War in Ukraine: Reflections two years on
February 2024 marks a bleak anniversary, two years since the Russian invasion into Ukraine
Programme
Spotlight on Eastern Europe and Central Asia (SEECA)
Publications in this programme
War in Ukraine: Reflections one year on
February 2023 marks a bleak anniversary, a year since the Russian invasion into Ukraine.
Can Britain be a ‘force for good’ in Central Asia?
Country briefing papers from ‘Britain as a ‘force for good’ in Central Asia’ Working Group.
Retreating Rights: Examining the pressure on human rights in Kazakhstan
Part of the ‘Retreating Rights’ publication series.
Retreating Rights: Examining the pressure on human rights in Tajikistan
Part of the ‘Retreating Rights’ publication series.
Retreating Rights: Examining the pressure on human rights in Kyrgyzstan
Part of the ‘Retreating Rights’ publication series.
Understanding the Romanian Diaspora
Pioneering research initiative mapping the Romanian diaspora in the UK.
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
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.
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.
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.
Institutionally blind? International organisations and human rights abuses in the former Soviet Union
Examining if major international institutions are meeting their human rights commitments in the FSU.
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.
Trouble in the Neighbourhood? The future of the EU’s Eastern Partnership
Examining the EU's Eastern Neighbourhood: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Belarus & Ukraine.
Spotlight on Azerbaijan
Spotlight on Azerbaijan examined the key human rights and governance issues in Azerbaijan.
Articles relating to this programme
Georgia’s new law on “transparency of foreign influence” and its incompatibility with international human rights standards
On 18th May the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, vetoed the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence. The President concluded that “it is impossible to improve this law” since it…
Soft power lessons from Russia’s war: How to overcome polarisation and strengthen liberal democracy
Summary: The lessons which the international community have drawn thus far from Russia's aggression against Ukraine have been dominated by the necessity of measures in the military sphere. However, the…
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Expert Briefing: Priorities for international support to Ukraine, as Russia’s war rages into its third year
In March 2024, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), together with the APPG on Ukraine, and with support from the University of Birmingham, convened an off-the-record roundtable meeting in Parliament to…
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Op Ed: Out of the spotlight Belarusians’ struggle for freedom continues amidst persistent repression
As 2024 dawned, the world found itself plunged into deeper socio-political upheaval, with ever more tumultuous events dominating global headlines. Overshadowed amongst these was the elections that took place in…
Two Years On: New recommendations for the safety of journalists working on the frontline
The London-based charity Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ), in partnership with the National Union of Journalists in Ukraine, has been collecting open-source evidence and satellite imagery of attacks on media…
War in Ukraine: The ongoing conflict has provided growing strategic opportunities for GCC states
Heading into the third year of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Gulf Arab states - the six states comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia…
Legal impasse or excuse for inaction? The state of play in the efforts to seize oligarchs’ assets
In the two years since Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine, policymakers in the Western block have made big statements of their intention to seize Russian oligarchic wealth in their countries.…
Two years on: The importance of protecting the media and winning the informational frontline in Ukraine
The Ukrainian army has been holding the Russian aggressor off for two years already. In its desire to destroy Ukraine at any cost, the Kremlin has spared neither its missiles…
Two years on: Breaking the cycle of impunity for Russian war crimes
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a result of the total impunity that Russia enjoyed for decades. The Russian military has committed terrible crimes in Chechnya, Moldova, Georgia, Syria, Mali,…
Two years on: in the face of continued Russian aggression, Moldova is navigating its path towards the West
Two years have elapsed since Russia initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, yet the reverberations persist across the European continent. Moldova, standing among the most affected states after Ukraine, grapples…
Two years on: Business as usual in a new geopolitical reality?
Two years into the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, Central Asia finds itself under slightly less pressure to take sides. It seems that both Russia and the West have finally…
Two years on: The war has left the OSCE in peril, but the institution is worthy of reinvestment
As the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine heads into its third year, the Euro-Asian and Euro-Atlantic security orders remain deeply unsettled, and there is little prospect of their imminent…
Two years on: Proactive measures are needed to address the conflict related mental health crisis
The war in Ukraine has entered its third year with no end in sight. This is not surprising. The future of the Putin regime depends fully on victory and cannot…
Two years on: Russia continues to weaponise and attack healthcare in Ukraine
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 I wrote in the British Medical Journal that, based on my experience of the Syrian conflict, I feared for…
Two years on: The ongoing war in Ukraine is further highlighting the ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’ divide
Soon to enter its third year, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine continues to highlight a stark geopolitical split between the Global North and the Global South. For the United States,…
Two years on: Will Washington remain a reliable ally to Ukraine?
Two years after the renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine, war weariness has descended on Washington. The initial American reaction to the attack seemed to be a fulfillment of President Joe…
Two years on: Ukraine’s integration into the European Union is driving domestic transformations
Following ten years of gradual progress towards European Union (EU) integration, driven by the impetus created by the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Ukraine applied for EU membership in the…
Two years on: Will international support stay sufficiently united behind Ukraine to pay the price for security in Europe?
