Retreating Rights: Examining the pressure on human rights in Kyrgyzstan
Part of the ‘Retreating Rights’ publication series.
Programme
Shrinking space for civil society
In many parts of the world independent civil society is coming under growing pressure from governments made uncomfortable by their work. This programme looks at the ways in which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are finding it harder to register, operate and raise funds in a worsening political climate. It will examine the use of ‘foreign agent’ laws, opaque reporting requirements and other attempts to restrict international donor funding. It will look at the way independent civil society activists are increasingly targeted by regimes looking to silence their voices.
Publications in this programme
Unsafe for Scrutiny: How the misuse of the UK’s financial and legal systems to facilitate corruption undermines the freedom and safety of investigative journalists around the world
This is the second publication produced under the FPC’s ‘Unsafe for Scrutiny’ project.
Unsafe for Scrutiny: Examining the pressures faced by journalists uncovering financial crime and corruption around the world
Report highlights UK's role as top international source of legal threats to journalists
Religion and Forced Displacement in the Eastern Orthodox World
Examining the relationship between religion and forced displacement in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Spotlight on Uzbekistan
Examining the progress of Uzbekistan's reforms and exploring what still needs to be done.
Disputed Territories, Disputed Rights: How to address human rights challenges in Europe’s grey zones
A new publication drawing attention to the human rights situations in Europe's 'grey zones'.
Spotlight on Turkmenistan
A country in an economic and human rights crisis
Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Struggle to Shape the Middle East
The fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran and its impact on the Middle East.
The rise of illiberal civil society in the former Soviet Union?
Charting the rise of illiberal groups in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.
Closing the Door: the challenge facing activists from the former Soviet Union seeking asylum or refuge
The challenge facing activists from the former Soviet Union seeking asylum or refuge.
The information battle: How governments in the former Soviet Union promote their agendas & attack their opponents abroad
How governments of former Soviet Union (FSU) shape international narratives & challenge opponents.
Iran Human Rights Review: Due Process
This edition of the Iran Human Rights Review focuses on due process in the Iranian legal system.
No shelter: the harassment of activists abroad by intelligence services from the former Soviet Union
Examining experiences of exiled activists unable to escape their country’s security services.
Iran Human Rights Review: Women and Human Rights
This latest IHRR issue focuses on women and their on-going struggle to access human rights in Iran.
Sharing worst practice: How countries and institutions in the former Soviet Union help create legal tools of repression
Looking at ways in which authoritarian regimes learn from each other & collaborate in repression.
Traditional religion and political power: Examining the role of the church in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova
Examining the political and social role of the church in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova.
Iran Human Rights Review: Justice
This IHRR looks at injustice in the Iranian judicial system and society for citizens and activists.
Iran Human Rights Review: Violence
This IHRR addresses the issue of violence in Iran and how it is used at all levels of society.
Spotlight on Azerbaijan
Spotlight on Azerbaijan examined the key human rights and governance issues in Azerbaijan.
Articles relating to this programme
FPC Briefing: The social foundations of stable illiberal-populist rule: lessons from Hungary
Relying on the author's recent book, this briefing examines the foundations of Hungary's stable illiberal rule. Two seemingly contradictory tendencies are crucial for the stability of illiberalism in the country.…
Political unrest in Kyrgyzstan: between old and new hopes
Since October 4th, Kyrgyzstan has been shaken by a wave of unprecedented protests triggered by rigged parliamentary elections.[1] The country plunged in political turmoil with various divided political forces…
Behind the Glitter: The pandemic and Civil Freedoms in Uzbekistan
Here comes an army vehicle with a huge loud speaker, looking like a Soviet relic, blasting out well-known lockdown instructions such as ‘Stay at home. Go out only if there…
Spotlight on Uzbekistan: Executive Summary
Spotlight on Uzbekistan finds that the much talked about reform process in Uzbekistan is real, but that so are the significant holes in it, with a lot of work still…
Back to the Future – Why a Human Rights-Focused Foreign Policy must keep up with Technology
“Technology is, of course, a double edged sword. Fire can cook our food but also burn us.” Jason Silva, the Venezuelan-American filmmaker and public speaker Last year marked the 70th…
Disputed Territories, Disputed Rights: Executive Summary
This Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Foreign Policy Centre publication seeks to draw attention to the human rights situation in some of Europe’s most contested but least well known places: Transnistria,…
FPC Briefing: Rethinking ‘Wider Europe’ in Times of Liberal Crisis
Introduction During much of the preceding decade wider Europe’s strategic landscape, from the Atlantic-to-the-Urals, has been marked by two interrelated phenomena. On the one hand, the continent has seen a…
Spotlight on Turkmenistan: Executive Summary
Turkmenistan is a country often overlooked on the world stage. When attention is paid the focus tends to be either on the size of its bountiful gas reserves or on…
How realpolitik and the predictability of the West’s weaknesses helps autocrats legitimise their foreign policies
With democracy and liberalism in decline, and pro-active autocrats dominating the international community, the resilience of the political models based on democratic principles, human rights and freedoms is increasingly being…
International Affairs in the Disinformation Age
