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When human rights defenders are imprisoned, it is a litmus test for democracy

An interview with Ales Bialiatski, human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Belarusian political prisoner. Interviewer: Nasta Zakharevich

April 21, 2026 - Ales Bialiatski Nasta Zakharevich

Of course human rights still matter

The question of whether human rights still matter is increasingly appearing in public discussion. Often asked by those eager to sideline dignity in favour of security, it suggests a world that has lost its moral nerve. Yet in an age of digital authoritarianism and climate crisis, human rights remain an essential tool for resisting unaccountable power.

April 21, 2026 - Barbora Bukovská

Rights in the age of the new autocracy

If we only focus on the limits of human rights, we tend to overlook their deeper function in the resilience of democracy. While enforcement can fall short, the existence of powerful legal standards still influences political contestation and slows down the process of institutional erosion, even in the age of new authoritarianism.

April 21, 2026 - Zuzana Pavlíčková

When international institutions fail

Whether in Bucha, Gaza or Tehran, international law and multilateral and regional organizations have failed to prevent war and human rights violations. This chaos is both a moral failure and a security threat, especially for Europe, which must confront these challenges while being sidelined from global affairs.

April 21, 2026 - Anaïs Marin

Georgia’s democracy is being quietly strangled

Georgia’s democratic decline has arrived quietly through procedural changes and repressive laws disguised as promoting transparency. Yet the cumulative effect is unmistakable: a former success story is being hijacked by an authoritarian regime systematically capturing its institutions. The question is no longer whether Georgia’s democracy is eroding, but whether that erosion has now become irreversible.

April 21, 2026 - George Melashvili

Armenia’s civil rights under scrutiny ahead of elections

Armenia’s democratic transition is entering a new phase as the country approaches parliamentary elections in June. While reforms have strengthened political competition and civil society, persistent institutional weaknesses and growing polarization continue to shape the landscape. The state of human rights will be central to how this next test unfolds.

April 21, 2026 - Anna Vardanyan

Repressions in Belarus continue

An interview with Veranika Stankevich, coordinator of Volnyja, an organization that works with former Belarusian political prisoners. Interviewer Emily Macrae

April 21, 2026 - Emily Macrae Veranika Stankevich

Towards a new world disorder?

The post–Second World War international order appears to be nearing its end. It is increasingly being replaced by a system that openly presents itself as non-liberal, if not outrightly anti-liberal. Should this emerging (dis)order remain nominally rules-based, its rules will differ fundamentally from those established after 1945. They may simply reflect the shifting whims of powerful leaders rather than stable and broadly accepted norms of conduct.

February 23, 2026 - Andreas Umland

The collapse of the European security order

The sense that Europe is adrift in the emerging world order reflects both external shocks and internal shortcomings. On the one hand, the United States is signalling that Europe is no longer the central theatre of American strategy. On the other, Europeans remain divided on how far they are willing to go in assuming real strategic responsibility, or the so-called European strategic autonomy.

February 23, 2026 - Wojciech Michnik

The last frontier. Europe’s psychological war

Europe now finds itself sandwiched between two autocrats, each working to weaken Europe for his own purposes. Those purposes may not be joint, but they intersect and are clear: they want to activate the Trojan horses of anti-EU, illiberal, political insurgency and thus undermine EU policies and democratic values from within. At stake now is the survival of Europe.

February 23, 2026 - Paul Bell

When war becomes a national idea: Russia’s strategy towards Europe

If Russia is not stopped in Ukraine, it will double down on efforts to destabilize Europe and may again turn to armed aggression. The safest and cheapest option for NATO is to give Ukraine the financial and military support it needs to block Moscow’s imperial ambitions. Meanwhile, the unpunished genocide unfolding in the heart of Europe painfully exposes the weakness and cynicism of Europe’s legal and value-based order.

February 23, 2026 - Maria Domańska

Never again meets a new war

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has forced Germany into a reckoning that would have seemed implausible just a few years ago. Warnings that Moscow could attack another European country before the end of the decade have pushed Berlin into its most ambitious rearmament effort since the Cold War. However, this shift has not come without resistance.

February 23, 2026 - Isabelle de Pommereau

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