Latest
“If we lose justice, we lose the future” Interview with Kateryna Rashevska
As Ukraine approaches a fifth year of Russia’s full-scale war, Ukrainian human rights lawyer Kateryna Rashevska reflects on working through blackouts, documenting war crimes, and why justice — not just ceasefire — will determine the region’s future. From losing her organisation’s office to confronting global shifts in international law, she speaks about resilience, responsibility, and the long struggle for accountability, and at what cost.
“Many people in Crimea are searching for loved ones abducted by Russia’s FSB”
An interview with a human rights defender from Crimea on enforced disappearances in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, the situation for those unjustly detained and the power of letters.
Serbia: “The government’s ‘expecting violence’ rhetoric is a clear warning sign… that they’re preparing to create it.”
In November 2025, Serbia marked one year since the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse, and the subsequent student protests sparked by it. Today, despite growing international attention, concerns over the country’s human rights situation are deepening, and civil society warns about escalating repression as the government responds to dissent. Human Rights House Foundation spoke with Jovana Spremo, Advocacy Director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM), about this situation and more.
“Defending human rights in Russia is a lonely, exhausting, and often dangerous path. But some of us are still here—because someone has to be.”
Defending human rights inside the Russian Federation in 2025 means waking up every morning and choosing to continue despite the fear of a life-changing knock on the door. This year, Human Rights House Foundation interviewed a Russian human rights defender who continues to live and work inside Russia despite increasing repression and risks. We are not identifying the HRD and using the “their” pronoun to protect the person’s identity. This is their testimony, edited for clarity and coherence.
“Historically in Belarus, after waves of civic activity, repression typically follows… I knew repression would come after 2020; I just didn’t grasp the scale.” Interview with former political prisoner Andrei Chapiuk
2 October 2025 marks six months since former political prisoner Andrei Chapiuk was released from prison in Belarus, and since he left the country for his safety. This month also marks five years since he was imprisoned. In this interview with HRHF, Chapiuk discussed adjusting to life outside of prison and in a new country, as well as the human rights situation in Belarus and his colleagues still behind bars.
“Azerbaijan was heading to a new era, but ended up in a full-scale dictatorship”
Since 2023, Azerbaijan has been conducting its most comprehensive crackdown against civil society in its post-independence history. With the majority of human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers in exile or behind bars, the few that remain are unable to operate in a civic space that defenders describe as transitioning from “shrinking” to “closing”. In 2025, Human Rights House Foundation discussed the situation with representatives of Azerbaijani civil society in exile, as well as those who remain despite severe and increasing risks.
“The progressive human rights agenda is almost absent [in lead-up to 2026 elections in Armenia]”
With human rights crises unfolding in neighbouring Azerbaijan and Georgia, Armenia remains the story of hope for human rights and freedoms in the South Caucasus, but civil society in the country faces many challenges. In this interview, HRHF spoke to Arpy Manusyan, President and Research Director of Socioscope NGO (a member organisation of Human Rights House Yerevan), on issues ranging from the apathy in society following the second Nagorno-Karabakh war, to increasingly disappointing rhetoric surrounding next year’s elections, and what role Armenian civil society can play in reconnecting with the public.
Legal Win Strengthens Moldova’s Healthcare Union Movement
After four years of legal struggle, Moldova’s first independent medical workers’ union wins a landmark Supreme Court case as a result of sustained capacity building and advocacy support.
“mama, all my friends are criminals”
On 21 May, HRHF, alongside PEN Belarus, published a poem by Tacniana Niadbaj, poet, writer & human rights defender. The publication of the poem marked the Day of Political Prisoners in Belarus.