Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries (and in the wider OSCE region) as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to the protection of human rights. Presumably named after the Helsinki Accords, they were formerly organized into the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), based in Vienna.
History The Helsinki Committees began as Helsinki Watch groups. The first such group was founded in Moscow in May of 1976, the second in Kyiv in November of the same year, as well as the third in Lithuania. Then in 1977 others were founded in Czechoslovakia, Georgia and Armenia, the last in 1979 in Poland. 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 was established in the UK, but this group was 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 CommitteeAlbanian Helsinki Committee www.ahc.org.alAlbanian Helsinki Committee 11 May 2012, www.civicsolidarity.org, accessed 18 June 2022Sigrid Rausing Trust: Grantee profile: Albanian Helsinki Committee www.sigrid-rausing-trust.org, accessed 18 June 2022 Armenia: Helsinki Committee of Armenia Belarus: Belarus Helsinki Committee Bulgaria: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Croatia: Croatian Helsinki Committee Czech Republic: Czech Helsinki Committee Denmark: Danish Helsinki Committee Hungary: Hungarian Helsinki Committee Lithuania: Lithuanian Helsinki Group Norway: Norwegian Helsinki Committee North Macedonia: Macedonian Helsinki CommitteeHelsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Macedonia mhc.org.mk The Netherlands: Netherlands Helsinki Committee Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)Polish Helsinki Foundation website www.hfhr.pl Romania: Romanian Helsinki CommitteeAssociation for the Defence of Human Rights in Romania the Helsinki Committee www.apador.org Russia: Moscow Helsinki Group Serbia: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia Slovakia: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Slovakia Spain: Helsinki España - Human Dimension Sweden: Civil Rights Defenders (formerly the Swedish Helsinki Committee) Switzerland: Swiss Helsinki Committee for democracy, Rule of law and Human Rights Turkey: Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Turkmenistan: Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human RightsTurkmenistan Helsinki Foundation website www.tmhelsinki.org Ukraine: Ukrainian Helsinki Group
See also
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights Helsinki Watch and its successor, Human Rights Watch
References
External links Helsinki Committee of Armenia 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 - close down notice "Human rights movement active despite fraud scandal, former director says"