Freedom House is outraged by the brutal attack today on an American journalist and a British rights activist in Azerbaijan and calls on the authorities to publicly condemn the assault and to launch an immediate investigation into the crime.

Freedom House urges the Saudi government to allow tomorrow's peaceful Right to Drive campaign to take place without interference and to follow through on past promises to lift its decree banning female drivers as one of many steps overdue to improve women's rights in the kingdom.

Freedom House condemns the arrest and beating of BBC Central Asia radio correspondent, Urinboy Usmonov. Freedom House calls for his immediate release and for authorities to exercise due process and grant him all legal rights while in custody.

The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and Freedom House today announced the launch of the Belarus Working Group, a bipartisan gathering of leading scholars, analysts and former policymakers tasked with identifying sustainable and impactful Western strategies for supporting Belarusian civil society and dealing with 'Europe's last dictatorship.' Co-chaired by CEPA President A. Wess Mitchell and Freedom House President David J. Kramer, the findings of the project will provide an actionable policy roadmap for catalyzing democratic change in the country.

Freedom House welcomes yesterday's statement by the United States at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva listing Bahrain as one of several countries that should receive additional scrutiny by the body and urges stronger U.S. and international action in response to the ongoing abuses in that country.

A year after the tragic events in Kyrgyzstan, which claimed the lives of over 400 ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the south of the country, Freedom House recognizes the important step by the Kyrgyzstani government to acknowledge the tragedy and calls on the country's leaders to increase efforts to improve the relations between various ethnic groups.

Freedom House applauds the decision of the U.S. Departments of Treasury and State last week to impose sanctions against three branches of the Iranian military establishment for their gross human rights abuses and violations of international law. Sanctions were imposed on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij Resistance Force (Basij), the Iranian national police and its police chief for extensive and sustained assaults on Iranian citizens.

Freedom House opened its newest office this week in Vilnius, Lithuania in a ceremony featuring Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis and Freedom House Executive Director David J. Kramer. The office will focus on ways to promote democratic reform and human rights in neighboring Belarus, a country suffering under the dictatorial rule of President Aleksandr Lukashenka. The activities of the office will be focused on assisting the Belarusian nation in reaching its true potential as a full-fledged member of the European family, upholding true democratic values and civil liberties.