CENTRAL ASIA

‘Open-source monitoring reveals both the clampdown on women’s rights and the impact on their lives’

A ‘New Kazakhstan’, or more of the same?

President positions as a reformer – but his latest implausible landslide election win is straight out of the old playbook

Uzbekistan: protests further show need for democracy

State’s failure to spot the warning signs of anger leads to rare protests and avoidable violence

Civil society campaigning achieves forced labour victory in Uzbekistan

Seventeen years of advocacy and activism leads to the end of state-imposed forced and child labour in country’s cotton industry

ECONOMY | ENVIRONMENT

‘Advocacy for labour and human rights is a marathon, not a sprint’

ECONOMY | ENVIRONMENT

Turkmenistan: tyranny mutates into dynasty

Ritualistic election enthrones president’s son – but his father retains power behind the throne

‘There is nothing resembling real civil society – and no conditions for it to emerge’

‘No economic or social reform will bring real change unless there is also serious political reform’

ECONOMY | ENVIRONMENT

Kazakhstan: demands for radical change met with lethal response

President puts himself firmly in Putin’s pocket to deny democracy