As Europe contemplates further support for Ukraine, it glances furtively at what is happening in Washington DC. The internal machinations on Capitol Hill alone are not enough to stop the…
‘Countries at crossroads: UK engagement in Central Asia’: Experts respond to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s latest report
The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) published yesterday the findings from its recent inquiry into the UK’s engagement in Central Asia, the first such inquiry into the region since 1999. The…
The new great game continued? How the West is trying to get (back) to Central Asia
A decade ago, in September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched what became known in English as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Kazakh capital Astana.[1] This did…
Ukraine’s efforts to investigate conflict related sexual and gender-based violence and the role of the ‘complementarity’ in International Criminal law
Disclaimer: This article references topics that readers may find distressing and/or triggering. Sexual violence has long been part of armed conflict. Despite prohibitions against sexual violence having been…
The political economy of sanctions against Russia: Making the sanctions work as they should
Can sanctions stop the Russian Federation (RF) in its war of choice against Ukraine? The answer to this question requires an inquiry into the indirect but non-trivial link between the…
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Views from Central Asia on the UK’s Foreign Policy in the Region
The UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into the UK’s engagement in Central Asia. The aim of this inquiry is to “scrutinise the UK’s diplomatic…
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The impact of the war in Ukraine on the BRICS: Six takeaways from an expert discussion
The Russian invasion has wreaked havoc upon Ukraine and caused considerable disturbances to both global and regional politics. Debates on the future of multilateralism, multipolarity, the relevance of international organisations,…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: The geopolitical significance of the war’s impact on regional supply chains
Summary: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is turning into a war of attrition, as the battlefield has become more static and decisive battles are being fought on the home front. The…
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An (In)delicate Dance of Diplomacy? The South Caucasus Response to the Ukraine Conflict
Six leaders of former Soviet states attended the 9 May Parade on Red Square this week to commemorate the end of World War II (WWII) in Europe in 1945.[1] Among…
Humanitarian responses to the war in Ukraine: Stories from the grassroots
Two journeys: mobilising through grassroots networks. When Anna and her family of four were evacuated from Inhulets in Mykolaiv Oblast (southern Ukraine), they left their entire livelihoods behind to relocate…
The Moment of Truth: A year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
A year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Chief Editor of The Kyiv Post, Bohdan Nahaylo reflects on the war and its wider global implications. Nobody expected…
Russia’s Presidency of the UN Security Council – how States and Civil Society should respond
An arsonist is (once again) presiding over the international firefighting institution. However, there are steps states and civil society can take to push back during Russia’s Presidency of the UN…
One year on: The Ukrainian media’s resilience to Russia’s full-scale invasion
The aggressive occupation policy was started by Russia back in 2014, with the occupation of Crimea and part of the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions. The bloody war…
One year on: ‘Making do’ and the nature of unconventional humanitarian responses
One year since Russia prosecuted the invasion of Ukraine, cities, towns, and villages are systematically erased from the map, leaving millions searching for shelter and safety. In response, we have…
One year on: Russia, Ukraine and the UK’s commitment to crackdown on kleptocracy and SLAPPs
The Russian invasion into Ukraine provoked a range of responses from the UK Government, including a sudden vigour to clamp down on Russian influence and kleptocracy. These were far from…
One year on: Disinformation and the dismantling of Russian independent media
As we approach the grim one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we cannot underestimate its crushing impact on independent journalism and human rights inside Russia. Without…
One year on: The impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on Moldova
Russia’s brutal and unjustified war against Ukraine has damaged European security architecture irremediably. One year later, Ukraine is winning, Russia is losing, while the European Union and The North Atlantic…
One year on: Rethinking Germany’s defence and foreign policy
For anyone interested in contemporary Germany, the war in Ukraine has had a huge impact. First and foremost, Germany has had to rethink some fundamental tenets of its post-war…
One year on: The EU and the UK’s role in multilateral spaces
Last year’s massive escalation of the Russian invasion into Ukraine has put global and regional organisations to the test. State capacities for foreign defence and development in European Union (EU)…
One year on: Is the war creating an existential crisis inside the OSCE?
Russia’s illegal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally changed the dynamics of the Euro-Asian and Euro-Atlantic security order. It poses the gravest threat to security in the Organization…
One year on: Kyrgyzstan’s balancing act between Russia and the West
Since February 2022, the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine has rippled across the foreign policies of many countries. Central Asian countries have had to quickly adjust their foreign…
One year on: Shifting western perceptions of China and India
The war in Ukraine has had a revealing impact concerning how the West perceives Asia's two behemoths, China and India, as well as the evolving strategic expectations that the US,…
One year on: The reverberations of the war in the Middle East
A year into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the reverberations of the conflict continue to be felt across the Middle East. The centrality of the Middle East within global supply…
Old enemies make new friends: Caucasus and India-Pakistan rivalry
Summary: Ukraine is changing the world. The fact that India and Pakistan are selling arms and military consulting services in the Caucasus is symptomatic of the withering of the Russian…
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Ukraine – A war’s different seasons
We commenced our research at the beginning of June, when virtually no news was transpiring from the occupied southern regions. By the time this analysis had been peer-reviewed and published,…
The thin end of the wedge: The UK and escalating global authoritarianism
Western democracies are facing significant political upheavals and domestic crises from populism to coronavirus to Brexit – events which are diluting their core political values. Such upheavals are occurring in…
Sanctions against Russia: Why and how they work, or should work
“What’s at stake in Ukraine is the direction of human history. Humanity’s greatest political achievement has been the decline of war. That is now in jeopardy”. Yuval Noah Harari[1] …
War as a sign of weakness: Failure of reforms and of reframing the Russian nation
Putin’s war so far has achieved all the opposite to the declared goals – NATO came even closer to its borders; Ukraine became more militarised; the most loyal to neutrality,…
Armenia’s Karabakh Dilemmas and the Quest for a Golden Bridge
The Ukrainian war calls into question Russia's ability to act as a security guarantor for Karabakh Armenians. There is little to suggest that Moscow is inclined to challenge Azerbaijan's sovereignty…
How to stop Putin’s war against Ukraine
Summary Vladimir Dubrovskiy is a political economist based in Kyiv (Senior Economist at CASE Ukraine). In his commentary, Vladimir shares his understandably raw and personal views on what lies behind…
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Amid Ukraine, keep watching Belarus. That might be Putin’s real sleight of hand
We are all rightly focused on massive Russian military build-ups around Ukraine. The most recent, and potentially most menacing, is in Belarus. Grabbing control of Belarus in the process makes…
Does Russia want a new Berlin Wall?
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 it was a great victory for democracy. Experts purported the end of history and many anticipated that a linear progress away from authoritarianism…
Responding to retreating rights in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan
Over the course of 2021 the Foreign Policy Centre’s Retreating Rights project has mapped the scale of the human rights challenges in three of the five Central Asian states through…
Құқықтық шегініс – Қазақстанд: Талдамалы жазба
Қазақстан тәуелсіздігінің 30 жылдық мерейтойы қарсаңында жарияланып отырған бұл басылымда елдегі осы кезең аралығында болған өзгерістер талқыланады. Қазақстанда тұңғыш Президент Н.Назарбаев билігінің біртіндеп Президент Тоқаевқа өтуі және халықтың басым көпшілігінде…
Кіріспе: Қазақстандағы адам құқықтарына қысым көрсету туралы зерттеу
Қазақстан – бұл өз халқы мен бүкіл әлемге өзін Орталық Азияны мол жетістіктерімен танытқан мемлекет ретінде көрсету үшін аянбай тер төккен ел. Кейбір маңызды көрсеткіштер бойынша оған лайықты болып та…
Қазақстандағы адам құқықтары мен азаматтық бостандықтар: тиімділік мәселесі?
