Human Rights Research League

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Research. Education. Advocacy. Development. (R.E.A.D.)

Mission statement

The Human Rights Research League (HRRL) is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations (ECOSOC) aiming at protecting individuals by placing acts contrary to human rights and international humanitarian law, systemic grievances as well as humanitarian emergencies on the agenda. HRRL seeks to contribute to knowledge and research based public discussion and problem analysis without geographical, political, confessional or other limitations or alignments.

As our name suggests, we are an organization primarily focused on research from the basis of a strong academic foundation. However, we recognize that lasting impact and positive change also depend on connecting academics and practitioners, combining research on root causes of human rights challenges with implementation of projects and policies addressing those grievances. 

To this end, we are engaged in four focus areas: Research. Education. Advocacy. Development. (R.E.A.D.), all with a view to bridging the gap between academic and practical approaches to human rights, and between problem analysis and implementation of solutions.

 

News & reports

 

On 22 September 2025, at the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Human Rights Research League delivered an oral statement in connection with the Interactive Dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Ukraine. In his intervention, HRRL Chairman Tom Syring referred to the investigations by the COI, OHCHR, the ICC, and others that had documented widespread torture of Ukrainian POWs, with brutal beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, sexual violence, and prolonged deprivation of food and water, and underlined that these actions constitute war crimes.

 

Equally abhorrent is the targeting of Ukrainian civilians in occupied territories, where activists, journalists, community leaders, and ordinary citizens have been abducted, tortured, and sometimes killed.

 

These atrocities committed by the Russian Federation are not the result of battlefield chaos, but deliberate instruments of a campaign aimed at destroying the Ukrainian people, erasing their culture, and undermining the principles upon which the United Nations were founded. These acts violate the Geneva Conventions, constitute crimes against humanity, and must not remain unchallenged. For the full statement, please see the video of the Oral Statement on UN Web TV.

 

On 3 October 2025, during the Interactive Dialogue on Ukraine with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, HRRL Political Adviser Milica Javdan underlined that the Russian Federation had escalated its use of drones against Ukrainian civilians to unprecedented levels, killing civilians and systematically targeting civilian infrastructure, rendering large localities increasingly unlivable. HRRL called upon the Human Rights Council to condemn Russia's use of drone warfare targeting civilian populations, demand accountability, provide immediate support to Ukraine's mental health infrastructure, and strengthen civilian protection measures. For the full statement, please see the video of the Oral Statement on UN Web TV.

 

Human Rights Research League also submitted a Written Statement on 'Continuing Russian Violations of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law in the Russian Federation's War of Aggression against Ukraine' (UN doc. A/HRC/60/NGO/294) to the United Nations General Assembly.

Conferences & calls

ESIL Research Forum, Department of Law, University of Catania, Italy, April 15-16, 2021
2021-01-13 19:14 The next ESIL Research Forum is now reschedueld to take place on 15-16 April 2021 at the Department of Law, University of Catania, Italy. The ESIL Research will address the topic: 'Solidarity: The Que...
Call for Papers: 7th Annual International Refugee Law Student Writing Competition
2021-01-13 00:00 The American Society of International Law's International Refugee Law Interest Group (IRLIG) announces its seventh annual International Refugee Law Student Writing Competition, co-sponsored by the Glo...