Author: Human Rights Watch

(Washington, DC) – Venezuelan authorities should take prompt measures to reform key judicial and electoral institutions and repeal abusive laws, Human Rights Watch said today. Following US military strikes in Venezuela and the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, 2026, Venezuelan authorities have released hundreds of political prisoners and said that […]

In a watershed moment for same-sex couples in the Philippines, the Supreme Court ruled on February 5 that a cohabiting same-sex partner has co-ownership rights to property they helped acquire during the relationship. The case involved a lesbian couple who bought property together but registered it under one partner’s name to facilitate the sale. When they […]

(Beirut) – The United States transferred 5,700 detainees held for alleged ISIS affiliation from Northeast Syria to Iraq, where they are at risk of enforced disappearance, unfair trials, torture, ill-treatment, and violations of the right to life, Human Rights Watch said today.  The United States began transferring the detainees, including Syrians, Iraqis, and third country nationals, on January […]

The Uzbek government is violating the human and labor rights of cotton and wheat farmers through a coercive state production system, including penalties such as land seizure for not meeting quotas.  Though the government has ended state-imposed forced labor of cotton pickers in the cotton harvest and has committed to broader reforms, the remaining system […]

(The Hague) – The International Criminal Court (ICC)’s first major hearing in the case against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is a critical step in ensuring justice for victims of the Philippines’ “war on drugs,” Human Rights Watch said today in a question-and-answer document on the upcoming proceedings.  From February 23 to 27, 2026, a panel […]

The recent acquittal of 24 humanitarian workersby a court in Lesbos, in what the European Parliament called the “largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe”, should have been a turning point in the Greek government’s assault on civil society. Instead, it has doubled down. On February 5, Greece’s Parliament passed a government-led migration law that associates […]

(Berlin) – The Kazakhstan Constitutional Commission’s proposed amendments to the country’s constitution would severely weaken checks on executive power and fundamental human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said today. Police have responded to public criticism of the changes by intimidating and arresting journalists, lawyers, and social media users. The draft constitution will be put to a […]

(Beirut) – A Tunisian lawyer and human rights defender, Ahmed Souab, who was sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, will face a new trial on appeal on February 12, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunisian authorities should immediately drop the unfounded charges and release him, and stop retaliating against critics and the lawyers […]

The European Parliament voted today to usher in changes to European Union asylum rules that jeopardize the right to seek asylum. It adopted an EU-wide list of “safe countries of origin” which means citizens from these countries will face an automatic presumption that they do not need protection and will be channeled into accelerated procedures that […]

Courts in Azerbaijan have handed down further politically motivated in-absentia convictions against journalists, bloggers, and other critics of the government living abroad, expanding the authorities’ campaign of transnational repression. In January, a Baku court convicted several government critics residing in the United States. Sevinc Osmangizi, a journalist, was sentenced in absentia to eight years in […]