Mapping repression: Legal trends impacting civil society in CEECA

Releasing our report on 26 June—which is both the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the Support Don’t Punish Global Day of Action—underscores the cyclical impact of punitive laws on civil society. While that UN date originated to strengthen international cooperation against illicit drugs, the Support Don’t Punish campaign has reclaimed it as a day to oppose stigma, criminalization, and injustice, and to elevate harm reduction, human rights, and community‐driven solutions. Our report’s exposure of “foreign agent” designations, drug propaganda bans, and anti-LGBTQI+ measures in 29 CEECA countries directly exemplifies the very “war-on-drugs”-style repression Support Don’t Punish mobilizes against—and positions EHRA’s recommendations as part of a broader global movement for support rather than punishment

Today we are releasing report Mapping Repression: Legal Trends Impacting Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This timely publication documents the rise of punitive “foreign agent” laws, drug propaganda bans, and anti-LGBTQI+ legislation across 29 countries in the CEECA region, revealing how authoritarian legal measures are undermining human rights, public health, and civic freedoms .

Key findings at a glance

• “Foreign agent” laws spread: Russia’s 2012 model has inspired over a dozen similar laws (or proposals) in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Serbia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Hungary and beyond, imposing onerous registration, reporting, and criminal penalties on NGOs receiving foreign funding.
• Censorship of harm reduction: At least seven CEECA countries now criminalize the dissemination of life-saving drug education under broad “drug propaganda” provisions, directly threatening harm reduction outreach and people’s right to health.
• Anti-LGBTQI+ crackdowns: Russia’s “gay propaganda” paradigm has been exported to Hungary, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia, banning LGBTQI+ visibility in media, education, and public life and fueling a surge in stigma and violence.