Latest

14 human rights defenders refined their advocacy skills and deepened their knowledge of Council of Europe (CoE) advocacy throughout 2023 as part of the Human Rights House Foundation’s Advocacy Capacity Building Programme, co-funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union.

HRHF welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s (HRC) adoption of a new resolution on Russia, which renews the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Russian Federation.

Human Rights House Foundation issued a statement on 11 October 2023 at the UN Human Rights Council, highlighting the rise of radical anti-rights groups in Georgia, concerns for the human rights situation in Russian-occupied South Ossetia, as well as recommending that the capacity of the Public Defender’s office is increased.

We, the undersigned members of the Network of Human Rights Houses, are concerned by the attempt to suppress independent civil society and drastically narrow free civic space for the essential and legitimate activities of human rights defenders in Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 9 October 2023, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement at HRC54, highlighting the human rights situation in Crimea and the newly occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, HRHF drew attention to the situations for imprisoned human rights defenders Vladyslav Yesypenko Emir-Usein Kuku and Iryna Danylovych.

On 24 February 2022, human rights lawyer Serghiy Zayets and his family became internally displaced persons (IDPs) for the second time as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion. They fled Irpin for Western Ukraine, where they still live today. Originally from Crimea, Zayets and his family fled the peninsula in 2014 following the Russian occupation. In this interview with HRHF, Zayets gives insight into his fight for the human rights of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russian custody and the volatile nature of living and working in a war zone.

HRHF joins other international NGOs in calling on UN Member States to refrain from voting for Russia at the UN Human Rights Council elections on 10 October in New York.

On 3 October 2023, during Serbia’s UPR adoption, Human Rights House Foundation welcomed 27 recommendations made related to freedom of expression and urged their implantation. HRHF also offered its own recommendations to Serbia related to journalists, judges and lawyers, and public participation.

On 3 October 2023, Human Rights House Foundation called attention to efforts to reduce or erase civic space across the OSCE region during a statement at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.

With reference to upcoming Human Rights Council elections in October, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement at HRC54 on 29 September 2023, repeating condemnation of Russia’s application for Council membership, and underlining that no State which retaliates against civil society for engaging with the UN should be a Council member.

The deadline for this opportunity has expired. 

On 25 September 2023, during the interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry at HRC54, Human Rights House Foundation highlighted the work of Ukrainian partners in documenting the dire circumstances facing civilians in the occupied territories of Ukriane.