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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.

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.

In September 2025, eighteen human rights defenders from ten countries visited Strasbourg as part of the Advocacy Training Programme, organised by Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and co-funded by the Council of Europe (CoE) and the governments of Norway and Switzerland.
The study visit took place one week before the Autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), giving participants timely insights and practical experience in engaging with CoE stakeholders and amplifying civil society’s voice at the heart of Europe’s system for protecting and promoting human rights.

Since the Human Rights Council established the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation in 2022, the human rights situation inside Russia has rapidly deteriorated.

From 9 to 13 June, human rights defenders and civil society actors from across the Network of Human Rights Houses and beyond gathered in Oslo for the 2025 Network meeting. Amidst increasing global challenges faced by civil society, participants came together not only to share but also to build new strategies and forge solidarity.

We members of the Network of Human Rights Houses stand in solidarity with our imprisoned colleagues in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, as well as all political prisoners in the region.

From 8 March to 11 April, the Portraits of Strength exhibition was presented in Croatia’s three largest cities: Zagreb, Osijek, and Split. In close collaboration with local civil society, Human Rights House Zagreb organised the exhibitions and panel discussions. The events brought the powerful stories of women human rights defenders from across the Network of Human Rights Houses to a wider Croatian audience, highlighting the crucial role that women play in defending human rights.

From 12 to 16 May 2025, the civil-society led Crimea Week took place in Brussels with a series of advocacy and cultural events gathering policymakers, civil society, and international institutions, providing platforms for sharing testimonies and fostering dialogue. The programme aimed at highlighting the human rights situation in Crimea under Russian occupation.