Gender-based violence
In many countries, gender-based violence remained at a high level. In Georgia, high-ranking officials routinely used misogynistic and sexist rhetoric. Female demonstrators were subjected to gender-based human rights violations, including threats of sexual violence and humiliating body searches. The Russian parliament did not consider legislation to protect against domestic violence, despite support for such legislation from a majority of the population. In Tajikistan, the number of domestic violence cases increased by 15 percent compared to the previous year.
Governments must urgently combat all forms of gender-based violence and its causes.
Right to freedom of religion and belief
Reports of measures to suppress the right to freedom of religion and belief were received from numerous Eastern European and Central Asian countries. These included, for example, strict registration requirements and the use of “anti-extremism” laws against religious minorities.
In Belarus, religious organizations were required to re-register through an opaque process; participation in the activities of unregistered organizations was prohibited. Clergy who did not conform to government policy were persecuted. In Kyrgyzstan, a restrictive law came into effect in early 2025 prohibiting unregistered religious activities and the wearing of certain religious clothing. An Adventist church was labeled “extremist” and banned in March. Russian authorities continued the arbitrary prosecution and detention of Jehovah’s Witnesses and targeted other religious groups as well. In Ukraine, authorities took further steps to dissolve the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), accusing it of having links with the Russian Orthodox Church. UN experts criticized the legislation underlying the process and the “equating of religious affiliation with threats to national security.”
Governments must take effective legal and political measures to protect, promote, and guarantee the right to freedom of religion and belief. Religious communities must not be discriminated against or persecuted.
Rights of refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons
Millions of people were affected by displacement in 2025, particularly in Ukraine. In Armenia, authorities continued to fail to provide sufficient housing and employment opportunities for the more than 100,000 people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, in 2023. Authorities in Belarus continued to force refugees and migrants to cross borders into EU countries, reportedly using violence. In Russia, children were required to pass a Russian language test and provide proof that they and their parents had entered the country legally in order to attend school, effectively excluding most migrants from education. Tajik authorities took measures to deport Afghan refugees.
Governments must ensure that all people fleeing persecution and human rights violations can access international protection and are not sent back to countries where they face serious human rights violations.
Right to a healthy environment
Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2025 led to enormous environmental damage, and the country’s military strikes threatened nuclear security. Independent climate activists were suppressed in Russia and Belarus, forcing many into exile.
Climate protection pledges were not kept or were further weakened. The governments of many countries increased their dependence on fossil fuels and intensified their extraction. Kazakhstan relied even more heavily on coal and appeared to be turning away from the goal of a green transformation. The country’s president publicly declared that climate change was “apparently a huge hoax.” In Moldova, climate protection projects were jeopardized by a lack of funding. Although Uzbekistan declared a year of the “green economy,” the country continued to suffer from severe air pollution, as did Belarus and other countries in the Europe and Central Asia region.
Water remained a scarce resource in 2025, particularly in Central Asia. Access to clean water was a major problem for the people of Tajikistan. According to official figures, 85 percent of the population was not connected to the sewage system, and in rural areas, this figure was almost 100 percent. Turkmenistan suffered from water scarcity, and the authorities did nothing to ensure adequate water supplies, undermining food security. In the Russian-occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine, the de facto authorities failed to take effective measures to address the water shortage.
High-emission countries must lead by example in addressing climate change, including by reducing the extraction of fossil fuels. Governments must act immediately to protect their populations from the dangers and impacts of climate change.
WESTERN EUROPE, CENTRAL EUROPE AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE
Many countries in Western, Central, and Southeastern Europe failed to back up their public commitment to upholding international law with corresponding actions. Some governments categorically refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Several countries continued to supply weapons to Israel. Almost everywhere, governments cracked down on expressions of solidarity with Palestinians by criminalizing dissenting opinions and responding to protests with unlawful violence. At the same time, they failed to meet their international legal obligations to end the genocide in the Gaza Strip. In 2025, some states intensified their efforts to undermine the international legal order, including through attacks on the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Governments attempted, at both the national and European institutional levels, to weaken the protective measures enshrined in European human rights conventions. Several states deliberately pursued strategies to outsource their responsibility for conducting fair and lawful asylum procedures and fulfilling their protection obligations to other countries.
Access to abortion improved in some countries, while in others it remained restricted, and those who advocated for the right to abortion faced persecution and criminalization. Well-funded campaigns against the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI+) people led to increased discrimination and violence against these individuals in many places. Millions continued to live in poverty or fell into poverty. Some governments introduced regressive measures that could lead to increased homelessness or hinder access to health services and other essential services. Thousands lost access to social benefits because decision-making mechanisms in many countries were discriminatory. There were increasing reports of hate crimes against racialized people, Roma, and those perceived as Muslim or Jewish. Natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change, resulted in fatalities and property damage, particularly in Southern European countries.
While some states actively implemented climate protection measures, others fell short of their commitments. Human rights defenders were harassed and imprisoned in many countries of Western, Central, and Southeastern Europe.
Irresponsible arms exports
Several countries in Western, Central, and Southeastern Europe continued to supply weapons to Israel in 2025, despite UN experts calling for an immediate halt to such exports. Germany reversed its previous export ban in November, and France continued to approve the export of military equipment. The United Kingdom and the Czech Republic continued to supply weapons to Israel, and Serbia even increased its exports. Many other countries, such as Ireland, Portugal, and Slovenia, did not prevent arms shipments to Israel from passing through their airspace or ports.
Governments should halt arms deliveries to countries where there is a significant risk that these will be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations or breaches of international humanitarian law.
impunity
In blatant disregard of the ICC, Hungary and Poland refused in early 2025 to execute the international arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant. Italy did not extradite Osama Elmasry Njeem, a member of a Libyan militia accused of serious human rights violations, to the ICC.
In Turkey, those responsible for human rights violations continued to enjoy impunity. Among them were security forces accused of torturing and mistreating peaceful demonstrators.
Governments must do everything in their power to combat impunity and hold those allegedly responsible accountable, including by executing arrest warrants issued by international courts.
Rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.
In numerous countries in Western, Central and Southeastern Europe, authorities cracked down on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in 2025, including through unlawful surveillance, criminalization of peaceful activities and various forms of intimidation.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia, proposed or adopted laws on “foreign agents” and similar provisions threatened the scope of action of civil society. In Croatia, Poland, and other countries, the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP lawsuits) created a climate of fear and self-censorship among media professionals and dissidents. UN Special Rapporteurs expressed concern that the Serbian government and pro-government media were “systematically” attempting to discredit human rights defenders, election observers, and journalists.
In many countries, the rights to freedom of assembly and expression have been unlawfully restricted, and protected forms of freedom of expression as well as acts of civil disobedience have been criminalized. Authorities in some countries have instrumentalized broadly interpreted anti-terrorism laws to punish and stigmatize people who expressed dissenting views. Climate activists and those who denounced Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been particularly affected. For example, in the United Kingdom, the group Palestine Action was designated a “terrorist group” and banned in July 2025, triggering a wave of peaceful civil disobedience. During the numerous peaceful protests, security forces made at least 2,700 arrests by the end of the year. A judicial review of the ban on Palestine Action was pending at the end of 2025.
Governments must abolish or refrain from enacting laws and measures that restrict the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association. Furthermore, they must cease using pretexts to suppress criticism.
