Latest

Discover 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.

“Human rights violations in law enforcement are affected by two main factors: motivation and impunity… It is around these two factors that we build our strategy.”

HRHF calls on Members of the United Nations Human Rights Council to pass by consensus a strong resolution on reprisals, in a statement to be delivered on 19 September 2019 at the 42nd session of the Human Rights Council, HRC42.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has announced much-needed reforms to the human rights body’s “reprisal mechanism” – launched in May 2017 to ensure “human rights defenders… never face retribution for their principled stance.”

The resolution aims to strengthen responses by the UN and States to put an end to reprisals for cooperating with the UN in the field of human rights. Human rights organisations sent the following joint letter to members of the Human Rights Council on 9 September 2019 – the opening day of HRC42.

HRHF raises hate speech and smear campaigns against women human rights defenders in Armenia, in its statement to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC41) on 26 June 2019. This follows the UN special rapporteur on freedom of association and assembly presenting his report on his November 2018 visit to Armenia.

Human Rights House Tbilisi, its member organisations, and a coalition of NGOs have issued a joint statement urging the  Georgian authorities to take all necessary measures to effectively investigate Afgan Mukhtarli’s alleged abduction and hold any offenders accountable.

International Civil Society Week 2019 (ICSW) was held in Belgrade from 8-12 April 2019. Events were co-organised by Civic Initiatives (member of Human Rights House Belgrade), CIVICUS: Civic Alliance for Citizen Participation, and Balkan Civil Society Development Network.

A key contributor to creating a human rights community in Belarus, Tatsiana Reviaka was one of the country’s first human rights defenders when she began her work in the newly-independent Belarus. Reviaka was the president of Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House between 2010 and 2018.