of deaths from stroke and ischaemic heart disease in Belarus. Kyrgyzstan’s capital was ranked one of the most polluted in the world. Across the region, those seeking to protect the environment themselves suffered severe reprisals. Activists opposing a gold mining project in Armenia faced lawsuits seeking excessive financial compensation for the supposed harm to business caused by their environmental criticism. In Russia two major environmental NGOs were designated as “undesirable” and banned from the country. Governments must take immediate measures to protect individuals and communities against the risks and impacts of climate change and extreme weather conditions, including by seeking international assistance and cooperation to take sufficient climate adaptation and mitigation measures. LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS In Ukraine, a draft law on civil partnerships, including for same-sex couples, was registered in March, though it did not address the prohibition on child adoption by same-sex couples. Russia, however, adopted new transphobic legislation and effectively outlawed any public LGBTI people’s rights-related activity by labelling as “extremist” an undefined “international public LGBT movement”. In Central Asia and beyond, gender rights were in retreat, with Kyrgyzstan proposing legislative amendments to prohibit information that “denies family values” and promotes “non-traditional sexual relationships”, while in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan consensual same-sex sexual relations remained a crime. 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. WESTERN, CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE In 2023 politicians in many European countries fomented social polarization on women’s and LGBTI rights, migration, climate justice, and the horrific events in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Israel/OPT). Many governments instrumentalized human rights to stigmatize various groups and enacted disproportionate restrictions on civic space, targeting climate protesters, people expressing dissenting views, particularly regarding solidarity with Palestinians, Muslims and other racialized individuals. Systemic racism continued to violate rights and cost lives. States maintained policies of racialized exclusion towards people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia that resulted in deaths and harm being inflicted on people at sea and land borders. Governments did little to address the continued discrimination and segregation of Roma. The failure of states to implement anti-racism measures and the political exploitation of racism formed the backdrop to a spike in reports of antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism. There was both progress and regression on gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive rights. The slide to surveillance societies continued. The most vulnerable, including people with disabilities, suffered inadequate social protection. Double standards were evident in the rhetoric and policies of many states: towards Israel versus the simultaneous restrictions imposed on solidarity for Palestinian human rights; warm words at COP28 while continuing the use and production of fossil fuels and cracking down on protesters; and the complacency towards human rights backsliding within Europe but criticism of states outside the region. 54 The State of the World’s Human Rights