Author: Human Rights Watch

(Johannesburg) – South African authorities have failed to protect whistleblowers, who expose corruption and criminal activities in government and state-owned enterprises, from attacks and killings, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities need to conduct effective, prompt, and impartial investigations to hold those responsible to account and to ensure justice for the victims and their families. […]

(Nairobi) – The lenient prison terms for defendants on trial for the February 2020 massacre in Ngarbuh, in Cameroon’s North-West region, compounds the authorities’ insufficient efforts to hold senior military officers accountable and compensate victims’ families, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 20, 2026, a military court in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, sentenced three security […]

(Bangkok) – A Thai court on February 20, 2026, sentenced a prominent free speech activist and three others to 32 months in prison for criticizing King Maha Vajiralongkorn under Thailand’s royal insult law, Human Rights Watch said today. The Bangkok Criminal Court found Pimsiri Petchnamrob, 35, guilty of lese majeste (insulting the monarchy) for her […]

(Beirut) – The wellbeing of about 8,500 people held in camps housing families of men suspected of Islamic State (ISIS) affiliation in northeast Syria remains uncertain, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 30, 2026, the Syrian government announced that the camps, called al-Hol and Roj, would be imminently closed. After control of al-Hol was transferred […]

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 […]

A new United Nations report details how criminal groups in Haiti are exploiting the near-total absence of the state, as well as widespread hunger and violence, to recruit children who then face abuse. These criminal groups traffic children by using threats and material incentives to force them into criminal activity, sexual abuse, and sexual slavery. At […]

In the early morning hours of February 26, 2023, the Summer Love shipwrecked off the coast of Calabria, Italy. At least 94 people, including 35 children, died in what is known as the Cutro shipwreck. According to survivors, the boat was carrying up to 250 people, most from Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan. The anniversary comes […]

US President Donald Trump’s administration today rolled back another air-pollution protection, this time for one of the most toxic substances on earth: mercury. The action reverses then-President Joe Biden’s decision in 2024 to reduce the levels of allowable mercury air emissions for coal-fired power plants, restoring them to their previous levels. Trump had already given dozens […]

(New York) – North Korea’s ninth Party Congress started on February 20, 2026, amid escalating repression of young people, strict control of information, and widespread forced labor, Human Rights Watch said today. The Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea is the country’s most important political meeting. Party Congresses have historically occurred irregularly: the last three […]

The disqualification of the Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from the 2026 Winter Olympics shines a critical light on Rule 50 (2) of the Olympic Charter prohibiting political, racial, or religious “propaganda” at Olympic venues. He was disqualified for wearing a helmet displaying images of Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The decision by […]