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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.

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.

Azerbaijan’s Mehman Huseynov has reached hundreds of thousands of people through self-publishing, with his trademark humour and refusal to be silenced in the face of a media crackdown. The millions of views that he has achieved have come amidst a hostile environment for independent media, and reprisals against him and his organisation.

Freedom of speech in Russia needs life-saving treatment. Journalists addressing the lack of crisis management during the Covid-19 pandemic are at risk of facing death threats or imprisonment.

Human Rights House Foundation is observing with increasing concern the wave of arrests and disappearances of human rights defenders and journalists across Belarus. Against the backdrop of worrying increases in COVID-19 infections and the August 2020 Presidential elections, the actions by Belarusian authorities to intimidate human rights defenders and limit the spread of information by independent journalists are alarming.

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.

Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) remains very concerned with a number of recent actions taken by the Azerbaijani authorities in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Oslo & Geneva, February 14, 2020: Following events of February 11, 2020 in Baku, Human Rights House Foundation condemns the on-going violence used by Azerbaijani authorities against peaceful protestors raising concerns about recent early Parliamentary elections as well as violence against journalists covering those protests. HRHF renews its call on the Azerbaijani authorities to end the use of violence and unlawful detention against peaceful protestors and journalists.