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HRHF joins international human rights and media freedom organisations in expressing serious concern regarding the recent letter of Azerbaijani journalist Aysel Umudova sent to media outlets from Baku Pre-trial Investigation Facility, in which she has reported being subjected to sexual harassment and ill-treatment by police officers during her arrest on 6 December 2024. Umudova’s letter published in December 2025 echoes the earlier case of a journalist and human rights defender, Ulviyya (Ali) Guliyeva, who faced arbitrary detention, torture, and explicit rape threats by a police officer while in police custody on 6 May 2025.

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.

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.

An interview with a human rights defender from Crimea on enforced disappearances in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, the situation for those unjustly detained and the power of letters.

In November, Serbia marks 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.

Det har blitt langt vanskeligere for menneskerettighetsforsvarere å få visum til Norge og andre Schengen-land. Dermed hindres de i å delta der beslutningene tas, og vi bidrar til å svekke kampen for rettigheter og demokrati.

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) continued its work to amplify the voices of civil society partners from the Network of Human Rights Houses. HRHF addressed issues ranging from reprisals against human rights defenders to crackdowns on civic space, while pushing for accountability for serious human rights violations.

Human Rights House Foundation ber Stortingets utenriks- og forsvarskomité øke støtten til OHCHR, sivilsamfunn, frie medier og menneskerettighetsforkjempere i 2026-Statsbudsjettet, og fremhever at en slik støtte ikke påvirker inflasjonen i Norge. Uttalelsen ble fremlagt under den åpne høringen i Stortingets utenriks- og forsvarskomité 27. oktober 2025.

In September 2025, eighteen human rights defenders from ten countries visited Strasbourg as part of the Advocacy Training Programme, organised by Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) and co-funded by the Council of Europe (CoE) and the governments of Norway and Switzerland.
The study visit took place one week before the Autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), giving participants timely insights and practical experience in engaging with CoE stakeholders and amplifying civil society’s voice at the heart of Europe’s system for protecting and promoting human rights.