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Mariia Tsypiashchuk is a Ukrainian human rights defender who has worked for over a decade to advance human rights through human rights education, protection mechanisms during armed conflict, countering discrimination, access to information, and protecting cultural heritage. As a human rights expert, Tsypiashchuk often works with Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv on events including its international human rights school and human rights education festival.

At the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation drew attention to new reporting by Crimean Process, Human Rights House Crimea and the Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv documenting a coordinated pattern of abduction, incommunicado detention and torture in occupied Crimea. HRHF also highlighted the situation for unlawfully detained civilians including Bohdan Ziza.

At the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, HRHF welcomed the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of freedom of opinion and expression’s final report and echoed concerns about the growing use of national security, extremism, and counter-terrorism frameworks, as well as legal harassment such as SLAPPs, to restrict freedom of expression and undermine independent journalism and civil society. HRHF also highlighted the need for stronger protections for journalists working in armed conflict and occupied territories, drawing attention to ongoing risks faced by media workers in Ukraine and calling for the release of imprisoned Crimean civic journalist Iryna Danylovich.

At the OSCE’s second Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting of the year, HRHF urged the OSCE Participating States to strengthen legal safeguards against digital threats to civic space, as well as calling for the OSCE to establish a formal mechanism to monitor and report on reprisals against civil society for engaging with the institution. HRHF also called for additional steps to be taken to address rising threats to civic space, including for various stakeholders to review their own digital practices in order to not undermine the security and safety of civil society.

In 2025, Human Rights House Foundation worked closely with the Network of Human Rights Houses and other civil society partners to defend human rights and support perseverance amidst global uncertainty.

Between October and December 2025, the Solidarity Force project, supported by HRHF, brought together young human rights defenders from Belarus and Ukraine for an international course on human rights reflecting the context of repression in Belarus and Russia’s war against Ukraine. 16 participants strengthened their skills in human rights monitoring, advocacy, and documentation through a four-day training in Poland, webinars, and continued collaboration, while building cross-border connections based on trust and solidarity. HRHF spoke with two participants about their experience and how the project influenced their perspectives and work.

Human Rights House Foundation calls for the renewal of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council.

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.

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.