Europe And Central Asia 2025
Eastern Europe and Central Asia
The region remained at the forefront of a global erosion of respect for universal human rights and international justice frameworks. Russia continued to lead this trend, pursuing its aggression against Ukraine and committing other crimes under international law there, including via indiscriminate attacks on civilians and targeting critical infrastructure. Civilians bore the brunt of suffering.
Against this backdrop, human rights became increasingly transactional. Belarus secured US sanctions relief through prisoner releases, and the pursuit of rare minerals and energy resources trumped concern over human lives in Ukraine and beyond. The first EU-Central Asia summit was held in the context of an ongoing failure across Central Asia to uphold international human rights commitments. Despite Azerbaijan’s paltry human rights record, the EU and other international actors deepened energy cooperation with the country as an alternative to Russian oil and gas.
Civil society faced unrelenting pressure. Growing numbers of activists, journalists and organizations were branded “terrorists”, “extremists”, “foreign agents” or “undesirable” and forced into exile or closure. A climate of fear and shrinking international support for human rights, marked by an unprecedented US foreign aid withdrawal, decimated civil society organizations and significantly reduced human rights reporting.
Other dramatic descents in respect for human rights included Kyrgyzstan’s attempt to reintroduce the death penalty despite constitutional and international prohibitions. Georgia plunged head-on into authoritarian practices, with systemic crackdowns on dissent.
Freedom of religion and belief, the rule of law and the rights of refugees and migrants were no exception to a general deterioration of human rights, as all saw a decline across the region. Torture and other ill-treatment remained endemic. Gender-based violence persisted. Fossil fuel production and consumption expanded, underscoring governments’ disregard for climate obligations.
Violations of international humanitarian law
Russia’s four-year aggression against Ukraine continued relentlessly, and its aerial attacks targeting critical civilian infrastructure intensified. Its widespread practice of enforced disappearances, torture, and reported drone targeting of civilians amounted to crimes against humanity. Russia attacked energy infrastructure almost daily during the winter months, leaving millions without heating and electricity in sub-zero temperatures. Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities caused power blackouts. A number of attacks by Ukraine on targets inside Russia resulted in casualties and damaged civilian infrastructure.
In the territories it occupied, Russian authorities conducted systematic enforced disappearance and torture of civilians. Russia also took measures to erase Ukrainian identity, including via its compulsory school curriculum. In a manifest violation of the laws of war, it pressed ahead with legislation to deprive residents of the territories it unlawfully annexed in 2022 of their property and other rights if they refused to take up Russian citizenship.
Armenia and Azerbaijan made no progress towards accountability for alleged past violations during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
All allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity should be subject to impartial and independent investigations, including through the principle of universal jurisdiction.
Freedom of expression
The right to freedom of expression was increasingly embattled across the region, with critical voices consistently branded as “extremists”, “traitors” and “foreign agents”, forced into exile, imprisoned under politically motivated charges and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and travel bans.
In Azerbaijan, more than 300 critics were in prison under spurious charges, dozens faced travel bans and remaining independent media organizations closed down. In Georgia, independent media outlets faced a full palette of repression including smear campaigns, fines and criminal probes.
Belarus’s “List of persons involved in extremist activities” grew to at least 6,127, and organizations connected in any way to those on the list were banned.
Kyrgyzstan designated prominent independent media organizations as “extremist”, meaning that any promotion or sharing of their materials could lead to prosecution. Moldova continued to de-license pro-Russian television channels without judicial oversight.
In Russia, those opposing the war against Ukraine or expressing other dissenting views suffered severe penalties, including long prison terms. Censorship permeated public life, leading to the banning of music, books and films by authors labelled “foreign agents” or “terrorists and extremists”.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
The right to peaceful assembly was further repressed, with those trying to exercise it prosecuted, imprisoned and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.
Open protest remained stifled and consequently sparse in most countries in the region. In Belarus, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, rallies were virtually absent and peaceful protesters faced severe punishment. Belarusian authorities sought penalties against people who participated in protests abroad.
Georgian authorities struck back at the continuous daily demonstrations taking place since late 2024 by criminalizing peaceful acts such as wearing masks or standing on sidewalks. Demonstrators faced unlawful force including police beatings, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon reportedly laced with toxic chemicals. Activists, journalists and opposition supporters were systematically targeted with searches, arrests and prison sentences solely for exercising their human rights.