In April 2017, I was sitting in an office with Syrian rights activists watching, in real time, as the Syrian regime and Russia manipulated a second US president. The current…
Decentralisation: learning from the Jordanian Experience
Decentralisation is now a core part of the development agenda. Moving resources and powers to local government and closer to communities is widely regarded as essential, if developing countries –…
Hui Muslims in China’s ‘Little Mecca’: Fusing Islamic and Han Practices
There has been much discussion in the global media of China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in its far western province of Xinjiang. Meanwhile, much less is known about the Hui,…
The state of Islamic threat in Central Asia: assessing the threat of terrorism from Central Asia
As Islamic State faces its demise as a territorial unit in the Middle East it is worth considering why it was so attractive to so many Central Asians The spate…
Understanding the Romanian Diaspora
Diasporas have been researched extensively, in both current and historical contexts. This essay is the first in a series that aims to deliver a fresh perspective by focusing on the…
Academic Freedom in Hungary’s Authoritarian State Capitalism
Authoritarian leaders find it hard to tolerate independent voices, and academic freedom is no different. After Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán announced the year of the ‘culture war’, the…
Responding to terrorism requires social cohesion, not censorship
Governments across Europe regularly invoke the threat of terrorism to limit freedom of expression beyond what is permitted under international law. Journalists, activists and ordinary social media users are subject…
In Azerbaijan, big brother is watching you everywhere: offline, online, on mobile devices and social media apps
On January 7th 2019,VirtualRoad, the secure hosting project of the Qurium - Media Foundation published[1] a report documenting fresh attacks against Azerbaijan’s oldest opposition newspaper Azadliq’s website (azadliq.info). The report…
Bahrain: Will elections mark new chapter or deepen & embed division?
Bahrain goes to the polls tomorrow, 1st December, for the second, run-off, round in elections to the 40-seat lower house. So what? It is surely less significant than the ramifications…
Come December, Could Armenia Get Away with Democracy?
One perennial question confronting students of the former Soviet Union has been to what extent democratisation and geopolitical orientation can be separated from each other in their region of interest.…
Saudi Arabia and Iran: Executive Summary
This report examines the impact of the increasingly fractious rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran upon politics across the Middle East, focussing upon Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. It…
More efforts from the EBRD required to mainstream gender in Kyrgyzstan
The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested more than €650 million in support of the Kyrgyz Republic since the Central Asian country gained its independence following collapse…
FPC Briefing: Rule of Law in China: A priority for businesses and Western Governments
On the eve of China’s ‘4th of May Day’ in 2017, President Xi Jinping announced that “the rule by law is our historical mission.” It is a sentence which harks…
Download PDF
State Transformation and Authoritarian Governance: The Emergence of Participatory Authoritarianism?
It is commonly assumed that authoritarian governments do not wish to involve citizens in questions of governance or public administration. Instead, conventional wisdom has it that the leaders of such…
The rise of illiberal civil society: Executive summary
This publication examines the growing influence of illiberal, anti-Western and socially conservative civil society groups, popular movements and political forces in five post-Soviet states: Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova.…
Sleight of hand: How to make a journalist disappear – Afgan Mukhtarli’s case
Azerbaijani investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli lived in self-imposed exile in Georgia from 2015-2017, but in May 2017 he was allegedly abducted in Tbilisi and forcibly transferred to a detention center in Azerbaijan. During…
Egypt’s faltering legitimacy: Sisi’s contested victory and pressing challenges
In Egypt polls have now closed after a three-day presidential election that has been characterised by unprecedented levels of repression and state-led propaganda –something that is very far from the…
FPC Briefing-Election Observation in the European Space: The Role of the OSCE/ODIHR, the Council of Europe and EU
As the history of structured and methodologically-based election observation is nearing its twenty-fifth anniversary, it seems that the time is ripe to take stock of the current state of play…
FPC Briefing: Competing norms- Why defence of human rights is strategically important in a multipolar era
Since the financial crisis of 2008 and the outbreak of the Syrian war many of the received wisdoms and institutions that have underpinned international action 70 years are being shaken.…
Institutionally Blind: The next steps in reforming the Council of Europe and the OSCE
The Council of Europe (CoE) and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are two regional bodies that bring together European, post-Soviet (and in the case of the OSCE)…
Tajikistan: The trans-nationalisation of domestic struggles
In 2014, Maksud Ibragimov, a 37 year old businessman from Tajikistan living in Russia established an organisation called Youth for the Revival of Tajikistan (Javonon Boroi Ehyohi Tojikiston).[1] He toured…
The Information Battle : Executive Summary
The information battle examines the ways in which the governments of former Soviet Union (FSU) look to shape international narratives about themselves by using media, social media, advertising and supportive…
No Shelter: Executive summary
This publication shows how repressive regimes from the former Soviet Union, most notably Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan operate outside their borders to challenge dissenting voices. The exiles and…
FPC Briefing: Da’ish, the Ikhwan and Lessons from History
This FPC Briefing from Dr Simon Mabon and Grant Helm explores the historical antecedents of Da'ish and their complicated relationship with the rulers of Saudi Arabia.
