EU Annual Review Finds Backsliding on Rights in Uzbekistan and Shrinking Freedoms Across Central Asia

The European Union's annual country assessments, published on August 11, 2025, conclude that Uzbekistan experienced a marked deterioration in human rights and democratic standards during the year, with "барқарор равишда ёмонлашишда давом этди" — a steady continuation of decline — across almost all measured areas. The report highlights increasing constraints on freedom of expression, persistent pressure on independent media, and mounting limits on civil and political rights despite the government's stated reform agenda.

According to the EU, the authorities in Tashkent have scaled back commitments to treat human-rights issues as a priority. The report documents prosecutions and imprisonment of journalists, bloggers and human-rights defenders; restrictions on peaceful assembly; and legal measures that hamper the work and financing of non-governmental organizations. It notes Uzbekistan’s placement at 148th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index as a reflection of the growing risks faced by media professionals.

The assessment singles out a lack of progress in implementing international recommendations after recent political milestones. Following a 2023 constitutional referendum, presidential and subsequent 2024 parliamentary elections, the EU says Tashkent has shown no meaningful movement on recommendations from the OSCE, nor on suggestions made during the UN’s Universal Periodic Review. New domestic measures criticized in the report include tighter controls on NGO registration and foreign funding, restrictions on foreign travel for civil society actors that require advance notification, and the increased use of closed court hearings.

While the EU recorded some positive steps in Uzbekistan on environmental protection and social policy, it stressed that such advances have not altered the overall negative trend in civic and political rights. The report was released as Brussels seeks to deepen political and economic ties with Central Asian states—a diplomatic backdrop in which Moscow and Beijing continue to exert strong regional influence.

The EU’s review extends beyond Uzbekistan and paints a bleak picture across the region. Kazakhstan presents a "mixed picture," the report says: institutional and political reforms coexist with a pronounced contraction of civic space, including tighter control over NGOs and growing pressure on journalists. Kyrgyzstan’s human-rights situation is described as worsening, with mounting constraints on civil society, media freedoms and freedom of assembly and an uptick in prosecutions of media and rights activists. Tajikistan is characterized as "мураккаб," with continued limits on access to information, arrests and lengthy prison sentences for independent media and human-rights activists, and ongoing concerns about torture and fair trial guarantees.

Turkmenistan remains one of the most closed societies in the region, the EU says, with strict curbs on movement, speech, religion, assembly and independent media. The report notes continuing reports of torture and inhuman treatment in prisons and laments low levels of cooperation with international human-rights bodies, while acknowledging limited improvements in prison conditions, gender-equality measures and efforts to eliminate forced labor.

Beyond Central Asia, the EU report documents a further deterioration in Russia’s human-rights environment in 2025. The EU cites U.N. and human-rights sources that estimate the number of political prisoners by year-end at between 1,200 and 1,800. It records the designation of some 290 organizations as "undesirable," the listing of over 19,000 individuals as terrorists or extremists, and tightened restrictions on large messaging platforms and virtual private networks. The report also highlights disproportionate impacts of the war in Ukraine on ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples inside Russia and reports of mistreatment and torture of Ukrainian detainees.

The review reiterates that Afghanistan under Taliban rule remains among the world’s most severely rights‑restricted countries. The EU documents sustained and severe restrictions on women and girls, minorities, journalists and perceived political opponents. It notes the continued ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and reports that the average duration of schooling for Afghan girls has fallen to 1.2 years. The report also points to an increase in attacks on independent media—media closures, arrests and threats rose by about 13 percent during 2025—and cites reports of roughly 1,000 public floggings and six public executions over the year. It further highlights large‑scale forced returns, estimating that more than two million Afghans, primarily from Iran and Pakistan, were pushed back into Afghanistan during the reporting period.

The EU report frames these trends as part of a broader pattern of shrinking civic space and growing restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly across Eurasia. For rights advocates and journalists in the affected countries, the assessment underscores the urgency of accountability mechanisms and implementation of international recommendations. For governments and international partners, it presents a stark choice: deepen engagement while demanding concrete human-rights improvements, or risk enabling a regional rollback of rights that the EU warns will have long-term consequences for stability and rule of law.