In Russia, where protest had been rigorously suppressed, small rallies about locally relevant issues nonetheless continued. Ukraine saw mass anti-corruption protests proceed undeterred despite martial law restrictions.
Freedom of association
Governments further constrained and endangered the operational environment for civil society through repressive legislation, criminalizing public participation and imposing draconian financial restrictions. Severe cuts to foreign assistance compounded the situation, forcing scores of NGOs to close or dramatically reduce activities.
Azerbaijan reopened a 2014 case aimed at NGOs, conducted raids and targeted trade unions and grassroots groups. Belarus criminalized participation in forcibly closed, suspended and unregistered NGOs. Georgia adopted “foreign agent”-style legislation and froze the bank accounts of seven NGOs, claiming that they had engaged in “sabotage” by providing medical supplies and other support to protesters in 2024.
Kazakhstan’s president accused “[supposed] human rights organizations, bloggers and journalists” of being sponsored from abroad to seek out negative undercurrents and blame the authorities. Russia continued its weaponization of “foreign agent” and “undesirable organizations” legislation to choke civil society, stigmatizing and jailing civic activists. Ninety-five more organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were designated as “undesirable”.
Governments must repeal laws and end practices that hinder the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and stop using pretexts to crush dissent and stifle discussion of their human rights records.
Unfair trials
Fair trials became increasingly rare as justice systems were instrumentalized to persecute dissent. The number of individuals convicted in their absence, including for purported “terrorism” and “extremism”, increased.
Azerbaijan jailed scores of journalists and activists on spurious charges and following unfair trials, with nearly 30 media workers in prison or extended pretrial detention by year’s end. Belarus’s ranks of prisoners sentenced on politically motivated charges grew despite some early releases in exchange for sanctions relief.
Arbitrary detention and imprisonment of protesters, journalists and opposition figures following unfair trials was commonplace in Georgia within efforts to suppress dissent. Trumped-up charges against leading independent journalists, including from media outlets Kloop and Temirov Live, dealt a severe blow to Kyrgyzstan’s independent media. Dissenting voices were jailed in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Russia’s judiciary continued to deliver harsh sentences under politically motivated charges, often manifestly absurd. Tajikistan handed lengthy prison terms to opposition politicians and former officials in closed trials, and an appeal from 12 international human rights organizations to release human rights lawyer Buzurghmehr Yorov, arbitrarily imprisoned since 2015, remained without official response.
Authorities must guarantee rights to a fair trial and refrain from abusing the justice system to persecute dissent.
Torture and other ill-treatment
Torture and other ill-treatment throughout the region remained endemic. Impunity for such crimes also remained widespread and investigations into police violence were rare and ineffective.
Numerous reports of extrajudicial executions and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian forces emerged. In Russian prisons, abuse included frequent placement in punishment cells, and also denial of healthcare and contact with the outside world.
In Azerbaijan, torture and other ill-treatment in detention was routine, involving solitary confinement and denial of medical care, violence, punitive transfers and prolonged shackling. At least two victims of politically motivated prosecution reportedly died in custody in Belarus, and at least seven in Tajikistan, including five Pamiri activists.
In Georgia, masked officers routinely beat detainees during arrests and in detention. Kazakhstan failed to address numerous torture allegations post the 2022 mass protests, while Kyrgyzstan dismantled its torture prevention body amid UN warnings against such a move.
Concerns about torture and other ill-treatment persisted in Uzbekistan. Isolation and incommunicado detention remained common in Belarus and Turkmenistan, often amounting to enforced disappearance.
Governments must act urgently to end torture and other ill-treatment, bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials.
LGBTI people’s rights
There was a continuing decline in respect for, and often an outright attack on, LGBTI people’s rights. Comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation was absent across the region, while the official narrative of LGBTI people’s rights contravening “traditional values” gathered strength.
In a positive development, Ukraine saw a first court recognition of a same-sex couple as a “de facto family” while popular support for equal rights for LGBTI people appeared to be steadily growing.
In Moldova, the de facto authorities in Russian-occupied Transnistria enacted anti-LGBTI “propaganda” provisions and Kazakhstan adopted similar legislation. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan maintained criminalization of same-sex sexual relations between men.
Governments should repeal laws, policies and practices that discriminate against LGBTI people, including by decriminalizing consensual same-sex sexual relations and removing legal obstacles to same-sex marriage.
