Country Report: Belarus (Part 1)
Four years after mass protests swept the country following contested presidential elections in summer 2020, the government’s far-reaching crackdown on peaceful protesters and critics continues to reach new heights. 
 
International and Belarusian rights groups, as well as the UN human rights expert on Belarus, noted a continuously deteriorating human rights situation in 2024. In March, the UN Human Rights Office reported it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed” by officials. 
 
Torture and Ill-Treatment of Political Prisoners 
Between July and December 2024, authorities released 237 political prisoners following presidential pardons. Many were forced under duress to sign an official plea for pardon, which includes admission of guilt. 
 
Belarusian rights groups recorded scores of politically motivated trials in 2024. At time of writing, at least 1275 were behind bars on politically motivated charges. In July, UN experts called for the release of 63 older political prisoners. 
 
Political prisoners continued to face ill-treatment and torture. At least seven, including Viktar Babaryka, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, and Ihar Losik, have been held incommunicado since February-April 2023. 
 
Prison officials severely restricted political prisoners’ access to correspondence, calls, parcels, and meetings with lawyers and family. Prisoners faced isolation in punishment cells and arbitrarily harsh confinement regimes. Dozens of political prisoners in 2024 faced new trumped-up “malicious disobedience” and other charges that prolonged their sentences. 
 
Prison management denied political prisoners access to timely and appropriate health care. In 2024, at least three political prisoners, Aliaksandr Kulinich, Ihar Lednik, and Vadzim Khrasko, died preventable deaths after delayed or inadequate medical care. At time of writing, local rights groups said that more than 224 political prisoners faced particularly high health risks due to poor conditions in Belarusian prisons. 
 
In March, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women requested that Belarus take interim measures to protect political prisoner Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, whose health had significantly deteriorated. 
 
Law enforcement routinely forces detainees in politically motivated cases to “repent” their “crimes” on camera under duress and disseminates such videos online. 
 
Belarusian authorities harass political prisoners upon their release by subjecting them to regular checks and opening new criminal cases. 
 
Retaliation against Family Members and Supporters 
Belarusian authorities target family members of political prisoners and activists providing support to them. 
 
In January, authorities labeled INeedHelpBY, a group organizing food aid for political prisoners and their families, as “extremist”. As a result, law enforcement raided, detained, and questioned at least 287 recipients of food. More than 100 recipients faced administrative fines and arrests on charges of “receiving foreign aid for terrorist and extremist activities.” 
 
In June and July, law enforcement officers raided the homes of 21 exiled independent journalists and forced their family members to record videos condemning them. 
 
Authorities also prosecuted dozens of people for “financing terrorism” and “extremism” following their donations to funds providing aid to political prisoners and civic resistance funds deemed “extremist” or “terrorist.” Law enforcement officers forced many to pay bribes to avoid prosecution. 

Crackdown on Human Rights Defenders, Lawyers, and Journalists 
In 2024, Belarusian authorities continued to arbitrarily detain rights defenders and journalists in retaliation for their work. 
 
At least six rights defenders remained behind bars at time of writing, including Anastasia Lojka, Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic, Uladzimir Labkovich, Marfa Rabkova, and Andrei Chapiuk. Bialiatski’s health deteriorated in detention. 
 
In May, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that human rights defender Ales Bialiatski had been arbitrarily detained and demanded his immediate and unconditional release. 
 
At least 37 journalists and media workers were also behind bars at time of writing. 
 
Lawyers representing clients in politically motivated cases or speaking out on rights abuses faced systematic and widespread repression. At time of writing, at least six human rights lawyers—Maksim Znak, Aliaksandr Danilevich, Vital Brahinets, Anastasiya Lazarenka, Yuliya Yurhilevich, and Aliaksei Barodka—were serving prison sentences on politically motivated charges ranging from six to ten years. 
 
In December 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the arrests and subsequent imprisonment of human rights lawyer Vital Brahinets were arbitrary and based on his political opinion and status as a lawyer for the political opposition. The working group called for his immediate release. 
 
Authorities in 2024 also continued arbitrarily blocking and labeling as “extremist” the websites and social media pages of independent media and human rights groups. In April, the Operation and Analysis Center controlled by the presidency adopted a directive, allowing the Operations and Analysis Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus to disconnect websites deemed “extremist” from the country’s national domain system (.by), which effectively closes them.
 
By mid-November 2024, authorities had shut down almost 1,200 non-governmental organizations. 
 
Human Rights Watch, World Report 2025. New York

Spotlights 4 

The Costs of the Climate Crisis (Part 4)

Compounding vulnerabilities 

​Who is most vulnerable to these impacts? 
The impacts of climate change, particularly on decisions to migrate and on heightened risks of modern slavery, are not felt equally. They hit much harder on people who already experience limited access to resources, representation, and participation in society, both in terms of the immediate impacts from climate-induced weather events and ongoing risks associated with migration and exposure to severe exploitation. 
 
