Livewire - Amnesty International blogging for human rights

The first ever Baltic Pride march has concluded successfully.

Participants are now listening to speeches from the stage in the park in and around which the march took place.

Amnesty International’s John Dalhuisen told the crowd “we’re proud to be marching with you here today. It’s a march and a celebration.

Continue reading ‘Riga Pride march passes off successfully’

The first ever Baltic Pride march is taking place in Riga, Latvia.

LGBT activists from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have come together to excercise their rights.

Latvian police are in place to separate the march from the noisy counter-demonstrators.


Continue reading ‘First Baltic Pride demo takes place in Riga’

LGBT activists from the Baltic states are gathering, with Amnesty International joining in solidarity, in a central Riga park in Latvia.

Baltic Pride is almost ready to start and lots of colourful rainbow flags are in evidence.


Continue reading ‘Baltic Pride gathers as counter-demo makes noise’

It’s been a busy few days for Baltic Pride. It was happening, then it was banned on Thursday and in court on Friday morning when it was back on track.

A roomful of Amnesty International from across Europe, from the Faroe Islands to Turkey, have gathered in Riga to support Baltic Pride.

Right now, we’re getting to know each other, discussing the safety issues and plans for the day and individual delegates will soon collect their t-shirt from the rainbow coloured selection.

Continue reading ‘Getting ready for Baltic Pride’

Ana Hurt and James Burke write from the Dominican Republic

We are in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic where we have just held a seminar for women human rights defenders from the Caribbean. There were 24 women participating, from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.

It was great to have a variety of human rights organizations present, with representatives working on women’s rights; migrants’ rights; lesbian and gay rights; housing rights; women defending the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS; and working to secure justice for victims of police violence and their families. The main goal of the seminar was to provide a space for the women to share their experiences and provide tools to help enable their work.

Continue reading ‘Building links between Caribbean women human rights defenders’