Gender-based Violence
Gender-based violence remained widespread. In Georgia, ongoing misogynistic and sexist rhetoric from senior officials was accompanied by gendered abuse against women protesters, including threats of sexual assault and degrading full strip searches. Russia’s parliament failed to consider domestic violence legislation despite public backing for this. In Tajikistan domestic violence cases rose 15% compared to the previous year.
Governments must urgently combat all forms of gender-based violence and address their root causes.
Freedom of religion and belief
Repressive tactics deployed to constrain freedom of religion and belief were reported across the region, including restrictive registration requirements and abuse of anti-extremism legislation against religious minorities.
Belarus pursued opaque re-registration of religious organizations and bans on unregistered religious activity, and clergy not aligned with the authorities faced ongoing persecution. Kyrgyzstan enacted a restrictive law curtailing unregistered religious activity, banned certain religious clothing and outlawed an Adventist church as “extremist”. Russia continued arbitrary prosecution and imprisonment of Jehovah’s Witnesses and targeted other religious communities. Ukraine’s latest measures intended to disband the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which it accused of affiliation with Russia, drew UN experts’ criticism for “equating religious affiliation with threats to national security”.
Governments must take effective measures to implement legal and policy reforms to fully protect, promote and guarantee freedom of religion or belief without discrimination or persecution.
Rights of refugees, migrants and internally displaced people
Millions of people continued to experience forced displacement, particularly in Ukraine. Armenia struggled to provide housing and livelihoods for more than 100,000 people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. Belarus continued to force refugees and migrants across EU borders, reportedly subjecting them to physical violence. Russia introduced mandatory language tests and legal entry proof for migrant children’s school enrolment, excluding most. Tajikistani authorities moved to expel Afghan refugees from the country.
Governments must ensure all those fleeing persecution and human rights violations have access to safety and international protection, and that no one is returned to a real risk of serious human rights abuses.
Right to a healthy environment
Russia’s war fuelled severe environmental damage at home and abroad, with its aggression against Ukraine continuing to exact a huge environmental toll and its military strikes threatening nuclear safety. The repression of civil society in both Russia and Belarus forced independent climate activists into exile.
Climate change pledges failed or were further weakened as countries increased their reliance on, and extraction of, fossil fuels. Kazakhstan expanded coal dependence and appeared to be reneging on commitments to a green transition. Its president publicly attacked the environmental agenda and stated that climate change “appeared to be a massive fraud”. Moldova’s climate ambitions faced funding barriers. Uzbekistan declared a “green economy” year but severe air pollution levels persisted, as in Belarus and elsewhere.
Water remained a sparse resource for many, particularly in Central Asia. Access to clean water was a grave challenge in Tajikistan, where according to official data 85% of the population, including virtually everyone in rural areas, had no sewage systems. In Turkmenistan water mismanagement undermined food security. In Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Donetsk region the de facto authorities were unable to address the water crisis.
High-emitting countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia must take the lead in climate mitigation, including by stopping the expansion of fossil fuel production. Governments must take immediate measures to protect individuals and communities against the risks and impacts of climate change.
Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe
The gap between many governments’ public commitments to uphold international law and their actions was stark; some outright refused to cooperate with the ICC. Several states continued to transfer arms to Israel. The vast majority of governments resorted to punishing solidarity with Palestinians through criminalization of dissent and unlawful force, rather than meeting their legal obligations to stop Israel’s genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip. Some states intensified their attacks on the international legal order, including on the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. At both the national and regional level, states led attempts to hollow out protections of the regional human rights treaties. Several states deliberately pursued measures to externalize their responsibilities to manage migration.
Although some states improved access to abortion, in others, barriers remained and abortion rights defenders faced persecution and criminalization. Discrimination and violence against LGBTI people intensified as a result of well-resourced campaigns by anti-rights and anti-gender actors and governments. Millions of people remained or fell into poverty; in some cases, governments introduced retrogressive measures likely to increase homelessness or impede access to health and other essential services. Thousands of people lost social security benefits through inherently discriminatory decision-making tools. Reports of hate crimes against racialized people, Roma and individuals perceived to be Muslim or Jewish increased. Disasters exacerbated by climate change wreaked havoc, particularly in southern European states. While some states were proactive in taking action to prevent climate change, others fell short of their obligations. Human rights defenders faced harassment and imprisonment.
Irresponsible arms transfers
Several states continued to transfer arms to Israel despite calls by UN experts for the immediate cessation of such transfers. Germany reinstated the possibility of arms transfers, France continued to license war material exports, the Czech Republic and the UK continued to export arms and Serbia even increased such transfers. Many states, including Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia, failed to prevent arms transfers to Israel from transiting through their airspace or ports.
