The Watch List

Following a revision to our editorial policy in 2022, it has now been agreed that each year, one fifth of all countries across the globe are reviewed as part of a rolling cycle of updates. The following are countries that have not been updated in this year’s cycle, but that Humanists International continues to monitor closely.

Afghanistan

Since the takeover by the de facto Taliban authorities in August 2021, the people of Afghanistan have faced worsening human rights crises. “Blasphemy” and “apostasy” have become punishable by death, and a system of Sharia law is now in place. In September 2024, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice reportedly released a statement warning that any criticism of the Taliban’s laws will be deemed as criticism of Sharia, and will result in Sharia-based punishment. An untold number of human rights defenders, civil society activists, and religious and belief minorities have been imprisoned for speaking out against the de facto authorities.

For the non-religious, the situation is especially dire. “Blasphemy” and “apostasy” laws, and the accompanying social norms imposed by the Taliban, leaves no space for non-belief, even in private. Many non-religious Afghans have been forced into total concealment of their beliefs or have fled the country, while those who remain live in fear.

Women and girls, in particular, have had their freedoms curtailed. The Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law, passed in 2024, declared that Afghan women were prohibited from speaking and singing in public. It also introduced stringent dress codes that mandated the complete covering of women’s faces outside the home. Women have been denied access to secondary and higher education, barred from most forms of employment, restricted in their freedom of movement without a male guardian, and excluded from public decision-making, amounting to institutionalized gender apartheid.

Amidst these deteriorating circumstances, neighboring countries have deported millions of people to Afghanistan. Those who once fled the Taliban’s repression, now risk being persecuted upon forcible refoulement.

Argentina

While, historically, a strong advocate for human rights internationally, since the election of Javier Milei in 2023, Argentina has seen a decline in the human rights situation in the country. Milei’s time in office has been defined by obstacles to freedom of expression and protest, and increasingly hostile rhetoric against minorities, including LGBTI+ people. In 2025, the government announced Argentina’s withdrawal from international organizations (such as the WHO), introduced a ban on gender-affirming care for people under 18 years old, and reduced support for public health initiatives, sparking international condemnation.

In October 2025, the US agreed to bailout Argentina on the condition that Milei’s party succeeded in the legislative midterms. The country’s longstanding poor economic position has also provided a pretext for cuts to social programs and state human rights programs, leaving civil society and human rights defenders even more vulnerable. Humanists, secular activists, and marginalized belief communities face growing challenges in advocating for freedom of thought, expression, and equality, as the political and legal environment becomes increasingly hostile.

Against this backdrop, the Catholic Church retains a preferential place in Argentina. This has always presented a challenge for secular activists and civil society organizations working on sexual and reproductive health rights, but with the new government, the environment for such activists has, and is likely to, deteriorate further.

Hungary

Led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s government has pursued increasingly authoritarian policies, including discriminating against women and LGBTI+ people, scapegoating migrants, and shrinking civil society space. Orbán has committed to aligning the country with Christian values and often justifies rights restrictions with the need to protect Hungary’s traditions. This is supported by the Hungarian Constitution, which obligates all state institutions to protect the “Christian culture of Hungary.”

A particular focus has been the instrumentalization of children’s rights to enact repressive laws, such as banning the promotion of LGBTI+ content to children. Measures passed in March 2025 also allowed officials to ban Pride marches and use facial recognition technology to identify and prosecute participants, resulting in Pride marches being effectively banned nationwide and criminal investigations being opened against several organizers. Relatedly, the transfer of state schools to church ownership accelerated in 2024 and 2025, leaving them as the only viable option in certain localities. Church-run schools benefit from substantially higher state subsidies than public schools, can make their religious education classes mandatory, and may discriminate in the selection of pupils and teachers on the basis of religious affiliation. Broad concerns about the unequal treatment of religious minorities and the non-religious were raised by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2025.

A proposed Hungarian “foreign agents”-style law, first tabled in May 2025, threatens to penalize NGOs that receive foreign funding and are deemed to threaten Hungary’s sovereignty. The bill broadly defines such threats to include undermining Hungary’s Christian culture or questioning the primacy of marriage, the family, and biological sex. Civil society, including humanists and minority religious or belief groups, face onerous administrative burdens and the risk of being investigated, defunded, and dissolved.

India

Most international reporting in 2025 has focused on India’s economy, from stalled trade deal talks with the US to an outperforming economy. However, behind these headlines, there remain serious causes for concern.