2021 жылғы 10 маусымда Қазақстан Президенті Қасым-Жомарт Тоқаев «Қазақстандағы адам құқықтары жөніндегі әрі қарайғы шаралар туралы» жарлыққа қол қойды. Ол мүмкіндігі шектеулі азаматтардың адам құқықтары, адам саудасы құрбандарының құқықтарын қамтамасыз ету,…
Конституциялық реформа – Қазақстандағы өзгерістердің негізі
Қазақстанға даму парадигмасын бір жағынан рулық капитализмнен және барлық маңызды салалардың монополизациясынан (экономикадан азаматтық қоғамға) және адамдардың мемлекетке тәуелділігін мемлекеттің күшімен еркін экономикалық дамудың құқық пен қоғамдық мүддені қорғайтын тәуелсіз…
Қазақстандағы полиция кеттлингі (kettling)
2021 жылдың 6 шілдесінде Қазақстанда Алматы қаласының полициясы бірнеше ондаған бейбіт шеруге шығушыларды қоршауға алды. Наразылық акциясы қала басшылығына шеруді өткізу туралы алдын ала хабарлау қажеттілігі туралы заң талаптарын бұзған.…
Тәуелсіз жұмысшылар ұйымдарына тұрақты қысым көрсетудің қазақстандық мысалы
Осыдан он жыл бұрын жазда Қазақстанның батысындағы жүздеген мұнайшылардың жұмыс берушілермен болған қақтығысы елдің жаңа тарихындағы ең ұзақ және ең ауыр ереуілдердің бірі ретінде қалды. Жеті ай бойы шешімі табылмаған…
COVID-19 және ақпараттық кеңістіктегі мемлекеттік бақылауды күшейту
2020 және 2021 жыл пандемия мен карантинге байланысты болған оқшаулаулаудан бастап, уақыт сайын өзгеріп отырған бостандыққа шектеу мен оны жазалау шараларын өзгертумен есте қалуда. Қазіргі кезде COVID-19-ға дейінгі кезеңмен…
COVID-19-дан кейінгі технология мен қадағалау арасындағы байланыс: Қазақстандағы цифрландыру шегі
Қазақстанда жеке деректерді қорғау COVID-19 індетіне қарсы күресте маңызды болды. Бір жағынан, цифрлық Қазақстандық ұлттық цифрландыру стратегиясының бір бөлігі ретінде денсаулық сақтауды қоса алғанда, қоғамдық өмірдің әр түрлі салаларында бетті…
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Қазақстандағы тұрмыстық зорлық -зомбылықтың шегі Тұрмыстық зорлық-зомбылық Қазақстанда бұрыннан келе жатқан күрделі мәселенің бірі. Ішкі істер министрлігі мен Бас прокуратураның ресми статистикасы кейбір сәйкессіздіктерді қоспағанда, 2017 жылдан бастап тұрмыстық зорлық-зомбылыққа…
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2020 жылдың 24 сәуірінде Қазақстан Республикасы Парламентінің төменгі палатасы Мәжілісте «Қазақстан Республикасының кейбір заңнамалық актілеріне отбасы және гендерлік саясат мәселелері бойынша өзгерістер мен толықтырулар енгізу туралы» Заң жобасын қарауға кірісті.…
Құқықтық шегініс – Қазақстанд: Қорытынды мен ұсыныстар
Қазақстан тәуелсіздігінің 30 жылдық мерейтойы қарсаңында жарияланып отырған бұл басылым елдің өз тарихында маңызды бетбұрыс кезеңінде тұрғанын көрсетті. Қазақстанда тұңғыш Президент Н.Назарбаев билігінің біртіндеп Президент Тоқаевқа өтуі және халықтың басым…
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Почти 30 лет прошло после того, как Таджикистан приобрел независимость, и страна оказалась в очень трудном положении: крайняя форма бедности в ней столкнулась с системой, которая не допускает инакомыслия. Авторитарная…
Введение: Как исчезают права в Таджикистане
Настоящая публикация является второй из серии публикаций, подготовленных "Центром внешней политики" на тему исчезающих прав. Ее целью является подготовка детального обзора ситуации, в которой находится Таджикистан, – страна, которая сталкивается…
Застрявшая между недофинансированием, авторитаризмом правительства и коррупцией: система здравоохранения в Таджикистане и риски для населения
Когда в начале 2020 года вирус COVID-19 распространился в Евразии, Эмомали Рахмон и его правительство выбрали политику отрицания кризиса в стране, которая продлилась больше 4-х месяцев. Затем 30-го апреля правительство…
Гражданское общество Таджикистана во время пандемии и после нее: основные проблемы и перспективы развития
Из-за COVID-19 и экономического кризиса в 2020 и 2021 годах в обществе появился целый ряд новых явлений и событий, значение и последствия которых нам еще предстоит осознать. Во время пандемии…
Утраченная гармония: зарождение нового Таджикистана и крушение старых надежд на лучшее
За последние десять лет почти каждая страна в Центральной Азии продемонстрировала свой суверенитет и независимость с помощью изменения архитектурного облика своей столицы и создания новых архитектурных символов свободы. Такая тенденция,…
“Во времена всеобщего обмана говорить правду – это революционный акт” – проблемы, с которыми сталкиваются свободные СМИ в Таджикистане
Власти Таджикистана восприняли слова Джорджа Оруэлла совершенно буквально: все чаще им кажется, что угроза их власти исходит со стороны СМИ и независимых журналистов, которые задают наводящие вопросы, пытаются повысить прозрачность…
Академическая свобода в Таджикистане: от давления, оказываемого на ученых, до ассимиляции с режимом Рахмона
3 марта 2021 года помощник президента Абдужаббор Рахмонзода призвал интеллектуалов к "информационной войне" с оппозицией.[1] За месяц до этого правительство Таджикистана выпустило директиву, из которой следовало, что государственные служащие могут…
Жестокое обращение и пытки: то, о чем женщины предпочитают молчать
За последнее десятилетие Коалиция гражданского общества против пыток и безнаказанности в Таджикистане задокументировала многочисленные случаи, свидетельствующие о том, что в Таджикистане женщины и девочки регулярно становятся жертвами пыток, сексуального принуждения,…
Права человека в отношении людей, живущих с ВИЧ в Таджикистане
ВИЧ – это заболевание, которое затрагивает различные сферы жизни людей, среди которых здравоохранение, юридические, трудовые и другие аспекты. Таджикистан, будучи светским и социальным государством, в основе которого лежит верховенство закона,…
Исчезающие права – Таджикистане: Выводы и рекомендации
После окончания Гражданской войны в Таджикистане становление полного авторитаризма в стране происходило постепенно. Процесс стал неизбежной реакцией на консолидацию всей власти в руках президента, а также в руках его семьи…
Election observation credibility protected, but what action should be taken against Russia?
