he was granted a humanitarian visa. ODF, the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU) and his family warmly welcomed him at the airport, congratulating Iskander for this long-awaited day. This is […]
On the 20th February 2020, on the occasion of the 19th Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, together with the members of the Dutch Delegation, Farah Karimi and Boris Dittrich, we had the pleasure of hosting the side-event “New and Old Ways of Suppressing Dissent in the OSCE Area: Protecting Political Refugees from Legal and Technological Abuse”.
On 17 February 2020, we arranged a visit of Kazakhstani human rights defenders, Bota Jardemalie and Dana Zhanay, to the European Parliament in order to attend an exchange of views with DCAS members on the situation of human rights in Kazakhstan prior to the 17th EU – Kazakhstan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) meeting in Nur-Sultan on 25-27 February. The roundtable discussion provided a rich exchange of views between the MEPs and members of civil society and NGOs.
On February 6-7, 2020, a delegation of the Open Dialogue Foundation went on a two-days mission to Rome with the aim to relaunch the draft bill for an Italian Magnitsky Law, following a series of events in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate on the matter
We have learned with great relief of the release of Kazakhstani political prisoner Iskander Yerimbetov.
Over the past years, China has increased its presence in Kazakhstan, thus making their economic and political relations more robust. Importantly, human rights and the survival of civil society are at stake, as Kazakhstani activists are afraid of the growing dependence onChina, a country which has been often perceived as a bearer of abuse and […]
On 6 November 2019, Members of the Federal Parliament of Belgium’s asked questions to the Minister of Justice Koen Geens, during a Justice Committee hearing. Five parliamentarians asked questions regarding the controversial judicial cooperation between Belgium and Kazakhstan.
On October 1, 2019, at Kazakhstan’s mutual assistance request, Belgian police conducted a warrantless search (sic!) of Kazakh political refugee and lawyer, Botagoz Jardemalie’s apartment in Brussels. The officials seized numerous electronic devices and documents, which included privileged and confidential work relating to her advocacy as a human rights lawyer. One of the most worrying […]
Seventeen US senators wrote a letter of concern to Kazakh President Tokayev calling for the release of political prisoner Iskander Yerimbetov. The July 29 letter is a bipartisan initiative by senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez, with other signatories including Bernie Sanders and Tim Kaine.
On 19 February in Brussels, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the EP hosted a hearing on “Attacks on the legal profession and lawyers defending human rights”. The event was chaired by MEP A. Panzeri and touched on the pressing issue of the threats to the threats to the legal profession worldwide.
On 19 February in Brussels, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the EP hosted a hearing on “Attacks on the legal profession and lawyers defending human rights”. The event was chaired by MEP A. Panzeri and touched on the pressing issue of the threats to the threats to the legal profession worldwide.
The Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU) organised a human rights observer mission to Kazakhstan. A series of meetings with activists, human rights defenders, relatives of political prisoners, and former prisoners who had been subjected to torture, was conducted in the course of the mission.
The International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (IOL) recently published two statements expressing its concern for Ana Ursachi and Botagoz Jardemalie, both lawyers and human rights defenders, from Moldova and Kazakhstan, respectively.
