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HRHF joins international human rights and media freedom organisations in expressing serious concern regarding the recent letter of Azerbaijani journalist Aysel Umudova sent to media outlets from Baku Pre-trial Investigation Facility, in which she has reported being subjected to sexual harassment and ill-treatment by police officers during her arrest on 6 December 2024. Umudova’s letter published in December 2025 echoes the earlier case of a journalist and human rights defender, Ulviyya (Ali) Guliyeva, who faced arbitrary detention, torture, and explicit rape threats by a police officer while in police custody on 6 May 2025.

Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) welcomes today’s action by 24 OSCE participating States to invoke an independent human rights mechanism to report on the Georgian Dream government’s systematic attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms.

At the UN, HRHF underscored Russia’s occupation of Crimea as marked by widespread abuses, eroding prospects for peace, reconciliation and global security. This statement was delivered during an interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on his quarterly report on Ukraine.

Human Rights House Foundation ber Stortingets utenriks- og forsvarskomité øke støtten til OHCHR, sivilsamfunn, frie medier og menneskerettighetsforkjempere i 2026-Statsbudsjettet, og fremhever at en slik støtte ikke påvirker inflasjonen i Norge. Uttalelsen ble fremlagt under den åpne høringen i Stortingets utenriks- og forsvarskomité 27. oktober 2025.

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.

On 8 October at the OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, HRHF amplified the voice of imprisoned Azerbaijani election monitor Anar Mammadli, urging OSCE Member States to act against reprisals targeting human rights defenders and journalists.

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation highlighted the situation for human rights in occupied Crimea, where over a decade of Russian occupation has erased civic space, imprisoned hundreds on political grounds, targeted journalists, persecuted Crimean Tatars, and used the peninsula as a platform for war crimes against Ukraine.

In a statement at the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation and Human Rights House Yerevan urged the Armenian authorities to investigate attacks against civil society and tackle disproportionate use of force at assemblies, and to address the growing threat of SLAPPs (Strategic lawsuits against public participation).

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) raised concern over emblematic reprisals against civil society for engaging with the Council, highlighting the politically motivated detention of Azerbaijani human rights defender Anar Mammadli and the designation of HRHF as an “undesirable organisation” in Russia.