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Asria Taleb Mohamed is a human rights defender from Western Sahara who works for the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, a member of the Norwegian Council for Africa (a member organisation of Human Rights House Oslo), and advocates for women’s rights, international law, the right to self-determination, and the rights of refugees. With a background in journalism, Taleb Mohamed’s work is focused on informing the world about Western Sahara, through art, media and public speaking.

Natia Tavberidze is a human rights defender from Georgia. She has been involved in human rights activities for over 15 years and, currently, as a Coordinator of Human Rights House Tbilisi, Tavberidze focuses on freedom of expression, support and protection of human rights defenders.

Sara Kekuš is a human rights defender from Croatia. She works at the Centre for Peace Studies, a member organisation of Human Rights House Zagreb, as a Programme Director and Coordinator of the Protecting and Promoting the Right to Asylum and Migration Programme.

Taciana Niadbaj is a Belarusian writer and human rights defender. Niadbaj started her work in the NGO sector by cooperating with independent media and she is currently the Chair of the Board of the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House and Chair of PEN Belarus.

Dragana Dardić is a human rights defender from Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is currently a Program Director at Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, member organisation of Human Rights House Banja Luka. In her work, Dardić focuses on women’s rights, the rights of marginalised groups, and the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.

Rovshana Rahimova is a human rights lawyer from Azerbaijan. She has been involved in defending human rights for over 10 years focusing on women’s rights and countering domestic violence, including protection of the victims and national advocacy. Currently, as a member of the Azerbaijani Bar Association, she also works on the cases of several political prisoners.

Gayane Hambardzumyan is an Armenian human rights defender. She has been working with Women Resource Center (WRC), an Armenian women’s rights organisation and member of Human Rights House Yerevan almost since its establishment in 2003. She established WRC’s branch, Women’s Center Shushi, in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On 26 February Ukraine marks the Day of Resistance to Occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. Ten years ago on that day thousands of Crimean activists gathered outside the Crimean Parliament to show resistance against Russian occupation and in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. This resistance still continues today in different forms. In this interview, HRHF asked four prominent Crimean human rights defenders and representatives of Human Rights House Crimea member organisations, to reflect on the situation in Crimea over the past decade and share their perspectives about the future.

Ahead of the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, HRHF spoke with Ukrainian human rights defender Liudmyla Yankina about the main challenges facing civil society, and the situation for human rights in Ukraine. We also discussed what has changed over the last two years through the prism of her work protecting representatives of civil society.