Author: Human Rights Watch

A prominent civil society leader in Guinea, Abdoul Sacko, went missing in the early hours of February 19, 2025, after gunmen took him from his home in the capital Conakry, raising concerns about an enforced disappearance. He resurfaced that night bearing marks of torture. Sacko, a critic of the military junta which took power in a September […]

Two men died in custody in Uzbekistan in recent days, and a third man is in the hospital unresponsive after police detained him, according to rights groups and local bloggers. Abdurakhmon Tashanov, head of the human rights organization Ezgulik, reported that Muhammadkadir Pulatov, 21, died on February 14, 2025, in central Uzbekistan’s Almalyk prison. According to […]

Guatemala is failing to prevent and address systemic sexual violence, resulting in forced pregnancies among girls under 14. Girls who have experienced sexual violence are often pushed out of education, struggle to access health care and social security, and face enormous barriers to justice. Comprehensive reforms are urgently needed to better prevent sexual violence, including […]

Brutal violence has taken hold in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions since 2016 as armed separatist groups seek independence for the country’s minority Anglophone regions. Attacks on communities and acts of banditry have become the norm.  Government security forces were deployed to stop attacks and bring stability, but the conflict has only deepened. Security forces […]

(London) – The United Kingdom government’s order to Apple to allow access to encrypted cloud data harms the privacy rights of users in the UK and worldwide, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. The UK government order is an attempt to force Apple to provide access to encrypted user data, including device backups that […]

(New York) – The interim government in Bangladesh should ensure that security forces act with neutrality and respect the rule of law to prosecute political violence, Human Rights Watch said today. A United Nations report has found that law enforcement agencies, including the police, border guards, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and intelligence agencies, had engaged in serious […]

Today, the United Nations Human Rights Council held a session exploring reforms of global economic rules to better align with human rights. Specifically, experts discussed developing indicators to measure progress other than Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The shortfalls of measuring a country’s headway using GDP is an issue of rising importance on global agendas and […]

Content and datasets essential for research, policy making, transparency, and accountability began to disappear from US government websites beginning late Friday, January 31, with little information as to why or whether there would be future accessibility. An unknown number of pages and datasets from agencies across the government have been removed, including from the US Census Bureau, […]

The United Nations leadership and its member countries need a backup plan to ensure lifesaving UN humanitarian aid and human rights work continue. This is necessary because the UN’s top financial contributor—the United States—cannot be trusted to honor its commitments. Since taking office, President Donald J. Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders with […]

On February 6, 2023, Türkiye’s southern provinces were hit with devastating earthquakes that left more than 53,000 people dead and over 107,000 injured. The earthquakes exposed the decades’ long failure of municipalities, and other public authorities to ensure builders’ compliance with safe building standards. Yet two years on, there is little sign of accountability for […]