The decision of OSCE’s election observation wing (known by the acronym ODIHR) to withdraw from observation of the forthcoming Russian Duma elections has been made to protect the credibility of…
Retreating Rights – Kazakhstan: Executive Summary
As we approach the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence this publication finds the country in a period of change. The gradual passing of the torch from First President Nazarbayev to…
Retreating Rights – Kazakhstan: Introduction
Kazakhstan is a country that has worked hard to position itself to its people and to the world as Central Asia’s success story. On a number of key measures that…
Human rights and civil liberties in Kazakhstan: A matter of efficiency?
On June 10th 2021, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree to improve the country’s human rights record. He emphasised the rights of citizens with disabilities and victims of human…
Constitutional reform is the basis for change in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan needs to change the paradigm of development from crony capitalism and the monopolisation of all important spheres (starting from the economy through to civil society) in one hand and…
Police kettling in Kazakhstan
As recently as July 6th 2021, a couple of dozens of peaceful protesters were kettled by police in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The protest was held in breach of the legal requirement…
A sustained crackdown on independent worker organising – Kazakhstan, a case study
Ten years ago this summer, hundreds of oil workers in western Kazakhstan were in the midst of a stand-off with their employers in one of longest and most consequential strikes…
COVID-19 and increased state control in the information space
2020 and 2021 so far has been a time of pandemic and quarantine, starting with an extremely difficult lockdown with restrictions on freedom and mitigation measures changing from time to…
Technology-surveillance nexus beyond COVID-19: The outskirts of digitalisation in Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, personal data protection has become critical in responding to the outbreak of COVID-19. On one hand, facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and biometrics have been chaotically introduced across different…
Alt-Right groups in Kazakhstan: How they succeeded in cancelling a Bill against domestic violence
The scope of domestic violence in Kazakhstan Domestic violence has been a serious long-standing problem in Kazakhstan. The official statistics of the Ministry of Interior and the General Prosecutor’s Office,…
‘Anti-gender’ bill and Kazakhstan’s ‘catch up’ with global conservative backlash
On April 24th 2020, Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, commenced consideration of the draft Law ‘On Introduction of Amendments and Additions to Some…
Retreating Rights – Kazakhstan: Conclusions and Recommendations
As we approach the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence this publication finds the country at an important inflection point in its history. The gradual passing of the torch from the…
Retreating Rights – Кыскача мазмун
Акыркы 15 жылда Кыргызстан учурдагы президентин үчүнчү жолу кетирип, тез жана ыраатсыз өзгөрүулөрдү башынан кечирип жаткан кези. Жыйында бул көйгөйдүн тамырлары канчалык терең кеткени чагылдырылат. Бул басылышта Кыргызстандагы укук институттарынын…
Кыргызстанда адам укуктарына жасалган басымды изилдөө
Бул “Күчү жоголуп бараткан укуктар” аттуу басылманы Кыргызстандагы тез жана башаламан болуп жаткан өзгөрүүлөрдүн убагын жыйынтыктоо аракети десе болот. Кыргызстан учурдагы абалга кандайча келип калганы, ага жараша келечекте жасалчу иш…
Кыргызстанда потенциалдуу авторитардык саясатчы шайланды: эл аралык өнөктөштөр үчүн кесепеттер жана кыргыз демократиясынын келечеги
Өз добушумду бериш үчүн Бишкекте жергиликтүү шайлоо участоктогу кезекте турганда, көңүлүмдү кунт коюп, тегерегимде эмне болуп жатканына байкоо жүргүзө баштадым. Президенттик шайлоо менен улуттук референдум коюлган 10-январь күнү кызыктуу бир…
Социалдык тармактар аркылуумобилизация жана Кыргызстандагы популизмдин өсүшү
Улутчул популизм жана онлайн саясий мобилизация АКШ, Бразилия, Улуу Британия, Түркия жана башка Европа мамлекеттерде турукташып калган демократиялык системаларына коркунуч туудурган өсүп жаткан либералдык эмес популизм автократиялык башкарууга жакын болгон…
Кыргызстандагы адам укуктарына карата болгон популизмдин жана улутчулдуктун коркунучу
2020-жылдын 6-октябрь күнү таңкы маалда Садыр Жапаров Кыргызстандын Ыссык-Көл облусунун губернаторун барымтага алганы үчүн 11-жылдык мөөнөтүн өтөп отурган кези эле. Дал он күндөн кийин Жапаров президент болуп дайындалып, бул он…
Cаясий каатчылык: улуттар аралык мамилелер коргоого алынышы керек
Кыргызстан акыркы 30 жылдын ичинде мамлекет куруу менен алек болуп, пост-советтик өлкөлөрдүн арасында саясий эң динамикалуу мамлекет катары саналууда. Кыргызстандын улуттук курамына көптөгөн этностор кирип, жалпы калк санынын 26,3% улуттук…
Жаңы чоң “шеф” келдиби? Кыргызстандагы улуттар аралык патронаждын тармактары
2020-жылы 4-октябрда болуп өткөн парламенттик шайлоолордон кийин 5-октябрдагы жыйынтыктары боюнча элдик нааразычылыктардан улам мамлекеттик төңкөрүш болгон. Ал жакта жаш саясий топтор менен ар башка оппозициялык партиялардан бир нече беделдүү саясатчылар…
COVID-19 пандемиясына көрүлгөн начар даярдыкка Кыргызстандагы саламаттык сактоо системасындагы паракорчулук айыпталууда
COVID-19 пандемиянын дүйнөлүк коомчулукка тийгизген таасири чек аралар аркылуу таркап жаткан илдетке каршы өлкөлөрдүн көргөн чараларындагы көптөгөн кемчиликтерди ачыкка чыгарган. Эгерде кээ бир мамлекеттердин көптөгөн оң жыйынтыктарга жеткендигине күбө болсок,…
Кыргызстандын жасалма демократиясында коррупциянын “өзгөрбөс чоңдук” болуп эсептелүүсү
Көөн айныгыча коррупция менен күрөштү жүргүзүү Кылымдын бир чейрегинен ашуун бир катар кыргыз саясатчылары алдап, Батыш мамлекеттердин колдоосун алууга күн мурунтан убада алуу максатында демократияны идеологиялык оюн катары колдонуп келе…
Кыргызстандагы укук коргоо ишмердүүлүгүнөн жарандык активизмге өтүү
Жарандык коом секторун мактаган жана ошол эле учурда аны куугунтукка алган Кыргызстан сыяктуу башка мамлекетти табуу кыйын болор. Мындай мамлекетте бейөкмөт уюмдар дилетант-мамлекетинин ичиндеги боорукердик менен макулдашылгандык жок болгондугун жашыруу…
Көпүрө астынан: Троллинг жана Кыргызстандагы көз карандысыз маалымат каражаттарынын куугунтукталышы
2019-жылы ноябрь айында “Азаттык” радиосу (“Эркин Европа” / “Азаттык» радиосунун кыргыз кызматы), Уюшкан кылмыштуулук жана коррупцияны изилдөө борбору (OCCRP) жана анын Кыргызстандагы Kloop.kg өнөктөш борбору Кыргызстандын Бажы кызматындагы кеңири жайылган…
Кыргызстан: Эмне учун Борбордук Азиянын “Швейцариясы” деп эсептелген өлкөдө акыркы 20 жылда адам укуктары басмырланып келе жатат?
