Human rights

Lilit Martorysyan is Armenia's most propminent transgender activist. In 2019 she addressed the Parliament, calling for protection and respect for her community. Her brief and healt-felt speech prompted political and diplomatic arguments, but it also marked a landmark step for LGBTI rights in the country. © Mania Israyelyan

Armenia: “I Was Born in a Body That Was Not Mine”

Country’s most prominent transgender activist describes her struggle to protect her community from discrimination and violence.

31 Mar 22

Larisa Kalik, 24, left her native Transnistria in spring 2020. Her book "The Youth Year", which describes the dire conditions young men face in the mandatory military service, attracted the ire of the authorities in Moldova's breakaway region. © Photo courtesy of Larisa Kalik

The Transnistrian Dissident Who Fled to Ukraine

A young activist who documented the dire conditions in the Transnistrian army found herself in Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

30 Mar 22

An internally displaced woman from Abkhazia hangs laundry from the window of her room in Kartli. © David Mdzinarishvili

Georgia: IDP’s Death Reopens Debate Over Housing

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been living in dire conditions for decades.

22 Mar 22

Counter protesters celebrated by dancing and singing in front of parliament, where they tore down the US and EU flags and replaced them with a black iron cross. © Davit Mdzinarishvili/IWPR

Georgia: LGBTI Activists Fear Far-Right Alliances

Could a toxic partnership be developing between mainstream politics and extremists?

23 Feb 22

Beatings and torture, long an issue of concern, have become commonplace in Belarus since people first rose up to protest the elections in August 2020. © Andrew Keymaster/Unsplash

Belarus: Police Violence Continues

Beatings and torture, long an issue of concern, have become commonplace since the August 2020 uprising.

22 Feb 22

Marin Pavlescu, 19, left his mandatory military service as he denounced that he was harassed because of his homosexuality, sparking a debate about the army and LGBT rights in Moldova. © Marin Pavlescu

Moldova: A Soldier’s Coming Out Sparks Debate

The case of 18-year-old gay recruit who refused to finish his mandatory military service due to harassment has set off a wider discussion about LGBT rights.

7 Feb 22

January 5, 2022 Kazak government declared a nationwide state of emergency after protests over a fuel price hike erupted into clashes and saw demonstrators storm government buildings. © ABDUAZIZ MADYAROV/AFP via Getty Images

Kazak Human Rights Activists Fear Crackdown

Experts predict further prosecutions and tightened censorship in the wake of unrest.

13 Jan 22

Kenyan security personnel seen in Nairobi.

Kenya: Security Forces Blamed for Rise in Forced Disappearances

Only around one in three of all those abducted return alive.

7 Jan 22

In the hope to cross into the European Union, refugees camp in freezing conditions along the barbed wire fence marking the border between Poland and Belarus. © Polish Ministry of Defense

Belarus: Refugee Crisis Not Yet Out of The Woods

While some asylum seekers have been moved to temporary accommodation, the underlying issues remain unresolved.

26 Nov 21

A school in the Gali region of Abkhazia, where the de-facto government recently made the decision to ban Georgian as the language of instruction, meaning that Georgian students there will now have to learn their native tongue as a foreign language. © IWPR

Abkhazia: Georgian Now Only Taught as a Foreign Language

All students have to learn in Russian, in a move condemned as “an obvious manifestation of racial discrimination”.

3 Nov 21

Support our journalists

Donate