Authorities designate Human Rights Watch as an “undesirable” organization

Human Rights Watch's designation of Russia as an "undesirable" foreign organization, released by the Justice Department on November 28, is yet another manifestation of the repressive nature of the Kremlin regime, Human Rights Watch said today. This measure means a ban on the organization’s activities in Russia. “For more than three decades, Human Rights Watch's work on post-Soviet Russia has pressured Russian authorities to respect human rights and freedoms,” said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Our work has not changed, but something else has changed: the rapid adoption of dictatorial practices by the authorities, a sharp increase in repression within the country and the scale of war crimes committed by the Russian military in Ukraine.” As follows from the Ministry of Justice’s updated register of “undesirable” organizations, the Prosecutor General’s Office decided to ban the activities of Human Rights Watch on November 10. The grounds for recognizing an organization as “undesirable” are unknown. In 2022, six weeks after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities deregistered the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, which had operated in Russia since 1992. The bureau was forced to close, but our work continued. Human Rights Watch began working on Russian issues back in Soviet times, in 1978.