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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.

“There may soon be no one left in Azerbaijan to write these stories, to document these abuses, to bear witness,” argued Azerbaijani journalist Arzu Geybulla (Free Voice Collective), addressing the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The statement was delivered following the Committee’s request that HRHF suggest experts to speak at a hearing on 26 June regarding the situation for human rights defenders and journalists in Azerbaijan.

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.

In recent months, Serbia has witnessed some of the largest protests in its modern history. With slogans like “Corruption kills” and “Pumpaj!” (“Pump it!”) students have emerged as the driving force behind these leaderless demonstrations, supported by the wider civil society while intentionally distancing themselves from it. In this op-ed, Uroš Jovanović from Civic Initiatives – a member organisation of Human Rights House Belgrade – explores the roots of the protests, the strategies used to intimidate civil society, and the muted response of international actors.

In February 2025, Ukraine marks three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion and eleven years in total of armed Russian aggression against the country starting with the annexation of Crimea, sparking an “avalanche of atrocities” and human rights violations. In this interview with HRHF, Ukrainian human rights defender Tetiana Pechonchyk, discusses the potential escalation of the war, Ukrainian civil society’s current human rights focuses, the impact of disrupted US support for Ukraine, and how it could strengthen China’s influence in the region, among other pressing issues.

“We cannot rely on Trump’s United States to attempt to civilise human conflict. Now we must rely on American civil society and the EU” writes Human Rights House Foundation’s Chairperson Bernt Hagtvet in a recent op-ed for the Norwegian publication VG.

Aleksandra Skochilenko is a Russian anti-war musician, artist and campaigner. Skochilenko came to prominence during protests following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Skochilenko was detained in April 2022 for distributing anti-war messages in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg. She was held as a political prisoner by the Russian authorities until her release on 1 August 2024 as part of an international prisoner exchange. She now lives in exile.

Unprecedented peaceful protests in Georgia are being met with unprecedented levels of violence and brutality according to Georgian human rights defender and psychologist Lela Tsiskarishvili. In this interview with Human Rights House Foundation, Tsiskarishvili outlines the use of torture and ill-treatment against peaceful protesters in the context of the current situation in Georgia as well as reflecting on her work rehabilitating survivors and the resilience of those she helps.