Author: Human Rights Watch

(Beirut) – A political prisoner died on November 19, 2025, in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) notorious al-Razeen Prison after more than a decade of unjust imprisonment and torture allegations, Human Rights Watch and the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC) said today. Ali Abdullah Fath Ali al-Khaja, 59, was found dead in his prison cell […]

(Nairobi) – Concerns about irregularities, political interference, and security pressures risk putting the credibility and inclusiveness of key elections in the Central African Republic into question, Human Rights Watch said today. The vote, scheduled for December 28, 2025, will include presidential and parliamentary elections, but also municipal elections for the first time in decades. “The Central […]

(Berlin, November 28, 2025) – Russia’s designation of Human Rights Watch as an “undesirable” foreign organization, made public by the Ministry of Justice on November 28, is yet another mark of the Kremlin’s repression, Human Rights Watch said today. The designation bans the organization’s work in Russia. “For over three decades, Human Rights Watch’s work […]

United Nations human rights experts have highlighted “widespread and systematic” exploitation, deception, and deepening debt bondage of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. Over 800,000 Bangladeshis have Malaysian work permits, making them the largest group of documented foreign workers in the country. According to information received by the UN, thousands of workers are stranded in Bangladesh or face […]

(Berlin, November 27, 2025) – The People First Campaign on November 26, 2025, urged key leaders involved with a proposed Ukraine peace plan to ensure that any peace plan regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine places the human dimension at its core, Human Rights Watch said today. The campaign addressed an open letter to officials including United States President […]

(Bangkok) – Thai authorities should drop criminal defamation charges against the Australian journalist Murray Hunter, who is being prosecuted for reporting on Malaysia’s media regulating agency, Human Rights Watch said today. Thai authorities arrested Hunter on September 29, 2025, at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport while he was awaiting to board a flight to Hong Kong. He […]

The United Nations leadership has launched a major reform plan to make the cash-strapped world body more efficient and cost-effective. Unfortunately, it has offered little on how this will impact the UN’s already understaffed and underfunded human rights work and the victims it is intended to help. The UN’s worsening financial crisis is largely due […]

The Cambodian government is not supporting hundreds of thousands of migrant workers with microfinance debts who returned from Thailand because of hostilities in mid-2025. The Cambodian government has long failed to ensure an adequate standard of living, compelling many families to obtain predatory microfinance loans, making the tenuous situation of people who returned even more […]

A new quantitative study from National Observatory on Violence Against Educators represents one of the most comprehensive efforts to date to measure the nature and scale of censorship and harassment of educators across Brazil. While previous analyses have documented the legal and political tactics to undermine or prohibit human rights education, this new report offers a nationally representative […]

In Belem, Brazil, as the United Nations climate summit (COP30) convened, I marched alongside thousands of activists and Indigenous peoples calling on governments to urgently address climate change and protect human rights. As previous host countries restricted such demonstrations, the November 15 march was exhilarating. However, despite clear—and powerful—calls from civil society for the summit to […]