Author: Human Rights Watch

(Berlin, April 6, 2026) – Kazakhstan’s prosecuting authorities have filed criminal charges for battery against a feminist activist who was aggressively accosted at a café in Astana, the capital, while meeting with feminist and queer colleagues and friends, Human Rights Watch said today. The charges, brought on March 26, 2026, follow an investigation into Zhanar Sekerbayeva, […]

(Dakar) – Senegalese families remain in limbo in a site called Khar Yalla, a decade after coastal floods destroyed their homes, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite recent progress, the government has not yet provided displaced families with a permanent, durable solution. The approximately 1,000 people who lost their homes to tidal surges in 2015 […]

(Bangkok) – A senior cabinet minister in Thailand has brought criminal defamation lawsuits against two prominent journalists who reported about a bribery case, raising serious concerns for media freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial court can dismiss the case if it lacks legal merit or is without basis. On February 27, 2026, the Minister […]

On April 7, Australian police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated Australian soldier who stands accused of committing five counts of war crimes in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.  Many of the details of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes were made public when he sued media outlets that had first reported on the allegations. He lost the defamation case.  For victims of […]

On April 7, Australian police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated Australian soldier who stands accused of committing five counts of war crimes in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.  Many of the details of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes were made public when he sued media outlets that had first reported on the allegations. He lost the defamation case.  For victims of […]

Forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated civilians in areas under their control, and denied them due process rights. The military has led a campaign of fear and retaliation against people they label collaborators, because of their ethnic identity, humanitarian work, or political affiliation or for having lived […]

On April 2, the Cuban government announced the release of 2,010 prisoners, framing it as a “humanitarian gesture.” While the announcement raised hopes among many political prisoners’ families, neither Human Rights Watch nor other civil society groups, including Prisoners Defenders and Justicia 11J, have identified any political prisoners among those released. In its announcement, the Cuban […]

A new United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report delivers a sobering message: the number of children out of school has risen for the seventh consecutive year, reaching 273 million worldwide. While nearly 90 percent of children globally complete primary school, the greatest gaps are in early learning and secondary education. Most out-of-school […]

The Trump administration is using a US federal funding provision to make abortion care less accessible, threatening states with devastating federal funding cuts for protecting the right to abortion.  The provision, known as the Weldon Amendment and attached to federal spending bills since 2005, is meant to prevent states from treating differently under state law health care providers, practitioners, […]

Cameroonian authorities are arbitrarily detaining non-Cameroonian nationals deported from the United States and detaining and abusing journalists who tried to interview them. But US President Donald Trump’s administration doesn’t seem to care. In January and February, under a secret agreement, the US government deported to Cameroon 17 men and women—including asylum seekers and a stateless […]