belarus’s Human Rights Index Has Stalled at Rock Bottom: lukashenko’s Regime Has Nearly Reached the Peak of Repression

The belarusian Helsinki Committee has released the National Human Rights Index for 2025, and for the first time in seven years, the figure has not declined compared to the previous year. However, this is not a sign of stabilization, but rather the result of the index approaching the lower limit of the scale – lukashenko’s regime has squeezed almost everything it could out of society, and now there is simply nowhere left to fall.

The overall index stands at 2.4 out of 10. Prior to this, the score had been declining every year. The number of indicators with the lowest rating – one point out of ten – has increased nearly sixfold, from 6 in 2019 to 37 in 2025. This reflects the intensification of repressive practices and the further narrowing of space even for basic human rights.

In 2025, the ratings for five rights deteriorated simultaneously: the right to life, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, the right to education, the right to social security, and the right to participate in cultural life. The cultural sector was hit the hardest: the indicator for non-discriminatory access to cultural life dropped by 0.5 points, the largest single-point decline among all the study’s indicators. The right to education deteriorated across all five of its components, indicating that these changes are systemic in nature.

Formally, most other rights remained at the same level, but this stability is deceptive: within these categories, 98 out of 290 assessed indicators deteriorated.

Separately, experts point out that some violations affect several rights at once. A telling example: the forced expulsion of pardoned political prisoners from belarus, which simultaneously violated the right to life, liberty, and personal integrity; the prohibition of torture; the right to a fair trial; and the right to participate in cultural life.

The National Human Rights Index has been published since 2019. Thirty-five experts participated in preparing the 2025 edition, assessing the situation based on 290 quantitative indicators across three categories: civil and political rights, social and economic rights, and general measures in the field of human rights.