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At the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation raised the case of Azerbaijani human rights defender Anar Mammadli, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison following earlier engagement with UN mechanisms, and called for further UN action to address reprisals against human rights defenders.

At the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation raised concerns over Russia’s growing use of transnational repression against human rights defenders and critics in exile, including through restrictions on documents, property and finances. HRHF also highlighted the recent “extremist” designations of Memorial-affiliated civil society organisations and OVD-Info.

The annual Liberties Rule of Law Report 2026 has classified Croatia as one of five EU “dismantlers of the rule of law”, alongside Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia. In this interview, HRHF’s Croatian partner Centre for Peace Studies, a contributor to the report, discusses what this classification means for the country, why Croatia’s democratic challenges often receive limited international attention, and why early warning signs of democratic erosion deserve greater scrutiny.

At the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, HRHF worked closely with partners from the Network of Human Rights Houses and beyond to keep civic space and accountability at the centre of international attention. HRHF cited the reporting and analysis of partners to highlight the human rights situations in multiple countries, renewed calls for scrutiny where repression is entrenched, and used interactive dialogues, UPR adoptions, side events, and various meetings with officials to bring the voice of civil society partners to HRC member and observer states.

After a year marked by large-scale student and civic protests, the authorities in Serbia began introducing more intensive legislative changes aimed at restricting freedoms and further undermining separation of powers and democratic law-making. On 17 March 2026, these issues and more were discussed at an SHDMI side event organised by YUCOM, Human Rights House Belgrade, and Human Rights House Foundation.

Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) welcomes today’s action by 24 OSCE participating States to invoke an independent human rights mechanism to report on the Georgian Dream government’s systematic attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In November 2025, Serbia marked one year since the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse, and the subsequent student protests sparked by it. Today, despite growing international attention, concerns over the country’s human rights situation are deepening, and civil society warns about escalating repression as the government responds to dissent. Human Rights House Foundation spoke with Jovana Spremo, Advocacy Director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM), about this situation and more.

“The Georgian Dream government is still sensitive to international pressure. It is still acting as though international legitimacy is important and responding to international monitoring and reporting. But this window will close and the international community will lose some of its leverage. This is the moment to apply maximal pressure,” writes HRHF’s Head of Advocacy Dave Elseroad in New Eastern Europe.

2 October 2025 marks six months since former political prisoner Andrei Chapiuk was released from prison in Belarus, and since he left the country for his safety. This month also marks five years since he was imprisoned. In this interview with HRHF, Chapiuk discussed adjusting to life outside of prison and in a new country, as well as the human rights situation in Belarus and his colleagues still behind bars.