Кыскача мазмуну Кыргыз Республикасы эгемендикке жеткенине 20 жылдан ашып өттү. Ал убакта Кыргызстан Борбордук Азиянын “Швейцариясына” айлануу жана өлкөнү жаңы мүмкүнчүлүктөр үчүн ачуу деген амбициялык программасына ээ болуп, базар экономикасын…
Корутунду жана сунуштамалар: Абалды турукташтыруу
“Күчү жоголуп бараткан укуктар” аттуу басылма бүгүнкү күндө Кыргызстан дуушар болуп жаткан маселелердин масштабын көрсөтүү далалатын ишке ашырды. Саясий аренадагы болуп жаткан окуялар Кыргызстан элине бир эле “кинону” кайталап көрсөтүп…
Retreating Rights – Tajikistan: Executive Summary
After almost 30 years of independence, Tajikistan finds itself in a very difficult place, combining extreme poverty with a system that brooks no dissent. Tajikistan’s descent into authoritarianism has taken…
Retreating Rights – Tajikistan: Introduction
A brief history of Tajikistan Tajikistan is situated between Kyrgyzstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Afghanistan to the south and China to the east, comprising parts of the…
Stuck between underinvestment, government authoritarianism and corruption: The healthcare system in Tajikistan and the risks for the population
As the COVID-19 virus spread in Eurasia in early 2020, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and his government chose to deny the crisis for more than four months, then acknowledged on…
Tajik civil society during and after the pandemic: Main challenges and development prospects
In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 and the economic crisis have brought a whole range of new phenomena and events into society, the significance and consequences of which we have yet…
The broken promises of development in Tajikistan
Khujand, Tajikistan In 2015, a Chinese construction firm, Pekin (Beijing), embarked on an ambitious plan to build a so-called ‘Chinatown’ in Khujand City, Tajikistan. With 15 high-rise buildings, meant to…
Loss of harmony: The rise of a new Tajikistan and the fall of old aspirations for the better
In the past ten years, almost every Central Asian republic has been demonstrating its sovereignty and independence through redevelopment of the architectural image of its capital city and the creation…
“In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – The challenges facing free media in Tajikistan
The authorities in Tajikistan have taken George Orwell’s words to the letter, as they have increasingly come to regard media outlets and independent journalists who ask probing questions, attempt to…
Academic freedom in Tajikistan: From suppression of scholars to incorporation into Rahmon’s regime
On March 3rd 2021, presidential aide, Abdujabbor Rahmonzoda, called on intellectuals to wage an ‘information war’ on the opposition.[1] A month earlier, the Government of Tajikistan had issued a directive…
Ill-treatment and torture: Something about which women choose to remain silent
Over the past decade, the Coalition of Civil Society against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan has documented numerous cases indicating that women and girls in Tajikistan are regularly victims of…
Low women’s political participation in Tajikistan: Will the anti-discrimination law be a solution?
Setting the scene: gender (in)equality in Tajikistan Among Central Asian countries, Tajikistan rates lowest in internationally comparable indices of gender equality. With the score of 0.626 in the Global Gender…
Human rights of people living with HIV in Tajikistan
HIV is a disease that affects various spheres of people's life, including healthcare, legal, labour and other aspects. Tajikistan, being a rule of law based secular and social state, adopted…
Retreating Rights – Tajikistan: Conclusions and recommendations
Tajikistan’s dissent into full authoritarianism has taken place gradually, but inexorably since the end of the Civil War as the President has consolidated power into his own hands and those…
Retreating Rights – Kyrgyzstan: Executive Summary
Kyrgyzstan has just experienced another period of rapid and chaotic change, the third time the country has overthrown an incumbent President in the last 15 years. This publication shows how…
Retreating Rights – Kyrgyzstan: Introduction
Introduction: Examining the pressure on human rights in Kyrgyzstan This publication, Retreating Rights, is an attempt to take stock of another period of rapid and chaotic change in Kyrgyzstan,…
Violent change of government in Kyrgyzstan amidst COVID-19 pandemic: Patronal presidentialism, oligarchisation of politics, and public indignation with corruption and rigged elections
On October 5th 2020, several thousand Kyrgyz citizens poured in the main square of the capital Bishkek to denounce fraudulent elections. By the late evening of that day, this unexpected…
Kyrgyzstan elects a potential strongman: Implications for international partners and the future of Kyrgyz democracy
As I queue to cast my vote at a local polling station in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, I am all eyes and ears. I hope to catch anything irregular on…
Social media mobilisation and the rise of populism in Kyrgyzstan
Nationalist populism and online political mobilisation The rising illiberal populism that imperils even established democracies including the US, Brazil, the UK, Turkey, and many European countries, has become a favourite…
The populist and nationalist threat to human rights in Kyrgyzstan
On the morning of October 6th 2020, Sadyr Japarov was in jail, serving an 11-year sentence for kidnapping the Governor of Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk Kul region. Ten days later Japarov was…
Political crisis: Interethnic relations must be protected
Kyrgyzstan has been nation-building for the last 30 years and it is seen as one of the most politically dynamic post-soviet countries. Kyrgyzstan has an ethnically diverse population, with minorities…
A new big boss? Interethnic patronage networks in Kyrgyzstan
Following the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan on October 4th 2020, a coup d'état took place on October 5th as a result of popular discontent with the results of parliamentary elections.…
Corruption in Kyrgyzstan healthcare blamed for disastrous response to COVID-19
COVID-19’s impact on the global community revealed many inefficiencies in how the countries responded to the spread of the pandemic across borders. While some states have achieved promising results, others…
Corruption – the only constant of Kyrgyzstan’s faux democracy
Fighting corruption ad nauseam For more than a quarter of a century, a number of Kyrgyz politicians have been using democracy as an ideological play to bamboozle and win the…
Down from human rights activity to activism in Kyrgyzstan
You may struggle to find a country that praises civil society sector and persecutes it simultaneously as much as Kyrgyzstan; where non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are needed most to cover up…
Media landscape in Kyrgyzstan: Caught between elite capture and control of political and business interests
The media system of Kyrgyzstan Andrei Richter, now the Director of the OSCE Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, categorises the key commonalities in the media systems of…
Out from under the bridge: Trolling and harassment of independent media in Kyrgyzstan
In November 2019, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Radio Azattyk, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its Kyrgyz member centre, Kloop.kg, published their joint investigation into widespread corruption…
Kyrgyzstan: Why human rights have been declining over the last 20 years and what happened to the ‘Switzerland’ of Central Asia?