Governments should halt weapons transfers to countries where there is a substantial risk of them being used to commit or facilitate serious human rights abuses.
Impunity
In a direct assault on the ICC, Hungary and Poland openly refused to implement its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant. Italy failed to comply with its obligations to surrender to the ICC Osama Elmasry Njeem, a member of a Libyan militia accused of serious human rights violations.
In Türkiye, victims of human rights violations, including alleged torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials of peaceful protesters, continued to face a culture of impunity.
Governments must take all steps available to them to fight impunity by bringing suspected perpetrators to account, including by implementing arrest warrants issued by international courts.
Freedom of expression, association and assembly
Troubling crackdowns continued, including unlawful surveillance, criminalization of peaceful activity and various forms of intimidation, in an effort to stifle civil society.
Foreign agent laws and similar legislation, whether proposed or actually adopted, posed a threat to civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) continued to exert a chilling effect on media freedom and dissent across the region, including in Croatia and Poland. In Serbia, UN special rapporteurs expressed concern at what appeared to be “a systematic campaign” aimed at discrediting human rights defenders, election observers and journalists.
Governments continued to impose unlawful restrictions on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, sanctioning protected speech and acts of civil disobedience. Some states instrumentalized already overly broad terrorism provisions to sanction and stigmatize people expressing dissent, particularly those protesting against government inaction on climate decline and Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. For example, the UK government’s proscription of the direct-action protest group Palestine Action as a “terrorist group” in July prompted a widespread campaign of peaceful civil disobedience. By year’s end the UK authorities had conducted at least 2,700 arrests following a series of large-scale peaceful demonstrations . A judicial review of the proscription was before the courts at the close of the year.
Governments must repeal laws and end practices that hinder the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and stop using pretexts to stifle dissent
Refugees’ and migrants’ rights
The overall drive by many countries in Europe to construct a second-tier system of diminished human rights protections for refugees and migrants gained momentum both at national and European institutional level, rooted in a Europe riven with xenophobia and racism, particularly anti-Black, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism. In this context, key long established principles of international law – including non-refoulement, the universality of human rights, the prohibition of torture and the right to a private life – were specifically targeted throughout the year through threats of treaty withdrawal and proposals or rhetoric aimed at diluting states’ obligations. These efforts were evident at the EU level, where member states downgraded asylum rules and negotiated punitive deportation measures, while at the Council of Europe 27 member states called for watered down protections for migrants under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Such efforts also played out at the domestic level. In the UK, legal changes and rhetoric by high level politicians were aimed at undermining and scapegoating the ECHR. In Austria and Germany, authorities conducted forced deportations to Syria, despite the country not being safe for forced returns, while a larger coalition of countries sought to start forced returns to Afghanistan. Greece detained hundreds of people following an unlawful temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum. Although many were released when the measure expired, many others harmed by the provisions remained detained and in substandard conditions at year’s end. Poland similarly and unlawfully suspended the right to seek asylum at the border with Belarus. The Swiss Federal Council identified areas of Ukraine considered safe for return, limiting access to temporary protection for new applicants, even although no region in Ukraine was safe from Russian attacks.
In an effort to restrict access to protection in Europe for people fleeing persecution or seeking a better life, and to enable their forcible removal despite potential risks to their rights, lives and safety, several states deliberately pursued measures to externalize their responsibilities to manage migration.
Some states attempted to establish return and detention cooperation deals with other countries, where violations against people seeking to reach Europe – often Black, Muslim, and other racialized people – would be harder to scrutinize. Italy spearheaded such harmful and regressive initiatives, expanding the use of its migration detention centres in Albania despite legal challenges.
Several governments continued to scapegoat migrants and refugees for broader economic woes, deploying dangerous and harmful rhetoric. In countries such as Greece, Italy and Malta, authorities deliberately increased the risks of sea and land crossings, including by delaying rescue operations and impeding or criminalizing humanitarian rescuers and workers.
Governments must protect the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, giving full effect to internationally protected rights and ending arbitrary detentions.
Sexual and reproductive rights
The leaders of Denmark and Greenland issued a joint apology to thousands of Inuit women who had had intrauterine devices implanted without their consent between 1966 and the 1990s. Civil society organizations welcomed the move while also demanding financial compensation for the Inuit women.
Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Norway and the UK passed legislation to improve access to abortion. Luxemburg enshrined abortion as a guaranteed freedom in its Constitution and the European Parliament voted in favour of a solidarity mechanism to improve safe abortion care across the EU. However, multiple obstacles to impede and obstruct access to abortion care continued across the region, including its criminalization. A number of states including Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Spain failed to guarantee access to services amid high rates of conscience-based refusals to provide abortions, putting rights and health at risk.
Governments have an obligation to guarantee sexual and reproductive rights for all without discrimination, including timely and barrier-free access to safe abortion.
Economic and social rights
Millions of people remained or fell into poverty as governments failed to mitigate the harmful consequences of the rising cost of living. The UK and Finland were among several countries that adopted retrogressive measures likely to increase homelessness or impede access to health and other essential services for people already at heightened risk, such as racialized people including refugees and migrants or those in chronic ill health.
Several governments, including the UK and Serbia, either introduced or continued to use inherently discriminatory algorithms and technologies to make decisions on social security and other safety net support. As a result, thousands of people – disproportionately those who were racialized, foreign nationals, single mothers and Roma – lost their welfare benefits.
Governments must take immediate action to assign adequate resources to ensure that everybody can enjoy their economic and social rights free from discrimination. They should eliminate inherently discriminatory algorithm decision-making in determining eligibility for social security benefits, and ensure universal and comprehensive social protection.
Discrimination
Well-resourced and increasingly active anti-rights and anti-gender networks promoted harmful narratives and roll-back of sexual and reproductive rights and the rights of women and LGBTI people, particularly transgender individuals. Slovakia amended its Constitution to further erode the rights of LGBTI people, while Turkish authorities proposed legal amendments that could criminalize LGBTI people and those advocating for their rights. Hungary and Türkiye banned LGBTI assemblies.
Segregation of Roma children in Czech and Slovak schools persisted, although in November, the Czech Republic introduced new measures aimed at desegregation and preventing the placement of Roma children in special schools solely due to social disadvantage. The Slovenian government rushed through emergency security legislation expanding executive and police powers, increasing surveillance and imposing punitive restrictions on social benefits, disproportionately affecting Roma communities.
Across the region, there was a worrying rise in reports of physical and verbal attacks against racialized people, Roma people, LGBTI people and those perceived to be Muslim or Jewish. Numerous attacks on places of worship were reported. In the UK, two worshippers were killed during an attack on a synagogue and 27 mosques were targeted between July and October – a period which coincided with campaigns associated with anti-rights groups and protests outside premises suspected to be housing asylum seekers. A rise in attacks against LGBTI people was noted in Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland and Serbia.
Discrimination persisted against Muslim women and girls in sports and education. In France, a bill to ban religious clothing from all sports competitions was pending discussion, while the Austrian parliament passed a law that banned hijabs in schools for girls under 14. Portugal’s parliament began discussing a ban on face coverings which could limit freedoms for some Muslim women.
Governments must respect, protect, promote and guarantee people’s right to live free from discrimination and violence, including through effective measures to implement legal and policy reforms.
Right to a healthy environment
Climate change continued to wreak harm across the region. It worsened heatwaves, wildfires, and floods in countries including Greece, Portugal and Spain, resulting in record-breaking numbers of deaths and damage to land and property.
European states varied in their actions towards preventing climate change. A few governments led with strong climate mitigation policies while others fell troublingly short of international emissions targets. The transition towards renewable energies and “greener” technologies was not always consistent with human rights. I, Finland, Norway and Sweden, failure to ensure safeguards and meaningful consultations before initiating land use projects threatened to significantly affect Indigenous Sámi livelihoods and culture. The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act enabled an intensification of mining on traditional Sámi lands, further threatening their rights.
Governments must protect individuals and communities from the risks and impacts of climate change and extreme weather conditions, including by upholding international targets to stem climate decline.
Human rights defenders
Human rights defenders, especially women human rights defenders and those defending the rights of refugees and migrants compelled to use unsafe routes to reach Europe, were particularly targeted throughout the year. In Poland, activist Justyna Wydrzyńska faced a retrial for helping a pregnant woman to access abortion pills. In Greece, 24 humanitarian workers who had assisted refugees and migrants were standing trial on charges carrying up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Türkiye intensified baseless investigations, prosecutions and convictions of human rights defenders, and continued to defy binding rulings by the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights to release prisoners of conscience.
Governments should protect human rights defenders and enable their crucial role, rather than stigmatizing and criminalizing their activities