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On Sunday, 27 February 2022, Belarusian authorities will hold a national referendum on a new draft constitution. The proposed constitution, the third since Alexander Lukashenka became President in 1994, has drawn widespread criticism for providing the opportunity to tighten Lukashenka’s grip on power.

In a joint letter, Human Rights House Foundation and 12 international and Belarusian organisations urge Human Rights Council member and observer states to support the renewal of the OHCHR examination of the human rights situation in Belarus at its 49th session.

This month, February 2022, marks the 8th anniversary since Russian forces seized government buildings in Crimea and consequently occupied the Crimean peninsula. In the ensuing 8 years, Russian authorities have committed numerous human rights violations against human rights defenders, including journalists, and the broader population on the peninsula. On this 8th anniversary, the undersigned members of the network of Human Rights Houses call on the international community and Ukrainian authorities to address these violations and hold those responsible to account.

Volha Harbunova is a Belarusian woman human rights defender, psychologist, and former head of the non-governmental organisation Radislava, which offers support to women who face domestic and gender-based violence. Harbunova was arrested on 9 November 2021 on suspicion of organising all-women marches in 2020.

Viktar Pantsaleeu was detained on 18 August 2020 in the framework of a criminal case relating to “mass riots” that allegedly took place in Brest on 10 August, the same day that Aliaksandr Lukashenka was returned to power in elections that are widely deemed to have been undemocratic.

In April, elections will be held to the UN Committee on NGOs, a body mandated to accredit NGOs to the UN. Human Rights House Foundation is among 349 national, regional and international NGOs calling for States to take NGO participation seriously and vote accordingly.

The human rights crisis perpetrated by the Russian authorities is not limited to Russian territory. The crisis is spilling beyond Russia’s borders.

Watch the full recording of “What’s next for Europe’s young democracies: a civil society perspective”, a virtual event hosted on 8 February 2022.

Yauheni Rubashko, known to his friends as “Zhenya”, was detained in Minsk on 29 July 2021. His apartment was searched and he was beaten at the time. He was subsequently transferred to the pre-trial detention centre and charged with “group actions grossly violating public order”. Yauheni is one of three anarchists, together with Aliaksandar Bialou and Artyom Salavey, who are accused of participating in the “extremist formation” Pramen, a well-known anarchist group in Belarus. They are facing up to six years in prison.