OSCE office in Minsk and the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE-BDIHR) continue talks with Belarusian authorities about questions of groundwork and monitoring of parliamentary elections in autumn 2004, informed Heidi Smith, press secretary of the OSCE office at the press conference in Minsk on March 11.

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Last year was the bloodiest one for journalists, says the report of the International Institute of Press In Vienna. In different countries of the world by discharge of their professional duties 64 journalists have perished, according to the information of the Institute. Only in Iraq 19 reporters died. In the document China, North Korea, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, where the authorities limit the freedom of press and information flow, are mentioned particularly, Russian service of Radio Liberty (Svoboda) informs.

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Minsk, 10 March. Belarus’ opposition forces plan to mark the 86th anniversary of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) by a festive gathering near the newly reconstructed City Hall building on Minsk’s Liberty Square on March 25 at 5 p.m., the press office of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) told BelaPAN.

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On March 10 in the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress open hearings were held. Their subject was “Human Rights Practices Around the World: A Review of the State Department’s 2003 Annual Report”. Together with Iryna Krasowskaya, leader of the Belarusian civil initiative “We remember” and member of the European coalition “Free Belarus”, politicians and human rights activists from many countries participated, including the Honorable Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State. We propose you the text of Lorne W. Craner’s statement:

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