Latest

In November, Serbia marks 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.

Det har blitt langt vanskeligere for menneskerettighetsforsvarere å få visum til Norge og andre Schengen-land. Dermed hindres de i å delta der beslutningene tas, og vi bidrar til å svekke kampen for rettigheter og demokrati.

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.

On 22 September 2025, Azerbaijani human rights defender and political prisoner Anar Mammadli delivered his defence statement at the Baku Court on Grave Crimes. In his address, Mammadli stated “I do not recognise this court, and I consider it a political show staged by the repressive ruling regime in Azerbaijan.” Mammadli denounced the charges against him as baseless and politically motivated, and called for the Court to terminate the case. This article was written by human rights lawyer Emin Abbasov.

“The Georgian Dream government is still sensitive to international pressure. It is still acting as though international legitimacy is important and responding to international monitoring and reporting. But this window will close and the international community will lose some of its leverage. This is the moment to apply maximal pressure,” writes HRHF’s Head of Advocacy Dave Elseroad in New Eastern Europe.

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.

“This year’s Václav Havel Prize must signal the Council of Europe to turn praise of courage into action against autocrats, even within its own ranks,” argues Emin Abbasov (Independent Lawyers Network), Maria Dahle (Human Rights House Foundation), and Natallia Satsunkevich (Human Rights Centre Viasna) in International Politics and Society.

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.

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.