Download PDF
Sharing Worst Practice Executive Summary
The findings of Sharing worst practice: How countries and institutions in the former Soviet Union help create legal tools of repression highlight the clear similarities in the types of repressive…
FPC Briefing: The EU on human rights- Turning words into action
In this new FPC Briefing by Senior Research Associate Jacqueline Hale examines the EU’s record on promoting human rights, democracy, the rule of law and international justice through its external…
Download PDF
Events in this programme
Hungary and Poland: Democracy and rule of law under pressure
The Foreign Policy Centre hosted a Westminster seminar to explore the current political situation in Hungary and Poland. This event comprised an expert panel discussion and the first UK presentation of a 35 min documentary film, ‘State Capture: The story of Hungary 1988-2018’. The event examined the growing concerns about rule-of-law (including judicial freedom), media freedom, protection of minorities, commitment to democratic pluralism and the rise of oligarchic elites, with both ...
More info
Speakers
Dr Gabor Scheiring, Research Fellow University of Cambridge
Dr Marcin Matczak, Associate Professor, Institute of State and Law Studies, University of Warsaw
Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President, The Open Dialogue Foundation
Chair: Alex Sobel MP
When
November 22, 2018
November 22, 2018 7pm-9pm
Where
Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London, SW1A 2LW
The rise of illiberal civil society in the former Soviet Union
This seminar launched and discussed a new Foreign Policy Centre publication looking the growing influence of illiberal, anti-Western and socially conservative civil society groups, popular movements and political forces in five post-Soviet states (Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova), looking at who these groups are, what they are doing and why. The event looked at the local social, cultural, historic and economic roots of such groups, some of whom have ...
More info
Speakers
Mihaela Ajder, Moldovan human rights activist and journalist
Adam Hug, Director, Foreign Policy Centre
Mariam Uberi, Research Fellow ( covering Georgia), Foreign Policy Centre
Chair: Stephen Gethins MP, Foreign Affairs Select Committee and Scottish National Party International Affairs and Europe Spokesperson
When
July 17, 2018
6pm-7.30pm
Where
Committee Room 12, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Free speech on trial: journalists, writers and academics under attack in Turkey
The Foreign Policy Centre, Article 19 and Reporters Without Borders are organising an important seminar to shine a spotlight on the challenges against free speech in Turkey. Since the 2016 failed coup attempt, human rights activists argue the State of Emergency measures imposed by the government have been used to silence dissent and restrict any political opposition in Turkey. While issues of censorship and media oppression predate the failed coup, numbers of ...
More info
Speakers
Figen Çalıkuşu, Mehmet Altan’s lawyer
Erol Önderoğlu, journalist and Reporters Without Borders’s representative in Turkey
Nurcan Baysal, Kurdish human rights defender and writer
Martin Whitfield MP, UK Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Georgia Nash, Programme Officer, Article 19
Chair: Stephen Twigg MP, Chair of the International Development Select Committee
When
May 22, 2018
6pm-7.30pm
Where
Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London, SW1A 2LW
Bad idea: the rise of illiberal values and the exporting of repression across the former Soviet Union
The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and the Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI) are delighted to host a lunchtime seminar on 12 April to conclude the initial work of the FPC’s Exporting Repression project. This event will explore the FPC’s recent research into the way in which authoritarian values are promoted and developed both within and from the countries of the former Soviet Union. It will look at how these ‘new ...
More info
Speakers
Dr David Lewis, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
Dr Rebecca Harms, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly
Jacqueline Hale, Research Fellow, Foreign Policy Centre
Adam Hug, Director, Foreign Policy Centre
Iskra Kirova (moderator), Senior Analyst, OSEPI
When
April 12, 2018
12.00pm-2pm
Where
Open Society European Policy Institute, Rue du Trône 130, Brussels, B-1050 Belgium
Spotlight on Chechnya: Kadyrov’s crackdown on human rights
The Foreign Policy Centre and Civil Rights Defenders are organising an important seminar to shine a spotlight on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Russian Republic of Chechnya. Since coming to power in 2007 the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has imposed order in the wake of two bloody wars with Russia through a mix of lavish spending and the establishment of a brutal local dictatorship. Chechnya has long been ...
More info
Speakers
Lana Estemirova, daughter of murdered human rights activist Natalia Estemirova
Oleg Orlov, Head of the ‘Hot Spots’ program, Memorial
Olga Sadovskaja, Deputy Head, Committee Against Torture
Chair: Stephen Doughty MP, Member for Cardiff South and Penarth
When
February 20, 2018
6pm-7.30pm
Where
Committee Room 11, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA