EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA REGIONAL OVERVIEW EASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA Human rights and freedoms remained under profound and constant assault, fuelled by Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine which drove hardening authoritarianism across the region. Governments persecuted human rights defenders, suppressed dissent and often effectively criminalized the right to free expression and independent human rights information as “fake news” and attempts to “discredit” policies or institutions. Prospects for effective human rights promotion and protection were bleak. War became a “new normal” in the region. Azerbaijan’s blockade of a key route into the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh created a humanitarian crisis endangering the lives of thousands of people and, following its military offensive, over 100,000 people were displaced to Armenia almost overnight. Russia’s unceasing aggression against Ukraine grew into a war of attrition, with the list of war crimes and other crimes under international law constantly increasing. Civilians, including children, endured egregious suffering, through loss of life and injuries, destruction of homes and key infrastructure, continued mass displacement and environmental danger and destruction. Efforts to establish international justice mechanisms prompted by the war in Ukraine and including on the crime of aggression, failed to deliver. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin but Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia were among nonICC parties which hosted his visits. Beyond the military conflicts, discrimination and reprisals against religious minorities were common. Torture and other ill-treatment remained endemic and those suspected of criminal responsibility enjoyed impunity. Violence against women and domestic violence persisted at high levels. Gender rights were in retreat. Air pollution, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, blighted human health in countries across the region. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Freedom of expression spiralled severely downwards as a growing palette of reprisals was deployed against critical voices, spanning accusations of “extremism”, “justification of terrorism”, “dissemination of knowingly false information” and LGBTI “propaganda”. Russia reached new heights of wartime censorship, sparing none among dissenting voices. Thousands were penalized, and hundreds faced unfounded criminal prosecution, including opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years for “state treason”. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan amongst others locked up scores of government critics. Kyrgyzstan’s draft media law forbade dissemination of “materials that harm the health and morality of the population”. In Turkmenistan, free information remained suppressed such that shortages of essential food items and forced labour were hidden from view. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION Throughout the region civil society was constrained or shut down, with Russia continuing to provide a vicious blueprint. There, an ever-growing number of individuals and civil society 50 The State of the World’s Human Rights