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At the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, HRHF and Belarusian Human Rights House (BHRH) warned that Belarus continues to dismiss fundamental recommendations on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly while maintaining widespread repression. Together, HRHF and BHRH urged Belarus to unconditionally release all political prisoners, end the repression of civil society, and cooperate fully with UN human rights mechanisms.

On 17 March 2026, HRHF and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee hosted a side event at the OSCE SHDMI. The event featured the Moscow Mechanism rapporteur and representatives of Georgian civil society, who discussed opportunities to respond to the report’s findings and recommendations and to propose further next steps for participating States.

After a year marked by large-scale student and civic protests, the authorities in Serbia began introducing more intensive legislative changes aimed at restricting freedoms and further undermining separation of powers and democratic law-making. On 17 March 2026, these issues and more were discussed at an SHDMI side event organised by YUCOM, Human Rights House Belgrade, and Human Rights House Foundation.

During the first Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting of 2026, Human Rights House Foundation warned that the continued detention of prominent Azerbaijani human rights defender Anar Mammadli reflects wider pattern of reprisals against civic actors across the OSCE region. HRHF urged participating States to make every effort to protect human rights defenders engaging with the OSCE.

At HRC61, Human Rights House Foundation repeated its call for the renewal of the mandates of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus and the Group of Independent Experts on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus.

Human Rights House Foundation calls for the renewal of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Following a year of large-scale student and civic protests, accompanied by reports of excessive use of force against demonstrators the freedoms of assembly and expression have been under increasing attack in Serbia. On 11 March 2026, these issues and more were discussed at a HRC61 side event organised by the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights with the support of Human Rights House Foundation.

On 3 March 2026, on International Writer’s Day, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and the Belarusian Human Rights House (BHRH), co-organised a film screening and policy discussion in Brussels dedicated to freedom of expression, media freedom, and the situation of journalists and political prisoners in Belarus. The event was hosted by the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union.

At the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation expressed concerns about the environment in which human rights defenders operate in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, as reflected in the Special Rapporteur’s country report, urging authorities to implement her recommendations.