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At the 2025 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference (WHDC), Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) advocated alongside partners for concrete action by OSCE participating States to address rising authoritarianism and increasing human rights violations across the OSCE region. HRHF worked to ensure that both international attention and policy responses were informed directly by civil society actors from across the OSCE region.

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.

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.

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation highlighted the situation for human rights in occupied Crimea, where over a decade of Russian occupation has erased civic space, imprisoned hundreds on political grounds, targeted journalists, persecuted Crimean Tatars, and used the peninsula as a platform for war crimes against Ukraine.

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation highlighted documentation from Ukrainian partners ZMINA detailing the suppression of civilians and the extension of Russia’s legal system into the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. HRHF also highlighted reports of atrocities by Russia’s armed forces including the deliberate and systematic use of sexual violence.

At the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation condemned Russia’s systematic human rights abuses in occupied Crimea, citing documentation from Human Rights House Crimea member organisations including repression of journalists, lawyers, and civic freedoms; forced conscription and indoctrination of children; and property confiscation. HRHF reiterated calls for the release of political prisoners held by the Russian Federation.

From 9 to 13 June, human rights defenders and civil society actors from across the Network of Human Rights Houses and beyond gathered in Oslo for the 2025 Network meeting. Amidst increasing global challenges faced by civil society, participants came together not only to share but also to build new strategies and forge solidarity.

Human Rights House Foundation invites all Human Rights Houses, their member organisations as well as organisations and actors from outside of the network to apply for funding in collaboration to advance human rights priorities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

From 12 to 16 May 2025, the civil-society led Crimea Week took place in Brussels with a series of advocacy and cultural events gathering policymakers, civil society, and international institutions, providing platforms for sharing testimonies and fostering dialogue. The programme aimed at highlighting the human rights situation in Crimea under Russian occupation.