Despite its famously secular Constitution, Hindu nationalism and inter-religious tensions have risen under the premiership of Narendra Modi. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promoted Hindu nationalist rhetoric to the detriment of the country’s religious and belief minorities, which has often included justifying violence against minority groups. Additionally, laws like the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been used to harass civil society actors.

While India is constitutionally a secular state, several atheists, humanists, and rationalists have been killed by vigilantes.

Recently, the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, Narendra Nayak, was named on several assassination ‘hit lists.’ As a result, from 2016 until 2023 police protection was provided for him. That protection was removed without explanation in 2023 and has not been reinstated, despite an international campaign for its reinstatement led by Humanists International.

Other minorities face their own challenges. Sikhs face discrimination within India and prominent Sikhs have allegedly been targeted for assassination by Indian intelligence abroad. Muslims face demonizing political rhetoric and social discrimination. Dalits – members of the lowest class in India’s caste system – face continued economic and social exclusion. Meanwhile, Rajasthan – a state in northwest India – has also recently passed the country’s strictest anti-conversion bill, and many religious and belief minorities face increasing pressures as a result.

Iran

Since the revolution in 1979, decades of state-imposed religion in Iran has made life treacherous for religious and belief minorities. Iran’s government jails and periodically executes dozens of individuals on charges of “enmity against God.” Such laws are used not only to punish religious minorities, but also political opponents.

In this climate, humanists, atheists, and other nonreligious individuals face severe legal and social persecution. “Apostasy” and “blasphemy” laws are routinely applied to suppress freedom of thought, and those advocating for secularism or human rights are often targeted. The ongoing repression has created a highly precarious environment for civil society, limiting avenues for safe activism and international engagement.

Since the Women, Life, Freedom protests of 2022, the Iranian government has continued to execute imprisoned dissidents, and Humanists International has highlighted several of these cases internationally. Protests once again flared in December 2025, and they have been met with further repression by the Iranian government. Meanwhile, actions by external actors like the US and Israel, from sanctions to air strikes, have also been used by the government to justify its tightening control over the population.

Israel

Since the 7 October 2023 terrorist attack – when 1,195 people, including 815 civilians, were killed and 251 people were taken as hostages by members of the terrorist group, Hamas, and its affiliates – Israel’s government has become decidedly more autocratic. Attempts to undermine judicial independence, freedom of expression, and constrain civil society have been largely successful. In Gaza, the ensuing response by Israel has led to the destruction of much of the territory, and a combination of air strikes and drone strikes, kinetic military action, and the blocking of access to resources, has resulted in the reported deaths of over 70,000 people.

While the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has not yet issued a final judgment in the Genocide Convention case concerning Israel’s conduct in Gaza, numerous credible human rights organizations, UN bodies, and UN mandate holders have alleged that serious crimes have been committed – including crimes against humanity and, according to some assessments, genocide. Meanwhile the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant. Despite a ceasefire, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes or gunfire.

Against this backdrop, internal repression has heightened. Protests have been suppressed by police, with little tolerance of dissent. Arab citizens of Israel, who often identify as Palestinian, face discrimination in most areas of life. They also face violence and abuse at the hands of the Israeli police and security forces. Simultaneously, Jewish extremists have carried out attacks against Palestinians and Arab-Israelis – including in the West Bank – often without accountability, contributing to a climate of impunity.

In many ways, the current coalition government has worked to enshrine religious privilege even further in law. A bill expanding the powers of Rabbinical courts was passed in 2025, strengthening Orthodox control over personal status and civil matters. Ministers have also come under political pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties opposing efforts to end long-standing exemptions from military conscription for Haredi men. Meanwhile, humanists, secular Jews, and non-religious individuals report increasing pressure to conform to religious norms and self-censor political expression, particularly in education, public institutions, and the military.

Nepal

Nepal transitioned from being a Hindu state to a secular democratic republic in 2008, after a decade-long war between Maoist rebels and the government. However, Nepal’s secularism has faced numerous challenges since it was enshrined in the Constitution in 2015. Restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief, including provisions in Nepal’s 2017 Penal Code that criminalize “blasphemy,” have heralded a growing tide of Hindu nationalism within the country.

Alongside these legal developments, organized Hindu nationalist campaigns have intensified in recent years. They promote narratives that frame secularism as a foreign imposition and portray religious minorities, humanists, and civil society organizations as threats to national identity. Such campaigns have consisted of misinformation, hate speech, and pressure on state institutions – which has contributed to a climate of hostility towards pluralism and dissenting belief.

