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On 13 July 2021, the UN Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, following calls by Belarusian and international human rights organisations. Human Rights House Foundation welcomes this action, which provides for on-going scrutiny of Belarus’s human rights situation and an accessible and safe channel for Belarusian civil society to deliver diverse and up-to-date information from within the country.

Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) welcomes the adoption of a new United Nations resolution focused on civil society space, including with its requirement for the High Commissioner to report on specific challenges that civil society faces during times of crisis.

Human Rights House Foundation joins Amnesty International, FIDH, and Human Rights Watch in urging UN Human Rights Council member states to take action against ongoing human rights violations in Russia against dissenting voices, civil society, and the political opposition.

In a joint statement, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and more than 30 Belarusian and international human rights organisations call on UN Human Rights Council member States to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus during the Council’s upcoming 47th session.

The human rights crisis in Belarus has intensified. At the start of the 47th session of the Human Rights Council, with both Belarus and freedom of opinion and expression on the Council’s agenda, this online event will update states on the recent deterioration and identify further concrete action to protect human rights in Belarus.

In a joint statement, forty human rights NGOs, including HRHF, from across the OSCE region denounce the continuing inclusion of foreign civil society organisations in the list of so-called “undesirable” organisations by Russia. This “harms international people-to-people contacts and collaboration, one of the principles of the European cooperation and security order based on the 1975 Helsinki Final Act”, the NGOs say.

12 квітня 2021 року білоруська влада змусила українського правозахисника Володимира Яворського залишити країну протягом 48 годин і попередила його не повертатися протягом десяти років. Його справа – ще один приклад безпрецедентного нападу на білоруське громадянське суспільство. Освітній Будинок прав людини в Чернігові (EHRHC) та HRHF поговорили з Яворським, який зараз проживає в Україні, про його допит, загрози його родині та його вислання.

On 12 April 2021, Belarusian authorities forced Ukrainian human rights defender Volodymyr Yavorskyy to leave the country within 48 hours warned him to not return within ten years. His case is another example of the unprecedented attack on Belarusian civil society. Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv (EHRHC) and HRHF spoke to Yavorskyy, now living in Ukraine, about his interrogation, the threats made against his family, and his expulsion.

2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges in the wake of COVID-19. In our annual report, discover how Human Rights House Foundation and the network of Human Rights Houses adapted to meet these new challenges and continue our work together to advance human rights at home and abroad.