If you plan to attend the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference 2025, Crude Accountability would like to cordially invite you to our side event on human rights violations in the United States.

Tuesday, 7 October | 18:30 CET | Opera Room

More information can be found on the WHDC's schedule of side events: https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/c/b/598333_2.pdf

Was COP29 just a green show for the Aliyev regime?

🔍 Members of Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, Center for National and International Studies Institute for Human Rights, and Human Rights Club re-examine the toxic environment of COP29 for climate talks and human rights.

This latest report, “Lessons from COP29: Climate Change and Human Rights,” joins our ongoing series of expert recommendations for the OSCE to strengthen climate security within the Climate Justice Working Group of the Civic Solidarity Platform. 🌿

“The best defense against Russian aggression in Ukraine, and elsewhere, is a strong and vibrant civil society throughout the region, including, and perhaps especially, in Central Asia.”

On 4 September, our Executive Director Kate Watters delivered remarks at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe’s briefing on the impact on Central Asia of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Watters focussed on Russia’s sanction-evading efforts and its effect on the 🛢️ energy sector and the 🌿 environment in Central Asia. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of securing and supporting a free civil society in Central Asia, amidst the crackdown on civic groups, activists, and independent journalists throughout the region.

🔗 Watch Watters’ full remarks.

“Sometimes we even observe dust storms in the mountainous area, which they were never really reaching [before].”

🌏 In the latest episode of The Eurasian Climate Brief, Angelina Davydova spoke with climate activist Anisa Abibulloeva of Little Earth (Маленькая Земля) on the impact of the climate crisis on rural communities in Tajikistan.

Abibulloeva highlights the increasing number of 🔥 heat waves and dust storms, as well as its effect on the 🌾 agriculture industry, particularly soil degradation and limited water availability.

Yet, our colleagues at Маленькая Земля are empowering women in rural communities to adopt sustainable energy solutions to improve their livelihoods and lift them from poverty.

🎧 Hear the full story.

🌊 Could the Caspian Sea become a desert as early as 2054?

In a recent documentary on the fate of the Caspian-shoreline city, Aktau, produced by AIRAN, journalist Danara Ismetova interviews Vadim Ni and Galina Chernova, founder and co-founder of Save the Caspian Sea, respectively.

📉 They discuss the Caspian’s declining water levels and the increasing oil, wastewater, and plastic pollution in the basin. These threats to the Caspian’s ecosystem will devastate seaside communities that rely on its natural resources.

🔗 Watch the full story.

🚨 Russia’s Shadow Fleet is growing—raising fears of an inevitable environmental catastrophe.

In the latest article by Melike Pala of Anadolu Ajansı, maritime analysts warn of an imminent oil spill in the Baltic Sea. But the shadow fleet’s operations also extend to the Laconian Gulf and Black Sea, which saw two tankers spill 5,000 tons of fuel oil in the Strait of Kerch on December 14, 2024.

🔍 Earlier this year, we’ve identified the movement of 8 tankers transporting Russian oil and conducting ship-to-ship transfers—the hazardous process of transferring oil from one ship to another while in open waters.

🔗 Read the AA article and learn more with our "Russia’s Shadow Fleet" report.