October 2026
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Belarusian Interior Ministry Makes a Sensational Discovery: Olga Karach Is Part of Our House
Belarusian authorities launch new criminal cases against Our House human rights defenders. New criminal cases have been opened in Belarus against Olga Karach and other activists of the Our House Human Rights Centre for participating in a so-called ‘extremist formation’. Olga Karach and the other human rights defenders face up to seven additional years in…
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Hybrid Propaganda Attacks Against Democratic Activists from Belarus
How defamatory narratives, unverified allegations and the disclosure of sensitive information can endanger political exiles Analytical article based on monitoring by Siarhei Tsikhanouski and Our House When media narratives become a form of transnational pressure For Belarusian democratic activists who have fled political persecution, exile does not necessarily bring an end to the threats they…
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How Much Does It Cost to Save One Person from War?
A Russian conscientious objector faces deportation; urgent legal defence needs your support. In 1940, Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat representing the Japanese Empire, was stationed in Lithuania. By issuing Japanese transit visas without instructions from Tokyo, he helped more than six thousand Polish and Lithuanian Jews fleeing Nazi persecution escape the country. Sugihara was extraordinarily…
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Urgent Fundraising Appeal for Legal Representation before the European Court of Human Rights for Russian Conscientious Objector Daniil
Urgent €1,800 appeal for legal representation of Russian conscientious objector Daniil Mukhametov before the European Court of Human Rights.
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Olga Karach Speaks at the European Parliament: Conscientious Objection Is a Human Right
Belarusian human rights defender Olga Karach addressed European lawmakers on conscientious objection. On 14 October 2026, Olga Karach, Belarusian human rights defender, Director of Our House and member of the Board of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), delivered a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels during the international conference “Conscientious Objection is…
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Our House Joins International Civil Society Statement Calling for Stronger Disarmament Education and Youth Participation
Our House joins international organizations advocating disarmament education and meaningful youth participation. Disarmament Education as a Foundation for International Peace and Security Our House Centre for Human Rights and Relief, a human rights organization working in Lithuania and Belarus, has joined the supporting organizations of the 2026 Joint Civil Society Statement on Disarmament Education and…
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The nuclear paradox: Why the world wants both deterrence and disarmament
In the summer of 2023, as Russia threatened nuclear strikes against Ukraine, we conducted the most comprehensive academic survey of global attitudes toward nuclear weapons ever undertaken. Across 24 countries on six continents—from nuclear powers like France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to non-nuclear-armed states like Brazil, Nigeria, and Poland—we asked more than 27,000…
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Lithuania Helped Putin Send an Anti-War Activist to Prison for Six Years
Lithuania returned an anti-war activist to Russia, where he received six years’ imprisonment. In September 2026, 68-year-old Russian citizen Igor Odintsov, who, according to the chairman of the Lithuanian community in the Kaliningrad region, had helped defend Lithuania’s independence in January 1991, swam across the Neman River in an attempt to escape criminal prosecution in…
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The Belarusian GULAG on German Television Channel ZDF — A Report Featuring Olga Karach
In ZDF’s report, Olga Karach exposes slave labour in Belarusian penal colonies. The German television channel ZDF aired a report on its programme frontal, examining forced labour in Belarusian penal colonies and how goods produced by prisoners have reached, and continue to reach, the European market through complex supply chains. The report features Olga Karach,…
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If the Bomb Never Explodes, That Does Not Mean It Leaves No Trace
Why the environmental cost of nuclear deterrence belongs in the security debate There is a rather strange system of accounting in nuclear policy. We carefully count warheads and missiles, range and flight time, and the capacity to launch a retaliatory strike, yet we are far less likely to count the land, water and human lives…
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Our House Youth Bring Belarusian Voices to Helsinki
Our House’s youth team recently visited Helsinki for a programme of meetings, exchanges and advocacy activities focused on the challenges facing young Belarusians in exile. IMG_2890 An important part of the visit was a series of meetings with Finnish parliamentarians and German diplomats. These conversations provided an opportunity to raise concerns about the protection of…
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Our House Brings the Experience of Women in Exile into the EU Gender Action Plan IV
Policy input urges the EU to confront gendered transnational repression across borders. Our House Centre for Human Rights and Relief has prepared a new Policy Input for the development of the EU Gender Action Plan IV (GAP IV) 2028–2034, bringing into the European policy debate an issue that remains too often overlooked: authoritarian repression does…
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Shadow Report on Systemic Gaps in Lithuania’s Security Model and Their Consequences for People, Democratic Institutions and the European Union
Gaps in VSD Activities and Institutional Accountability in the Context of Lithuanian National and European Security Period covered: 2020–2026 Prepared on the basis of open-source intelligence (OSINT) and a comparative analysis of the annual assessments by VSD and AOTD 26 September 2026 Executive Summary Lithuania’s model of public reporting on national security systematically narrows security…