On September 10, across 52 cities, we rallied together for Gubad's freedom.

Our team at Crude Accountability gathered in front of the White House to stand in solidarity and send a powerful message of unity to President Ilham Aliyev.

Gubad continues to be confined at the Kurdekhani pretrial detention center outside of Baku. He has been denied his basic rights, as his health rapidly deteriorates while being at risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Read our statement here and share the hashtag #freegubad to raise awareness of his case.

Crude Accountability, in cooperation with members of the Turkmenistan Working Group and the Working Group on the Fight Against Torture of the Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP), initiated a project to research the issue of enforced disappearances in the region of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Focusing on the Balkans, Belarus, Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine, the project draws attention to the ongoing horrors of enforced disappearances in the context of conflict and repression.

To learn more and read our reports, check out our page here.

Kate Watters joined RFE/RL's Majlis Podcast host Bruce Pannier to discuss Turkmenistan’s outsized methane emissions and their impact on the climate.

With Aynabat Yaylymova of Progres Foundation, they touched on the negative health impacts of poor air quality on local communities and human rights abuses in the country.

Listen to the full episode here.

We published a new report shining a spotlight on the shadowy side of maritime shipping that lacks transparency and regulations.

The paper uncovers the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) shortcomings in enforcement and investigates the key facilitators involved in sustaining this “shadow” industry and enriching bad actors and sanctioned regimes:

🚫 Classification societies

🚫 Insurance companies

🚫 The demand for cheap oil. 

Read the full report here.