Summary It has been more than two decades since the Kyrgyz Republic became independent. At that time, Kyrgyzstan had an ambitious agenda to become a ‘Switzerland’ of Central Asia and…
Retreating Rights – Kyrgyzstan: Conclusions and recommendations
Resolving the situation This Retreating Rights publication has tried to set out the scale of the challenges facing Kyrgyzstan today. The people of Kyrgyzstan have seen the same movie several…
Chișinău to London: A story about big money and small information
When you are a journalist from the poorest country in Europe, you have to write stories about poverty. When you see the poverty deepening for years, while the state elite…
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…
The key role of workers in Belarus’ post-electoral upheaval
The 2020 Presidential election in Belarus has turned out considerably different from previous elections. The assault on democracy during the run up to the elections was pretty standard: candidates excluded,…
За Блеском: Пандемия и Гражданские Свободы в Узбекистане
А вот и армейская машина с огромным громкоговорителем, похожим на советскую реликвию, выкрикивая всем известные карантинные указания, типа «Оставайтесь дома. Выходите только по необходимости. Берегите себя», - чтобы сообщество соблюдало…
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…
Uzbekistan’s slow path to democratisation
Real change in a country takes many years as populists who come to power soon find out. It cannot be achieved just by a clicking of fingers and a Picard-esque…
Spotlight on Uzbekistan: Russian translations
This new publication shines a spotlight on Uzbekistan and finds that the much talked about reform process is real, but so are the significant holes in it. Please see below…
Экономические реформы в Узбекистане: достижения, проблемы, перспективы
Узбекская экономическая модель Узбекистан, как независимое государство, появился на карте мира в 1991 году. В стране начались реформы, которые должны были создать основы для функционирования рыночной экономики. Однако в 1996…
Пороки перестройки в Узбекистане: Восхождение стекла и блеска
Страны Центральной Азии стараются построить стратегию национального брендинга путем перестройки своих столиц. Этот процесс можно повсеместно наблюдать в бывших советских республиках: Казахстан построил Астану (ныне Нур-Султан) - столицу современности и…
Реабилитация здесь и сейчас: Обеспечение правосудия переходного периода в Узбекистане
Нам срочно необходима структура, не зависящая от государственной системы исправительных учреждений, которая будет иметь полномочия на разработку средств правовой защиты по отдельным делам, связанным с прошлыми и текущими злоупотреблениями. Формирование…
Russian Empire: between Historic Myth and Contemporary Reality
Little more than a century ago, one of Russia’s most famous painters – an active participant in the imperial army’s conquest of Central Asia – caused a scandal in London’s…
Religion and Forced Displacement in the Eastern Orthodox World: Executive Summary
This Policy Report examines the relationship between religion-state relations, forced displacement, religious diplomacy and human security in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, with a focus on eight countries in the region,…
Religion and Forced Displacement in the Republic of Armenia
Introduction After the collapse of the Soviet Union and its newly gained independence in 1991, the Republic of Armenia (RA) underwent profound demographic changes. Since the late 1980s, the country…
Religion and Forced Displacement in Bulgaria
Introduction The modern Bulgarian state emerged on the map of Europe in 1878. Since then, it has experienced a series of forced displacement acts, either as the receiving state or…
Religion and Forced Displacement in Georgia
Introduction Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia has witnessed three large waves of internal forced migration as a result of armed conflicts. The armed conflicts in the breakaway…
Religion and Forced Displacement in Greece
After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Greece, until then a country of emigration, became a receiving country for immigrants primarily from the Balkan region. This migratory inflow diversified in…
Religion and Forced Displacement in the Republic of Moldova
Introduction Large-scale emigration has represented the single most important social - and even existential - challenge to the Republic of Moldova since the country proclaimed its independence in August 1991.…
Religion and Forced Displacement in Russia
Introduction The Russian Federation is a unique example of a country where changes in society’s cultural atmosphere and religious consciousness depended more on forced displacement than on inner natural changes.…
Religion and Forced Displacement in Serbia
Introduction The civil war (1992 – 1995) which followed the dissolution of communist Yugoslavia had significant political, economic, and social consequences for the region. One of the most important social…
Religion and Forced Displacement in Ukraine
This paper examines how Ukrainian religious associations have addressed the forced displacement caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in 2014. At the out set there will be a brief…
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…
Introducing Mirziyoyev’s Uzbekistan
Spotlight on Uzbekistan In September 2016, longstanding Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev assumed the Presidency of Uzbekistan following the death of President Islam Karimov, the despotic ruler who had dominated the…
Economic reforms in Uzbekistan: Achievements, problems, perspectives
The Uzbek economic model As an independent state, Uzbekistan appeared on the world map in 1991. The country launched reforms that were supposed to create a base for running a…
The investment climate in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has the most diversified economy in Central Asia, with significant mineral and metals wealth, including gold, as well as textiles and services, and the largest population in the region.[1]…
Corruption and reform in Uzbekistan: The elephant is still in the room
When Uzbekistan’s first post-Soviet President, Islam Karimov, passed away in September 2016, he left behind a complex legacy. Uzbekistan had not suffered prolonged instability, armed conflict, or state-failure, like in…
Reversing brain drain is the key to Uzbekistan’s future
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens economies and has disrupted societies everywhere. To recover, restore, and rebuild, every country will need to lean on expertise and the very best of its human…
The perils of rebuilding Uzbekistan: The rise of glass and glitter
Central Asian countries have attempted to build their nation branding strategies through redesigning their capital cities. The process can be widely observed in former Soviet republics with Kazakhstan that built…
Media landscape in Uzbekistan
Scorched earth: media in Uzbekistan between 2005 and 2016 Under the rule of President Islam Karimov (1991-2016), the media in Uzbekistan experienced significant pressure. The total domination of the media…
Challenges NGOs in Uzbekistan are still facing
Overview of NGOs in Uzbekistan According to the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan the total number of registered non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country as of 2020 exceeded 10,000.[1] The…
Rebranding Uzbek cotton: An opportunity for lasting reform
A Toxic Legacy The spectre of the use of child and forced labour to pick cotton haunts the Uzbek government to this day. At its peak, the government orchestrated the…
Rehabilitation here and now: Pursuing transitional justice in Uzbekistan
We urgently need a structure independent of the state’s prison administration that will have the authority to devise remedies in individual cases of past and ongoing abuse. The creation of…
Is President Shavkat Mirziyoyev a reformer or a follower of the Karimov dictatorship?
