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Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) was active throughout the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) advocating on key issues including calling for the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia, as well as the issue of reprisals for civil society engaging with the UN, and the human rights situations in Belarus, Georgia, Serbia and Ukraine.

HRHF is concerned by the Georgian authorities’ on-going efforts to criminalise, hinder, and de-legitimise the essential work of civil society and obstruct peaceful protests. We call on the Georgian authorities to reverse restrictions on civic space and create an enabling environment for human rights defenders and other civic actors.

14 human rights defenders refined their advocacy skills and deepened their knowledge of Council of Europe (CoE) advocacy throughout 2023 as part of the Human Rights House Foundation’s Advocacy Capacity Building Programme, co-funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union.

Human Rights House Foundation issued a statement on 11 October 2023 at the UN Human Rights Council, highlighting the rise of radical anti-rights groups in Georgia, concerns for the human rights situation in Russian-occupied South Ossetia, as well as recommending that the capacity of the Public Defender’s office is increased.

We, the undersigned members of the Network of Human Rights Houses, are concerned by the attempt to suppress independent civil society and drastically narrow free civic space for the essential and legitimate activities of human rights defenders in Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 9 October 2023, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement at HRC54, highlighting the human rights situation in Crimea and the newly occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, HRHF drew attention to the situations for imprisoned human rights defenders Vladyslav Yesypenko Emir-Usein Kuku and Iryna Danylovych.

On 24 February 2022, human rights lawyer Serghiy Zayets and his family became internally displaced persons (IDPs) for the second time as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion. They fled Irpin for Western Ukraine, where they still live today. Originally from Crimea, Zayets and his family fled the peninsula in 2014 following the Russian occupation. In this interview with HRHF, Zayets gives insight into his fight for the human rights of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russian custody and the volatile nature of living and working in a war zone.

With reference to upcoming Human Rights Council elections in October, Human Rights House Foundation delivered a statement at HRC54 on 29 September 2023, repeating condemnation of Russia’s application for Council membership, and underlining that no State which retaliates against civil society for engaging with the UN should be a Council member.

On 3 October 2023, Human Rights House Foundation hosted “Protecting and expanding civic space in the OSCE region”, a side event at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. The side event was co-sponsored by the Belarusian Human Rights House, as well as Human Rights Houses Banja Luka and Yerevan.