UN Special Rapporteur on Russia Extended for Another Year
According to a report by Human Rights Watch… Click to expand Image
Mariana Katsarova with Russian writer Boris Akunin, one of the critics in exile targeted by the Kremlin, Palais Nation, September 22, 2025.
© 2025 Tanya Lokshina/Human Rights Watch
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on October 7 extended the mandate of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, for another year.The UNHRC’s renewed commitment to closely monitor the human rights situation in Russia, a Security Council veto-wielding state, is a lifeline for the country’s besieged civil society. This dedicated, independent monitoring tool, as exemplified in the rapporteur’s latest September report, shines a spotlight on how the Kremlin is increasingly battling dissent on its own soil in parallel to its abusive war against Ukraine.The list of political prisoners maintained by Memorial, a prominent Russian human rights organization, now stands at 1,129, compared to 771 a year ago.In January-October 2025, the authorities added 74 groups to their register of “undesirable organizations,” the highest number since 2015, when the register was set up. Two hundred and sixty-nine organizations are now outlawed as “undesirable.”This year is also on track to have the highest number of individuals and groups designated as “foreign agents.” There are 853 active entries on that list, all of them subjected to burdensome and discriminatory regulations and stigmatizing labeling requirements. Russian authorities also added dozens of repressive laws to their already vast toolkit of repression. They have worked relentlessly to eradicate all forms of political dissent, targeted lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as “extremists,” channeled xenophobia, expanded their censorship and surveillance infrastructure, and weaponized their broad and vague anti-extremism, anti-terrorism, and state security legislation. They are unrelenting in their efforts to suppress any expression of civic activism, human rights work, and independent reporting. To this end, just this year, prosecutors banned Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and exiled Russian media outlet Echo.Despite Russian authorities’ efforts to target the country’s human rights defenders for bringing records of abuses to the attention of the UN and other international bodies, the mandate will remain a vital focus point for engagement with Russia’s civil society.With the strong international focus rightly on Russia’s actions in Ukraine, it is only fitting that the global rights body keeps the spotlight on what’s happening within Russia too. complete report is on below link. Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/08/un-special-rapporteur-on-russia-extended-for-another-year