In 2025, the so-called Gen Z protests led to the storming of the Nepalese parliament and the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who was shortly thereafter replaced by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki. With elections scheduled for early 2026, there is no shortage of potential flashpoints. Against this backdrop, nationalist rhetoric may rise and Hindu-Muslim tensions could be exacerbated and exploited by opportunistic politicians.

Pakistan

Pakistan’s legal and constitutional framework privileges Islam and enables severe restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief. The government frequently prosecutes and enforces “blasphemy” laws, including those which can carry the death penalty. These prosecutions also provide a pretext for vigilante mob violence, and attacks against those accused of “blasphemy” left at least four dead in 2024. Pakistan’s “blasphemy” laws are often used to target political opponents or to settle personal feuds, or against religious and belief minorities, including humanists and members of the Ahmadiyya community.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government, in office since February 2024, has conducted a severe crackdown on civil society and dissent through various legal and extralegal means. For example, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 has been used against women journalists to silence their reporting, and authorities have deployed broad cybercrime and public order provisions against online expression critical of religion or the state.

Reports of violence against minorities – and impunity for such violence – increased in 2025, despite a resolution of the Pakistan National Assembly in June 2024 which urged federal and provincial governments to ensure the security of all Pakistani citizens.

At the beginning of 2025, UNHCR reported Pakistan was hosting around 1.6 million Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers, including many who fled Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021. In late 2023, Pakistan announced the Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan, which has since involved arrests, detentions, and the forcible return of Afghans. It has created a climate of fear for many Afghans in Pakistan, as those with wellfounded fears of persecution – including women and girls, journalists, human-rights defenders, religious minorities, and the non-religious – face the risk of serious human rights violations upon their return.

Palestine

Notwithstanding the severe issues Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank face from repressive laws (such as those discriminating against women and LGBTI+ persons), Israel’s years-long blockade of Gaza and annexation of parts of the West Bank – in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions – have shaped life for Palestinians.

Since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began in October 2023, conditions have further deteriorated, amidst an increasing number of allegations of crimes against humanity and genocide. Over 70,000 people are reported to have lost their lives in Gaza, over 100,000 have been injured, and, in August 2025, a famine was declared. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since the October 2025 ceasefire amid sporadic violence, and preventable deaths have been exacerbated by the ongoing humanitarian crisis and Israel’s aid blockade.

Palestinians in Gaza have faced repeated – and often contradictory – evacuation orders from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), severely restricting their movement. Additionally, air strikes have hit areas previously designated by the IDF as humanitarian zones. Under these conditions, civilians in Gaza have found it extremely difficult to exercise their rights to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression. Following the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have arrested at least 140 journalists in the West Bank and closed down 12 printing presses and 15 media outlets. In Gaza, UN experts have reported that at least 248 journalists have been killed as of September 2025.

Across the Palestinian territories, places of worship have been attacked and access to religious sites has been restricted. In Gaza, churches and mosques have been bombed, and in the West Bank, Israeli settler violence has resulted in damage to mosques.

Russia

Russia’s authoritarian government has become even more repressive in recent years, cracking down on independent media and civil society, smearing and harassing anti-war activists and LGBTI+ people, and prosecuting opposition figures and groups. The government has championed “traditional values” to reject internationally recognized standards of human rights and justify its authoritarian practices. Opposition to “Western values” is framed as a defense of religion and, especially in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as a matter of national security. The Russian Orthodox Church has continued to deepen its ties with the government, benefitting from enormous state privileges while shoring up support for government policies, including the war in Ukraine.

Authorities have continued to expand Russia’s arsenal of repressive laws and have targeted human rights defenders with stigmatizing labels, fines, and prison sentences. In 2025, the government introduced changes to Russia’s anti-extremism legislation that made it easier to arbitrarily outlaw entire groups. The authorities declared a wave of civil society organizations – including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International – “undesirable,” which bans them from operating in Russia and criminalizes engagement with them. Several prominent human rights defenders were also convicted on spurious charges.

Authorities have continued to censor content depicting LGBTI+ people and have fined book stores, streaming services, and individuals for showing such content. Prosecutions using de facto “blasphemy” laws have intensified since 2022, with several convictions taking place in 2025. In June 2025, it was announced that a new mandatory subject, “Russia’s Spiritual and Moral Culture,” would be introduced in Russian schools from September 2026. The textbook planned to be used for the subject was co-authored by a senior Russian Orthodox bishop known for ultra-conservative views. Russian Orthodox priests have also expanded antiabortion initiatives, with anti-abortion prayer services performed nationwide and, in one region, priests have been directed to visit health clinics to dissuade women from having abortions.