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At the 2025 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference (WHDC), Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) advocated alongside partners for concrete action by OSCE participating States to address rising authoritarianism and increasing human rights violations across the OSCE region. HRHF worked to ensure that both international attention and policy responses were informed directly by civil society actors from across the OSCE region.

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) continued its work to amplify the voices of civil society partners from the Network of Human Rights Houses. HRHF addressed issues ranging from reprisals against human rights defenders to crackdowns on civic space, while pushing for accountability for serious human rights violations.

In September 2025, eighteen human rights defenders from ten countries visited Strasbourg as part of the Advocacy Training Programme, organised by Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and co-funded by the Council of Europe (CoE) and the governments of Norway and Switzerland.
The study visit took place one week before the Autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), giving participants timely insights and practical experience in engaging with CoE stakeholders and amplifying civil society’s voice at the heart of Europe’s system for protecting and promoting human rights.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

“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.