Annual Report 2022

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee was established in 1977. 46 years, that’s a long time for an organization like ours. By now, we are considered marathon runners of human rights. In the course of our existence, our traditional focus area in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia has seen oppression and revolution, mass arrests and armed conflict. It has also seen the devastation of war on the Balkans, in the South Caucasus and, of course, during the massive Russian assault on Chechnya. However, nothing could truly prepare us for the shock we shared at Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and the human tragedy that has followed.

Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine has eroded the international legal order that has existed since World War II. It has resulted in enormous human suffering, destruction of critical infrastructure, and unprecedented refugee flows. It has also meant that we have had to take a step back and think how best to respond to the greatest European human rights crisis in the lifetime of our organization.

While horrified and sickened by the violence carried out by Russian troops in Ukraine, we knew right from the start that we were well equipped to contribute. Many staff members have spent time in Ukraine. We know the inner workings of the region as well as anybody in Norway. Since 2015, we have contributed to the documentation of war crimes and other grave crimes following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the occupation and continued warfare in Donbas.

Over the years, the NHC has cooperated with a wide spectre of Ukrainian human rights groups. We are proud to call the Nobel Peace Prize laureates from the Centre for Civil Liberties our friends. In recent years, one of our main partner organizations in the country has been the Truth Hounds, a collective of professional activists and analysts working on the ground collecting testimonies and other evidence. The documentation they collect is stored in a database developed by our partner CILRAP/Case Matrix Network. Being accurate is of the gravest importance. The evidence safeguarded by the NHC may play a role in a future war crimes tribunal. After the full-scale invasion, the NHC was able to swiftly increase our documentation efforts. The purpose is to bring those responsible to justice.

One of the main methods of our work is to engage in partnerships with civil society organizations in our focus countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The important role of human rights defenders, lawyers, different types of activists, and journalists as pillars of democracy has been understood by autocratic heads of state. This has resulted in legislation making it near impossible for such actors to operate in an increasing number of countries. In Belarus and Russia, the number of political prisoners has sky-rocketed to thousands and includes prominent human rights defenders and democracy activists.

While all victims of human rights violations are equally important, some are close to us because of years of partnership and friendship. Belarusian human rights defenders Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stepanovich and Uladzimir Labkovich are close friends languishing in prison. Democracy activist and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza suffers severely from bad health in his Russian prison cell, accused of treason for criticizing the regime among others in a speech at our 2021 Sakharov Freedom Awards ceremony. In Tajikistan, the lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov was sentenced to over 20 years in prison for carrying out his professional duties, defending members of the country’s embattled opposition in court.

I admire their courage immensely. We will not forget them and will continue to fight for their release.

On a more positive note, it was with great joy that we could congratulate the human rights defenders Memorial from Russia, the Centre for Civil Liberties from Ukraine, and Belarusian Ales Bialiatski for jointly receiving the Nobel Peace Prize 2022. Seldom have recipients deserved this prestigious prize more.

In the NHC, our everyday focus tends to lie internationally, and our concerns with people living under some of the most oppressive regimes in the world. But sometimes, we are abruptly pulled back into our own reality. Oslo is no stranger to terror. For many, 2022 brought back unpleasant memories from 2011, as the LGBTIQ+ community was attacked by a gunman during the Pride celebration on June 25. The attack demonstrated the hate which is still there.

It is a privilege for me to have taken on the role as head of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the great human rights organization where I have now spent almost two decades. The NHC has become an authority on human rights across the countries we work in. This would not have been possible without our 28 highly competent, engaged, and dedicated staff members.

I will also take the opportunity to thank our donors for their support. Our financial fundament has never been sounder, thanks to donors such as the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fritt Ord, among others. We are grateful to Norwegian law firms Wikborg Rein, Selmer and Matrix Lawyers for in-kind support, an annual contribution from Yara International, a very generous donation from the Møre and Romsdal county municipality, and to all our private contributors who give donations on a monthly or occasional basis.

All donations are greatly appreciated and consciously spent safeguarding human rights. Thank you.

Berit Lindeman

Secretary General