Latest

Civil society has less and less space to breathe or even exist in many countries, let alone participate in public life. Authorities are using restrictions as a pretext to prosecute and imprison human rights defenders, criminalising the right to be a human rights defender, and the right to assemble and associate.

Criminalisation and repression of human rights defenders is not the right way forward for Europe. Watch the video of the panel debate here!

They have been silenced, so the Network will tell their story. Human Rights House Network, united in Oslo to celebrate its 20th year, was walking to raise awareness of those who are not free to walk.

The founders of the Human Rights House Network believed change is possible.
They believed much could be achieved by collaborating locally and internationally. Today, the Network is a community of more than 100 independent organizations operating in 16 Human Rights Houses located in 13 countries.

95 lawyers from 24 countries call for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev. He has been in jail in Azerbaijan since 8 August 2014.

Since 5 December 2014, the Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova is in prison. She spent her 39th birthday in a prison on 27 May 2015. We repeat our call for her immediate and unconditional release.

Women human rights defenders challenge gender inequality and stereotypes, advance sexual and reproductive rights, and promote women’s empowerment and participation in society. They often challenge religious and cultural norms and patriarchal attitudes that subordinate, stigmatize or restrict women.

A report recently published by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), an alliance of non-governmental organisations acting for refugees, revealed the persistent gaps between the theory and realities of a Common European Asylum System. The report reviews the situation of refugees in 15 Member States of the European Union. The section of the report about Poland was based on information provided by lawyers working with the HFHR.

In the judgment entered in Z. v. Poland the European Court of Human Rights held that it is the state’s duty to take all necessary steps to ensure the exercise of a person’s right to family life, including the right of parental contact with a child. The ECtHR decided the case four years ago. Since that time Poland has taken a number of actions in order to enforce the judgment. However, in the Foundation’s assessment, these actions fell short of the objective of the full implementation of the decision