Further research conducted by IIED in two states in India suggests that lower caste households, such those of India’s Dalits, who are significantly discriminated against, are three times more likely to migrate than higher caste households. When inequalities, discrimination, and marginalisation exist, resilience to external shocks generated by the impact of climate change is low, precariousness increases, and so does vulnerability to modern slavery. Lack of inclusive access to support mechanisms often means that specific characteristics – such as a person’s gender, age, or disability – creates further barriers to accessing support. This can increase vulnerability to severe exploitation. 
 
When the negative impacts of climate change are combined with immobility, vulnerability to modern slavery can also be amplified as local resources and networks are eroded. Immobility can arise from lack of options to move elsewhere (such as due to lack of means) or from an unwillingness to migrate. Immobility is also found among already displaced people (who lack safe return options to their country of origin or access to resources) and in communities that hold a strong link with their ancestral lands. 
 
What other factors can play a role? 
Separately, other structural factors, such as conflict, persecution, or political instability, can combine with climate change and other drivers to push people to migrate in situations of precariousness and make them more vulnerable to modern slavery.
 
The negative impacts of climate change can also be among the factors fuelling tensions between local populations, as basic resources become scarce and the arrival of new groups puts pressure on existing infrastructure. This can create competition over resources and in turn increase social tension and conflict, resulting in heightened modern slavery risks. In Somalia, extreme weather disrupts access to water and increases food insecurity. Simultaneously, internally displaced people seek refuge from conflict and droughts by fleeing to Mogadishu, thereby increasing the strain on host communities. These factors have contributed to escalating tensions between clans and are among those which can lead to the proliferation of illegal armed groups, which in turn drive further displacement and migration while recruiting people affected by famine and food insecurity. Extreme weather and climate-related resource scarcity are among the factors that have contributed to recruitment into non-state armed groups such as al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, and Islamic State, which have been linked to modern slavery, including forced marriage and the recruitment and use of children.
 
Climate change can also exacerbate vulnerability in displaced settings. In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, flooding and landslides during monsoon season destroyed thousands of shelters occupied by Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Myanmar, further increasing humanitarian needs in the camps. For a group already vulnerable to exploitation, the impact of climate events is significant, with further spikes in exploitation linked to increasing scarcity of resources and precarious living conditions. 
 
More widely, where conflict has weakened institutions or aggravated drivers such as economic and food insecurity, communities and governments may also find themselves struggling to cope with the adverse effects of climate change and unable to adequately support individuals at greater risk of modern slavery.
 
Exploitation’s circular economy 
In a separate, but related, issue to climate-induced migration, it is well-known that modern slavery is pervasive in some of the world’s most environmentally- and climate-damaging industries. The charcoal, cattle, and palm oil industries are associated with forced labour, where workers in debt bondage are forced to clear forests; the illegality of this deforestation means that workers are unable to report such exploitative practices. Moves to replace fossil fuels with biofuels, such as palm oil, have had unintended environmental and social impacts. In Indonesia and Malaysia — the world’s leading producers of palm oil — increased production has led to deforestation and loss of biodiversity and has been linked to forced labour.
 
Conversely, those industries most necessary for our urgent transition to clean energy are also sadly currently reliant on exploitation and forced labour. For example, risks have been identified throughout the solar energy value chain, from evidence of forced and child labour in cobalt artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the production of polysilicon in the Uyghur region of China, which evidence shows is reliant on systemic state-imposed forced labour of the Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim-majority groups. The need to include just transition measures, such as ensuring decent work for all in the transition to a low-carbon economy, has been enshrined in international treaties on climate change such as the Paris Agreement but has yet to be fully realised. With global temperatures almost inevitably set to continue rising, government and business action to address both climate change and modern slavery — and its intersections with conflict, displacement, gender, and industry supply chains — are critical. 
 
Walk Free 2023. Global Slavery Index 2023. Minderoo Foundation Ltd. Australia.

Country Report: Bangladesh (Part 2)

​Freedom of Press and Expression 
The Cyber Security Act (CSA), enacted in 2023, retains many of the abusive elements of its predecessor, the Digital Security Act, granting wide authority to officials to criminalize and jail political critics. 
 
The interim government has committed to protecting free speech and welcomed criticism. However, as of October, authorities had filed cases against at least 129 journalists and scrapped nearly 200 press accreditations, underscoring the point that without systemic reform, the abusive practices will remain the same regardless of the change of government. In September, courts ordered police to investigate a man accused under the CSA for insulting Yunus and the Quran in a Facebook video. 
 
Women’s and Girls’ Rights 
Despite the pivotal role that women played in the July uprising, they have not been adequately represented in the cabinet of the interim government. As set out in UN Security Council resolution 1325, women are entitled to full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in all discussions about the country’s future, including guiding the government’s approach to transitional justice, legal reform, and institution-building. 
 
Sexual and gender-based violence are widespread and women and girls in Bangladesh have little recourse to seek protection or access justice for these crimes. 
 
A report released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics found that rates of child marriage were on the rise, with 42 percent of girls in the country married before the age of 18, and 8 percent before age 15. 
 
Rohingya Refugees 
There are nearly one million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh. In September, Yunus reiterated his support for a mechanism that would hold the junta in Myanmar accountable for the abuses it has perpetrated against the Rohingya, adding that the international community must help to create conditions under which the Rohingya can return safely to Myanmar. The authorities have repeatedly stated that the country is unable to accept more refugees. 
 
An increase in violence in Myanmar mid-year drove another 18,000 Rohingya refugees to seek asylum in Bangladesh, but security forces have pushed back thousands. Unregistered refugees risk hunger, and do not seek necessary healthcare out of fear that they will be returned. Bangladesh is bound by the customary international law prohibition on refoulement, and under the UN Convention Against Torture, to not forcibly return anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture, or other ill-treatment. Rohingya refugees in camps face precarious living conditions, including due to violence by armed groups and gangs in the camps. There is no criminal justice system available to refugees. Security forces have failed to address a culture of impunity surrounding sexual violence, where women and girls as well as LGBT refugees are often victims of attacks. 
 
A fire at a refugee camp in January and heavy monsoon rains in July exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. 
 
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity 
Same-sex conduct is criminalized in Bangladesh with penalties from ten years to life in prison. There are no legal protections against discrimination on the basis of sexuality. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and advocates have reported increased threats of violence. 
 
Labor Rights 
In January, garment factory workers, most of whom are women, blocked a highway to protest the failure of their employers to increase their wages according to a new government compensation scheme, but were dispersed by police firing tear gas. 
 
In September, a garment worker was shot dead and at least 20 others were injured in violent clashes between workers demanding better wages and the police. The interim government committed to reviewing the minimum wage and to support workers amid the rising cost of living. 
 
In September, an explosion on the oil tanker MT Suvarna Swarajya killed at least six workers, underscoring the failure of shipping companies to take adequate safety measures to protect their employees. The shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh is dangerous and underregulated, as many companies use loopholes to circumvent international labor and environmental regulations. 
 
The authorities have yet to amend the labor laws to protect workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining in line with International Labour Organization (ILO)’s conventions and recommendations. The authorities also have not ratified the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (C190), which requires comprehensive protections to end violence and harassment, including gender-based violence, at work. 
 
Human Rights Watch, World Report 2025. New York

Spotlights 4 

The Costs of the Climate Crisis (Part 3)

​Leaving to survive, fighting to return: the impact of climate change 
In 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Typhoon Yolanda, struck the Philippines, destroying millions of homes and livelihoods, killing more than 6,000 people, and leaving many more displaced. Luwalhati (* not her real name), who is 31 years old, and her family were among those who survived; however, the aftermath of the disaster left them in poverty and Luwalhati was forced to seek work abroad to support her ailing mother and two younger brothers in Tacloban City. 
 
She met a local recruiter who offered her a well- paid position in a factory overseas, promising all her expenses would be covered as well. Yet after arriving in Manila for training, Luwalhati was forced to work in a house there without pay. The man who later accompanied her to obtain her passport instructed her to apply with the name written in the papers she was holding if she wanted to go abroad, otherwise she should go back home at her own expense. 
 
Luwalhati left the Philippines for Thailand holding a tourist visa. From there, she travelled to Dubai. After working in Dubai for some time, she was sold as a domestic worker to an employer in Kuwait, a country she had never even heard of. Upon arrival, her passport was confiscated and she was left feeling confused, depressed, and isolated. 
 
She was forced to work for 12 to 15 hours a day and her salary was often withheld if she made a mistake. Her employers did not allow her to talk to anyone nor leave the house, and she was physically abused by them. All she could do was stay strong for her family and not give up. 
 
Luwalhati was forced to work in Kuwait for five years. Every time she disposed of the waste outside, a young Kuwaiti woman next door smiled at her. One day, the neighbour told her to contact an NGO on social media to help her. Luwalhati contacted them secretly and they helped her escape. 
 
She was brought to the authorities, who helped her file a case and she was repatriated back to her country. At present, Luwalhati has set up a small store to support herself and family using the reintegration livelihood assistant program that the NGO helped her to acquire, while attending vocational education in Tacloban City. 
 
A vicious circle driven by extractive industries
Environmental degradation, often a side- effect of the economic activities of extractive industries such as mining and oil extraction, can similarly become a driver of migration that causes higher vulnerability to severe exploitation. In these cases, individuals can become trapped in a “vicious circle” where people flee their homelands due to environmental degradation caused by extractive practices, but end up working in these very same extractive industries, often experiencing exploitation. This is evidenced by Anti-Slavery International’s research in Peru and Bolivia. 
 
Extractive industries not only continue to destroy the environment and exacerbate the negative impacts of climate change, fuelling migration from affected communities, but also heavily rely on the severe exploitation of people. Often, people who have lost their livelihoods are then left with no option other than accepting exploitative conditions to earn some income to feed their families. 
 
Walk Free 2023. Global Slavery Index 2023. Minderoo Foundation Ltd. Australia.