Publication Topic : Russia and Rights

Powerful Together: Annual Report 2021-2022

The path to human rights for all is in view with collaboration, collective advocacy, and community building. To view the 2021-2022 annual report, click here.

HIV Legal Network Statement on Ukraine Invasion by Russia

We are deeply shaken by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We are also compelled to speak up because this is an area of the world in which we at the HIV Legal Network work, a region where the HIV pandemic rages on.   The devastating occupation of Ukraine has enormous impacts on our work and … Read more

Report to the 134 Session of UN Human Rights Committee in relation to the review of the 8th Periodic Report of the Russian Federation

In its Concluding Observations of March 2015, the Committee recommended the Russian Federation take all the measures necessary to ensure that: (a) its policies vis-à-vis drug users deprived of their liberty fully conform to its obligation to effectively protect them against the pain and suffering associated with the withdrawal syndrome and that timely, adequate and … Read more

Report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The implementation by Belarus of Article 12 (the right to health) with respect to people who use drugs and people living with HIV

This report is submitted by the HIV Legal Network and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association. The report is based on official statistics, information from open sources and communications with civil society activists in Belarus. In the country report, the Government of Belarus informed CESCR that all HIV prevention programmes recommended by WHO have been implemented in … Read more

Report to the International Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR): Right to health of people who use drugs and people living with HIV in Uzbekistan

This report is submitted by the HIV Legal Network and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association. The report is based on official statistics, information from the open sources, and communications with civil society activists in Uzbekistan. In 2014, the Committee noted the growing incidence of HIV and AIDS, particularly among people who inject drugs, and urged Uzbekistan … Read more

The Life of a Foreign Agent: Risks and Perspectives on Operating in Russia as a Non-Profit Organization Designated as a Foreign Agent

Since 2012, more than 20 laws have been implemented and are actively applied in the Russian Federation that create significant obstacles for HIV service NPOs that receive foreign financing (laws regulating legal entities–foreign agents, MMO-foreign agents, individuals–foreign agents, citizen groups–foreign agents, and laws regulating undesirable organizations). The effects of these laws are compounded by prohibitions … Read more

Drug Laws and Policies in Four Regions of Eurasia

There is considerable variance in how countries in the regions of Eastern, Central and Southern Europe, as well as Central Asia and Transcaucasia, are affected by “the world drug problem” and their responses to this public health challenge. However, what they face in common is a high prevalence of injection drug use (IDU) and serious … Read more

Drug Policy and the Fundamental Human Rights of Women who Use Drugs: Briefing paper to CEDAW

Across the world, women who use drugs endure intersecting forms of discrimination related to gender, drug use, HIV status, mental health conditions, and other factors. They are denied basic rights to equality and non-discrimination, life, the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, family, information, privacy, and freedom from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. While … Read more

Respect, Protect, Fulfill: Supporting the HIV Legal Network

Respect. Protect. Fulfill. You can help challenge wrongs, advance rights, and transform lives. Denied basic healthcare. Criminalized and vilified for love. Unfairly targeted by police. These abuses, and more, are too often the experience of people living with HIV and of communities affected by HIV. At the HIV Legal Network, our mission has always been … Read more

Human Rights Imperative: The HIV Legal Network in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Respect. Protect. Fulfill. You can help challenge wrongs, advance rights, and transform lives. In countries of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region, people who use drugs are routinely denied basic healthcare and harm reduction services. They are unfairly targeted by police and subjected to torture. Parents face losing custody of their children. There … Read more