Dave Elseroad

Thank you for joining us and for your commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and your strong, principled voice at the OSCE.

What should be on the OSCE's human dimension agenda in the coming months? @humanrightshouse.bsky.social and Netherlands Helsinki Committee event ahead of SHDM explores this, with focus on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

"I have joined over 300 communications to your governments. It's an indictment of the situations for human rights defenders," @marylawlorhrds.bsky.social to OSCE #SHDM in Vienna.

Welcome news from @echr.coe.int today: interim measures granted concerning #Serbia and the alleged use of a sonic weapon for crowd control.

www.echr.coe.int/w/interim-me...

We welcome yesterday's broad, cross-regional support for the continuation of the reporting and accountability mechanisms established by the UN Human Rights Council on Belarus. The work of the UN Special Rapporteur on #Belarus and the Independent Group of Experts are crucial.

x.com/UN_HRC/statu...

Members of the Network of #HumanRightsHouses condemn the recent actions of the Georgian authorities against Human Rights House Tbilisi and call for the immediate stop of the investigation and reversal of the decision to freeze all of the organisation's bank accounts.

👉 bit.ly/4je6Kq2

The Guardian view on attacks on lawyers: democracies must stand up for justice | Editorial Editorial: From Russia to the US, those who seek to uphold the law are coming under increasing pressure

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just a reminder that corporations don't care about people (unless those people are shareholders), only profits. Remember this when you're thinking about that H&M rainbow hat in June.

It's SHDM at the OSCE and @humanrightshouse.bsky.social and Netherlands Helsinki Comm are hosting a civil society pre-event for participating States. Its our opportunity to provide timely updates on trends from across the OSCE region and recs to States.

In London this week to remind British policymakers that comprehensive security and defence policy must include support for human rights, human rights defenders. We've all learned that repression at home, aggression abroad. We mustn't forget those fighting domestic repression.

This year is going from worse to worse.

And on and on it goes. . .

From the experience of the successful grassroots fight against Netanyahu's attempt at judicial overhaul, I cannot stress enough three points:

1. Civil society should not assume that opposition politicians will take the lead. In Israel, politicians were not the ones leading the fight. CS was.

Torturers and their handlers are being awarded and rewarded by the Georgian authorities - Interview with Lela Tsiskarishvili - Human Rights House Foundation Unprecedented peaceful protests in Georgia are being met with unprecedented levels of violence and brutality according to Georgian human rights defender and psychologist Lela Tsiskarishvili. In this i...

Important interview with Lela Tsiskarishvili on torture of protesters in Georgia. More than 200 people have reported being subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

humanrightshouse.org/interviews/t...

@lawfare.bsky.social @alanrozenshtein.com @qjurecic.bsky.social @sranderson.bsky.social

Georgian Dream says it ‘may not need’ foreign agent law The ruling party’s parliamentary leader, Mamuka Mdinaradze, has cited US President Donald Trump’s decision to temporarily suspend foreign aid.

Is it in the US strategic interest to see further deterioration of democracy across Central & Eastern Europe? The Administration's funding freeze means just that, at a time when civil society is standing up to autocracy - and not just in Georgia.

oc-media.org/georgian-dre...

America became mean in the style of traditional authoritarian regime collapse: slowly and then all at once. Attacking trans kids, people living with HIV, hardworking federal employees, humble religious figures is, undeniably, who America is now and it makes me deeply sad.

🇬🇪: Civil society reports widespread use of violence by police against protesters, journalists, human rights defenders.
UN Special Procedures mandate holders call on authorities to investigate.

(Violence committed by informal forces, including paramilitary groups & militias is also taking place.)

Georgia’s parliamentary delegation challenged at opening of PACE session The credentials of Georgia’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have been challenged on substantial grounds on the opening day of the 2025 winter plenary session....

Today's action at PACE to challenge Georgia's delegation, following sustained calls by Georgian civil society to this effect.

pace.coe.int/en/news/9741...

It's presidential election day in Belarus, another in 30 years of elections that aren't free nor fair. Lukashenka has spent the last 4.5 years jailing opposition voices and human rights defenders, shuttering independent media, and attacking Belarusian language and culture.

In Georgia it’s really starting to feel like the protest is gaining momentum. Today’s massive rally in Tbilisi has overwhelmed the police, and demonstrations are spreading nationwide. With Monday approaching, it’s hard to see state-run institutions operating as usual.

Russia Labels 172 Indigenous Groups as ‘Terrorist’ Organizations - The Moscow Times Russia’s Supreme Court designated 172 indigenous groups as “terrorist” organizations, accusing them of lobbying for secession and supporting Ukraine’s military, the Prosecutor General’s Office announc...

Russia's assault on indigenous rights organisations continues.

www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/11/22/r...

Serbia’s Shrinking Civic Space Needs International Attention - Human Rights House Foundation In recent months, Serbia has witnessed an alarming crackdown on its civic space. This has unfolded through a wave of arrests, smear campaigns, and repressive tactics aimed at silencing dissent and und...

Keep your eyes on #Serbia, as government efforts continue to attack independent civil society and #humanrightsdefenders.

humanrightshouse.org/opinion/serb...

Azerbaijani Journalist Speaks from Exile We continue to look at the attacks on civil society in Azerbaijan leading up to the COP29 U.N. climate summit. The government’s crackdown has included the arrests of local journalists, including…

Azerbaijani Journalist Speaks from Exile After Six Colleagues Were Jailed Ahead of #COP29 Climate Talks

Amy Goodman, showing how its done. Western journalists, safe from the intimidation and repisals that AZ journos face, must continue asking the tough questions about Azerbaijans appalling human rights situation.

I'm pretty proud to have grown up in this part of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Azerbaijani authorities announce snap Presidential elections in the middle of a massive crackdown on dissenting voices, human rights defenders, and independent journalists. Coincidence? Hardly.

humanrightshouse.org/statements/a...

Network of Human Rights Houses meeting starts now in Warsaw! Opening statements from @humanrightshouse.bsky.social Director Maria Dahle and Helsinki Foundation Maciej Nowicki. #HRHN2023

During its #UPR this morning, #Azerbaijan spends its introductory time rhetorically attacking Armenia, an age-old tactic to turn attention away from a marked deterioration of human rights domestically.

In wrapping up her very important trip to Georgia, UN Special Rapporteur for human rights defenders Mary Lawlor concludes, "The Georgian Government should fully live up to its international human rights obligations and commitments, and treat human rights defenders as allies, not enemies."