Conference of the 

European Network for Peace and Human Rights, 2005

Dear Friend,

We are pleased to inform you that we have negotiated facilities for this year’s Conference of the Network. It will take place at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 October.  We hope that you will note these dates in your diary. You can register for the Conference by returning the form provided.

As you may recall, we have already agreed to give special attention at this year’s Conference to the new threats to civil liberties and human rights which beset so much of Europe.  Tony Bunyan of Statewatch has prepared a special 28-page report on the emerging counter-terrorism regime amongst the G8 and European Union countries. The emphasis has shifted from bringing people before the courts to face criminal charges, to targeting those under suspicion of involvement in, or those allegedly “supporting”, terrorism. We propose that this paper serve as a keynote paper for our discussions. We shall circulate it be e-mail once some final revisions have been made. Please let us know if you require a copy sending by post, and we shall gladly do so. 

We expect that there will be a number of other contributions that should be circulated as part of the same discussion. Please inform us if you wish to submit a paper, or make other proposals about the programme of the meeting.

Meanwhile, as we told you when we wrote in January, preparations are advancing for the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq. This will take place in Istanbul from 23 to 26 June. The WTI Secretariat in Istanbul have asked for an indication of likely participation in June, and we urge individuals and groups to notify them directly of their plans without delay by e-mail to these addresses (istanbul@worldtribunal.org  & wti-istanbul@lists.riseup.net). Some more information is available online (http://www.worldtribunal.org/).  

Yours sincerely,

Ken Coates                      Tony Simpson

Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation