Freedom House Despite these limited gains, the freedoms of expression, belief, and association came under attack in other settings from across the democratic spectrum. In the Solomon Islands, the government asserted greater financial and editorial control over the public broadcaster and threatened to prevent critical foreign journalists from entering the country. Religious freedom was hamstrung in Hong Kong amid broader crackdowns on dissent, with some churches and clergy self-censoring their sermons and limiting other religious activity. In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime dealt another blow to academic freedom and gender equality by extensively censoring educational materials and barring women from attending universities. The Communist Party regime in China remained one of the world’s worst abusers of political rights and civil liberties, and those who criticized the party received severe penalties. Chinese citizens did take to the streets to protest the government’s harsh “zero COVID” policy in a rare nationwide display of dissent that resulted in the abrupt abandonment of many restrictions. Nevertheless, protesters continued to encounter pervasive surveillance, abusive interrogations, and intimidation at the hands of authorities. EURASIA: Military conflict and domestic unrest as autocracies stumble EURASIA: STATUS BY POPULATION EURASIA: STATUS BY POPULATION EURASIA: STATUS BY COUNTRY EURASIA: STATUS BY COUNTRY EURASIA: STATUS BY POPULATION EURASIA: STATUS BY COUNTRY Total population FREE 292.9 million PARTLY FREE Total292.9 population million 17% 17% 83% 83% 67% 67% Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarianism dominates Eurasia, with no formerly Soviet countries designated as Free aside from the three Baltic states. This lack of democratic governance has destabilized the region, as strongman rulers use military force to lash out at their neighbors and smother domestic dissent. In 2022, Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine took center stage amid a broader array of active and frozen conflicts between Eurasian governments. The February attack marked a dramatic escalation after eight years of more limited Russian aggression, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, Europe’s largest refugee crisis, and far-reaching economic and security implications for the entire world. NOT FREE Total Total 33% countries countries 12 12 33% FREE PARTLY FREE The war in Ukraine had significant repercussions for Belarusian sovereignty, as Russian troops operated from Belarusian soil. It also raised the threat of renewed conflict in Moldova, whose separatist Transnistria region has long hosted a Russian garrison, and increased tensions in Georgia’s Russian-backed breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, from which Moscow withdrew some of its forces to help relieve units in Ukraine. The Kremlin’s preoccupation with Ukraine hampered its ability to manage or manipulate rivalries elsewhere. Azerbaijan’s regime stepped up its military aggression toward Armenia despite a Russian security guarantee, and a surge in cross-border shelling occurred between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in September, killing approximately 100 people. FreedomHouse.org 27