The Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an countries (the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

region) as volunteer,

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

s devoted to

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and presumably named after the

Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...

. Formerly organized into the

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) was a self-governing group of non-governmental organizations that acted to protect human rights throughout Europe, North America and Central Asia. A specific primary goal was to monitor ...

(IHF) based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The Helsinki Committees began as

Helsinki Watch Helsinki Watch was a private American non-governmental organization established by Robert L. Bernstein in 1978, designed to monitor the former Soviet Union's compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Expanding in size and scope, Helsinki Watch b ...

groups. The first one was founded in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1976, the second in 1977 in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, the third in 1979 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. In 1982, representatives of several of these committees held an International Citizens Helsinki Watch Conference and founded the IHF. In 1992, a

British Helsinki Human Rights Group The British Helsinki Human Rights Group (BHHRG) was an Oxford-based non-governmental organization which claimed to monitor human rights in the 56 participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Despite its ...

was established in the UK, but this group was always completely independent of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. The UK's official representative in the IHF is the British Helsinki Subcommittee of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, established in 1976.

Country organizations

* Albania: Albanian Helsinki Committee * Belarus: Belarus Helsinki Committee * Bulgaria:

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organization for human rights founded on July 14, 1992 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Its main objectives are protection and promotion of human rights in Bulgaria. With more than 30 assoc ...

* Croatia: Croatian Helsinki Committee * Czech Republic:

Czech Helsinki Committee The Czech Helsinki Committee ( cs, Český helsinský výbor) is a non-governmental non-profit organization for human rights. It has operated in Czechoslovakia since 1988 and in the Czech Republic since 1993. It was founded as one of the first "Hel ...

* Denmark: Danish Helsinki Committee * Hungary:

Hungarian Helsinki Committee The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) is a non-governmental human rights organization founded in 1989 and based in Budapest, Hungary. The HHC is a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the European Council on Refugee ...

* Lithuania:

Lithuanian Helsinki Group The Lithuanian Helsinki Group (full name: the Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords in Lithuania; lt, Helsinkio susitarimų vykdymui remti Lietuvos visuomeninė grupė) was a dissident organization active in the Lithua ...

* Norway:

Norwegian Helsinki Committee The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (''Den norske Helsingforskomité'') is a Norwegian human rights non-governmental organization based in Oslo. It was founded in 1977 following the adoption of the Helsinki Accords. It works to ensure that human right ...

* North Macedonia: * The Netherlands:

Netherlands Helsinki Committee The Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) is a non-governmental organization that promotes human rights and strengthens the rule of law and democracy in all countries of Europe, and the Central Asian countries participating in the Organization for S ...

* * Romania: * Russia:

Moscow Helsinki Group The Moscow Helsinki Group (also known as the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, russian: link=no, Московская Хельсинкская группа) is today one of Russia's leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 197 ...

* Serbia:

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia ( sr-Latn, Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji) is a volunteer, non-profit organization concerned with human rights issues in Serbia. It was formed in September 1994 as one of many nation ...

* Slovakia:

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Slovakia Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

* Spain: Helsinki España - Human Dimension * Sweden:

Civil Rights Defenders Civil Rights Defenders (Formerly the Swedish Helsinki Committee) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Stockholm, Sweden that does human rights work with a focus on civil and political rights. They primarily work to support ...

(formerly the Swedish Helsinki Committee) * Switzerland: Swiss Helsinki Committee for democracy, Rule of law and Human Rights * Turkey:

Helsinki Citizens' Assembly The Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (hCa) is an organization of citizens dedicated to peace, democracy and human rights in Europe. It is a non-governmental organization, working on the notions of fundamental rights and freedoms, peace, democracy and pl ...

* Turkmenistan:

Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights The Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is a non-governmental organization, based in Bulgaria, for the promotion of human rights in Turkmenistan. The organization was founded on July 21, 2003 in Varna, Bulgaria as a branch of the Internat ...

Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation website
''www.tmhelsinki.org'' * Ukraine:

Ukrainian Helsinki Group The Ukrainian Helsinki Group ( uk, Українська Гельсінська Група) was founded on November 9, 1976, as the "Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights" ( uk, Українс ...

External links

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

Czech Helsinki Committee

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
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"Human rights movement active despite fraud scandal, former director says"

References

Human rights organizations {{Europe-org-stub

Country organizations

See also

External links

References