Over the past 15 years, more than 600 civil society activists have been subjected to politically motivated persecution in Uzbekistan.[1] At least half of these have been tortured and imprisoned,…
Uzbekistan: on the brink of social explosion
The socio-political situation in Uzbekistan has been tense in recent years but now in many areas a crisis may be unfolding in the wake of the pandemic. As the economic…
COVID-19: Actions taken in Uzbekistan
Since March 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic, along with the world economies has had a negative impact on Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan. The pandemic and economic crisis have affected…
The pursuit of an uneasy balance: post-Karimov Uzbekistan and the Great Powers
Foreign policy continuity in the aftermath of leadership change has normally defined the evolution of Central Asian politics in the post-Soviet era. A strict policy of Neutrality characterised the international…
Conclusion and recommendations: A road map for future reforms in Uzbekistan
Spotlight on Uzbekistan has sought to examine the state of the reform process in the country across a wide range of areas, the perhaps unsurprising headline conclusion is that a…
If Labour wants to put human rights at the heart of its foreign policy, it needs to talk more about Putin’s Russia
On April 4th 2020 Keir Starmer was voted in as new leader of the Labour Party by a considerable margin against his rivals. One of his key campaign pledges was…
The curious case of the Republic of Karakalpakstan
The fall of the Soviet Union led to the emergence of the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They all had been Socialist Soviet Republics (SSR)…
The impact of Covid-19: A case for maintaining external aid commitments and international cooperation
In conflict affected and vulnerable regions around the world the impact from and reactions to Covid-19 are differentiated. Different countries find themselves at varying stages of the pandemic. The situation is variable according to…
Balancing the conflict between the rights to health and religion in Georgia
Health is a public good and a fundamental requirement necessary to enjoy a number of other rights including right to freedom of religion. The right to health has been codified…
A global and deadly virus becomes a tool for political repression in Azerbaijan
Beaten students, poor hospital facilities, changes in legislation, arrests of political foes - this is how Azerbaijan has been dealing with COVID19 pandemic that has reached the country’s borders in…
FPC Briefing: The Deconstruction of Diyarbakır’s old centre
'The Deconstruction of Diyarbakır’s old centre: Violating international law and disregarding the interests of local populations' was drafted by Zekeriyya Yahya Karapinar, consultant with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), and…
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Italy and Central Asia, a ‘proxy friendship’ or a serious foreign policy commitment?
In March 2019, Italy was the first main European country, and the first G7 member, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China on its infrastructure strategy, the Belt and…
De-radicalisation tactics in the North Caucasus can serve as a lesson and a warning
As Britain was shaken by its third terrorist attack in as many months, the Conservative government was quick to respond by calling for tougher sentencing for all those convicted of…
Passing on the authoritarian torch: power transition in Central Asia
Three decades after gaining independence, the Central Asian republics have recently experienced changes in their leadership. The rulers that were in charge before the collapse of the Soviet Union are,…
The last year in Azerbaijan: the highs and lows
2019 was a year not without its highs and lows in the land of fire - Azerbaijan. From a snap decision to dismiss the national parliament, to the release of…
Pleasing China, appeasing at home: Central Asia and the Xinjiang camps
Around 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups have been interned in China’s westernmost region of Xinjiang.[1] While the Chinese authorities say they are there of their own free…
Understanding the Romanian Diaspora: A Strategically Important Network
The Political Geography of In-betweenness There is often a complex relationship between Diasporas and their homelands. This issue was previously examined in the first paper of the ‘Understanding the Romanian…
State-building myths in Central Asia
Countries all over the world have gone through the process of forming and developing national myths that give them their raison d’être, inspiring its citizens looking back at the forefathers.…
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,…
Introduction: Addressing human rights challenges in Eastern Europe’s grey zones
If the defence of human rights is to be truly universal it is important to examine whether and how these rights can still be protected even in spaces that fall…
Human rights behind unsettled borders
Who is accountable for human rights violations in de facto states? The de facto authorities, the patron or the parent state? Regardless of the answers to that question, there is…
Between frontiers: The ambiguous status of the ‘grey zones’ of Eastern Europe under international human rights law
There are several Eastern European states within the Council of Europe where as a consequence of a frozen or active armed conflict, or annexation, the title-bearing state is unable to…
Clarity and consistency versus fudge and constructive ambiguity in the European strategy of engagement with de facto states
A number of territories on Europe’s eastern fringe have existed as de facto political entities outside the jurisdiction of the metropoles from which they separated in a time of internal…
Election season for the civil society in the unrecognised republics of Caucasus
This essay aims to shed light on the situation of non-profit and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the ‘unrecognised’ republics of South Caucasus; to present the current problems that civil society…
Development as the Key for Conflict Resolution
The last three decades have brought about a new revolution in the way the world functions and operates, with immense technological developments taking place. The spread and introduction of technological…
South Ossetia: rights and freedoms in an unrecognised state
Writing an article about the human rights situation in South Ossetia is a difficult task. First, no one has done this for a long time. Secondly, there is a problem…
Georgia’s responses to ‘borderisation’
Existing conflict: overview[1] Eleven years since Russia's invasion of Georgia, Russia still seeks to erode Georgia’s sovereignty and has a detrimental impact on its human rights record. In a process…
Nagorno-Karabakh: The contrast between dream and reality may result in a wind of change
Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory of contrasts. There is an obvious pride among the population of the region based on its rich history, nature, green mountains and natural resources, including gold.…
On Crimea
At the end of March 2019, 20 people were detained in Crimea on one day, with 23 people arrested in total.[1] These were Crimean Muslims accused of participating in the…
