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On 10 July 2020, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement at the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Belarus. HRHF called for the renewal the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and that the Council insists that Belarus takes immediate remedial action to address current human rights violations and concrete steps to ensure no further escalation around the August presidential election.

Discover in our 2019/20 annual report how Human Rights House Foundation protected and advanced the rights of human rights defenders, strengthened independent civil society, and supported a strong, active network of Human Rights Houses.

On 10 July 2020, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement at the Human Rights Council on Freedom of Assembly and Association. The statement highlighted by authorities on peaceful protests and dissenting and opposition voices in Azerbaijan, and the violent suppression peaceful protests ahead of the Belarusian Presidential election in August.

In Belarus, access to independent information is the greatest threat to the authoritarian state. One vlogger, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, travels the country documenting daily life in what is referred to as Europe’s latest dictatorship.

Belarusian presidential nominee Viktar Babaryka and members of his nomination group are political prisoners and must be released according to several Belarusian NGOs including the Belarusian Human Rights House and several of its member organisations.

Human Rights House Foundation and the network of Human Rights Houses express our alarm at increasing attacks by Azerbaijani authorities on peaceful protests and dissenting and opposition voices witnessed since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. We call on the authorities to immediately cease these human rights violations and for the international community to hold the authorities accountable.

Human Rights House Foundation stands in solidarity with everyone who speaks out and fights for a world which replaces racist systems with those which recognise the inherent dignity and human rights of all.

On 29 April 2020, representatives of several Human Rights Houses discussed the human rights challenges posed by the impact of Covid-19 with Clément Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of association and assembly as he took part in an HRHF-organised online consultation. The consultation aimed to identify solutions to these challenges, and to ensure that human rights are upheld during and after the crisis.

The network of Human Rights Houses is concerned by recent actions on the part of state authorities across western and eastern Europe, the western Balkans, and the Caucasus in response to the escalating COVID-19 crisis. These actions, taken to combat the rising number of infections and deaths associated with COVID-19, raise questions about states’ commitments to civic freedoms and human rights.