Author: Human Rights Watch

Thai authorities are continuing to place refugees and asylum seekers at risk of torture by forcibly returning them to China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other countries with well-documented records of torturing dissidents. In doing so, Thailand is violating the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which it […]

A second presidential term for Donald Trump, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices that eliminated the US constitutional right to abortion, poses a serious threat to reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. This is despite opinion polls showing that 63 percent of people in the US think abortion should be legal in all or […]

(Johannesburg) – The Mozambican authorities should immediately end internet restrictions imposed since October 25, 2024, and restore full access to social media platforms, Human Rights Watch said today. Internet restrictions and shutdowns violate multiple rights including access to information, freedom of speech, and peaceful protest, and people’s ability to earn a living through online business. […]

(Istanbul, November 7, 2024) – The Erdoğan government’s decision in recent days to remove from office four democratically elected mayors and dissolve municipal councils is a significant blow to Türkiye’s democratic credentials and violates the rights of over half a million voters, Human Rights Watch said today. The mayors in four constituencies, one in Istanbul and three […]

Countries concerned by incendiary weapons’ severe physical, psychological, socioeconomic, and environmental harm should work to strengthen the international law that governs them. Incendiary weapons cause excruciating burns, respiratory damage, and lifelong suffering. They have been used this year in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Ukraine, and Syria and in the past 15 years in Afghanistan, Iraq, […]

This week, Uganda’s appeals court is set to hear an important case on a government hospital’s use of seclusion and restraints on people with psychosocial disabilities. In 2015, Benon Kabale, a human rights and mental health care reform activist, together with the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), sued the government for restraining and […]

The Mauritius government has ended its recent suspension of social media, which threatened voters’ access to information ahead of the general elections on November 10. On November 1, the Mauritius communications authority had directed internet service providers in the country to suspend access to all social media platforms until after the elections. Following swift and widespread […]

(New York) – Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid fails to address the country’s widespread labor rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. FIFA, the international football organization, will formally certify the awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia on December 11, 2024. FIFA has reportedly completed its evaluation of the Saudi bid. On July […]

(Berlin) – Governments participating in the 29th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) should urgently commit to drastically reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, including by immediately and fairly phasing out of fossil fuels, Human Rights Watch said today. The climate conference will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22, 2024. “Governments preparing their […]

(Nairobi) – Kenyan security forces abducted, arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and killed perceived leaders of the anti-Finance Bill protests between June and August 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. Security officers held abductees, who they had detained without respecting their legal rights, in unlawful detention facilities, including in forests and abandoned buildings, and denied them access […]