Education and Information – the golden passport for young Transnistrians
Imagine that you are young, hardworking and have just been accepted to one of the best universities in Europe, you even got a scholarship that covers your expenses, but your…
Conclusions and Recommendations
This collection of essays has sought to provide a platform for a range of different views about some of the most challenging debates in human rights and peace building. It…
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…
Introduction: Putting the spotlight on Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a country often overlooked and one that has often courted its own isolation. When international attention is paid the focus tends to be either on the size of…
Food lines in a land of marble
On June 5th 2019 in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat, dozens of people lined up outside a state store where they heard there was sugar for sale.[1] Four years ago, there were…
A complex and opaque destination for investment
Turkmenistan is a complex and opaque destination for investment. The business climate is characterised by structural economic problems and general economic mismanagement, with the prioritisation of vanity projects over core…
A tale of four pipelines: The international politics of Turkmen natural gas
On 23rd February 2018, the leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, alongside top government representatives from Pakistan and India, gathered in Herat to inaugurate the Afghan sector of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India [TAPI]…
Conclusions and recommendations
This report has shown Turkmenistan to be a country teetering on the edge of catastrophe. An obsession with appearance that speaks to a need for public display and regimented control,…
Far from a pro-Russian dove, Volodymyr Zelensky enters office a Russia hawk
With his inauguration today, the presidency of Volodymyr Zelensky is upon us. Zelensky, a political outsider who ran on an explicitly anti-establishment platform and ousted incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in…
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…
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…
The pushback of asylum seekers from the North Caucasus and Central Asia at the Polish border
The situation at the Belarusian-Polish border For many years, refugees from countries of the former Soviet Union have transited through Belarus in order to seek international protection in Poland. The…
Events in this programme
Can Britain be a ‘force for good’ in Central Asia?
The Foreign Policy Centre is hosting a webinar to explore how the UK can be a ‘force for good’ in Central Asia. After a year of political turbulence, in both Central Asia and the UK, the discussion will be an opportunity to take stock of some of the key challenges and opportunities facing Britain’s role in the region. Particularly, in relation to what it can do to support good governance, human ...
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Speakers
Prof. Kristian Lasslett, Professor at Ulster University and Co-Director Uz Investigations
Dr Khalida Azhigulova, Associate Professor at Eurasian Technological University
Dr Aijan Sharshenova, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek
Chair: Adam Hug, Director of the Foreign Policy Centre
When
December 15, 2022
11:00am-12:00pm UK time
Where
This event will be taking place on Zoom.
How to keep Europe safe: Co-operation between the UK, Germany and beyond
This timely event, organised jointly by the Foreign Policy Centre and the Aston Centre for Europe, will bring together three key speakers to consider the security challenges facing the UK and Europe in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the potential opportunities for, and obstacles to, co-operation between the UK, Germany and more widely to address them. Speakers: – Rt Hon John Healey MP: John Healey is Shadow ...
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Speakers
Rt Hon John Healey MP
Baroness Catherine Ashton GCMG, PC
Nils Schmid MdB
Moderated by Dr. Ed Turner
When
December 7, 2022
6:00pm-7:30pm (UK time)
Where
Portcullis House, London, SW1A 2JR
The Great Enabler: SLAPPs, Sanctions & the UK’s Kleptocracy Problem
The current reforms proposed by the UK Government to address SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) have been widely seen as a part of their response to the ongoing war in Ukraine. While interest in SLAPPs had already been growing, the Ministry of Justice launched their call for evidence on SLAPPs in March 2022, just two weeks after the Russian invasion started. Speakers will discuss what, if anything, has ...
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Speakers
Catherine Belton, Investigative journalist and author of Putin’s People
Galina Arapova, Media Defence Lawyer, Russia
Franz Wild, Editor, The Enablers Project, The Bureau for Investigative Journalists
Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the APPG on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax
Chair: Edward Lucas, Author, European and transatlantic security consultant and fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)
When
November 29, 2022
6:00pm-7:30pm UK Time
Where
London and Online
Azerbaijan: SLAPPs, media freedom and the prevention of ‘open justice’
Join us for a discussion on media freedom and democracy through the lens of reporting on the Azerbaijani Laundromat. SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) are frequently part of a much bigger picture – one about censorship and corruption, not just abroad, but increasingly in the UK too. This event will highlight the impact that the UK’s facilitation of corrupt wealth stolen by elites in autocratic regimes has on ...
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Speakers
Khadija Ismayilova, Independent investigative journalist, Azerbaijan
Paul Radu, Investigative journalist, Co-founder and Chief of Innovation, OCCRP
Dr Susan Hawley, Executive Director, Spotlight on Corruption
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor, Evening Standard
Chair: Susan Coughtrie, Deputy Director, Foreign Policy Centre
When
November 28, 2022
6:00pm-7:30pm UK Time
Where
London and Online
Defending Press Freedom in Times of Tension and Conflict
UK launch of the Safety of Journalists Platform 2022 Annual Report. This event is being hosted by the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Safety of Journalists Platform, the mechanism which reports on serious threats to the safety of journalists and media freedom in Europe, and the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC). The event is the UK launch for the Safety of Journalists Platform’s 2022 Annual Report. The report examines the key ...
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Speakers
Fabian Hamilton MP, Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament
Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia, Article 19
William Horsley, Media Freedom Representative of the Association of European Journalists
Jessica Ní Mhainín, Policy & Campaigns Manager, Index on Censorship
Chair: Susan Coughtrie, Project Director at the FPC
When
May 18, 2022
6:00pm-7:30pm (UK time)
Where
Committee Room 8, Houses of Parliament, London, SW1A 0AA