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If Ales [Bialiatski] had not received the [Nobel] Peace Prize, images of a Belarusian human rights defender locked in a cage in court would never have made international headlines.

On 20 December 2022, The Human Rights and Democracy Network (HRDN) issued a joint letter to the European Parliament raising concerns over recent debates and proposals to freeze all activities of the European Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee (DROI) and to stop all urgency resolutions. HRDN members including HRHF urge that Parliament instead recommits to and doubles down on its efforts to speak up louder and stronger in the face of abuses, including those committed by any government who might have tried to exert undue influence on Parliament activities.

On 15 December 2022, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement on Ukraine at the UN Human Rights Council, highlighting enforced disappearances and the situation for civil society in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday 10 December, this year’s Nobel Peace laureates received their awards at a ceremony in Oslo’s town hall. Human Rights House Foundation once again offers its sincerest congratulations to these brave human rights defenders: Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine), Memorial (Russia) and Viasna’s Ales Bialiatski (Belarus).

Over the course of several months in 2022, young Armenians explored the importance of human rights in Armenia’s constitution and other issues in society through 30 short films produced as part of a project organised by “Open Platform for Art” NGO and PEN Armenia.

Human Rights House Yerevan is close to completing the renovation of its premises – the home of Armenia’s human rights defenders – and you can help by donating today.

Dzmitry Kubarau is UI/UX designer from Minsk. Known as ‘Dima’ to his friends, he likes tattoos, fashion, and chess. Dzmitry was accused of “calling people to actively participate in mass riots, organising them himself and participating in them” from 9 to 12 August 2020. He was detained on 11 August 2020 and taken to the KGB pre-trial detention centre. That same night, he signed a confession while in the hands of the KGB. At trial, Dzmitry pleaded not guilty and reported the torture that led to his ‘confession.’ On 24 March 2021 he was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony under part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (“Organisation of riots”).

On 15 November 2023, Human Rights House Foundation hosted a conversation between Polish civil society representatives reflecting on the recommendations given by delegations immediately following the conclusion of Poland’s Universal Periodic Review process at the United Nations in Geneva. More than 240 recommendations were made by around 80 delegations on the human rights situation in Poland over the last five years.

At the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) continued its work alongside the network of Human Rights Houses & other civil society partners in calling on the Council to address human rights challenges and support human rights defenders across Eastern Europe and beyond.

On 8 November 2022, Human Rights House Foundation co-organised a side event at UNGA77 focused on the human rights situation in occupied Crimea following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Following the launch of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, civic activist Artem Kostyuchenko and his family were forced to flee the Kherson region and relocate to Lviv. From there he continues his work and hopes to soon return to his home. This is article was written by Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv.

Artsiom Mitsuk was part of a Telegram group chat which included a number of pseudonymous members. On 29 September, some of the members agreed to meet in person. Artsiom arrived late and saw a number of representatives of law enforcement agencies but as he was sure he had not broken any laws, he checked in with the group chat to find out what was happening. However, on the group chat, Artsiom noticed a representative of state authorities was sending messages to the other users. Soon after that Artsiom was arrested.