Author: Human Rights Watch

People living near a coal plant in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria breathe air so toxic they describe themselves as prisoners in their own homes. In Louisiana, communities along the petrochemical corridor known as Cancer Alley face some of the highest cancer rates in the United States. In Uganda and Tanzania, activists opposing the East African Crude Oil Pipeline have […]

European Union Partnership Commissioner Jozef Sikela announced on April 21 the resumption of EU’s direct budget support to the Ethiopian government: the final step towards normalizing relations with the country. The move comes as Ethiopia’s dire human rights situation has deteriorated ahead of June 1 national elections. The EU initially suspended its direct budget support to Ethiopia […]

(Beirut) – Israeli and Iranian attacks in mid-March 2026 on vital energy infrastructure were unlawfully indiscriminate and could trigger profound economic consequences for millions of people in the region and globally, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks on the facilities in Iran and Qatar may amount to war crimes. On March 18, Israeli forces attacked Iran’s South Pars […]

(London) – The arrest of at least four people in Bangladesh for posting social media content supposedly critical of the new government is an alarming continuation of the previous government’s repressive practices, Human Rights Watch said today. Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government should live up to its promises on freedom of expression, end […]

(Seoul, April 22, 2026) – South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s decision to co-sponsor the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on North Korea reaffirms South Korea’s longstanding commitment to freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, said 25 human rights organizations in a joint statement today. The resolution, adopted by consensus on March 30, 2026, at the council’s 61st […]

(New York) – Pakistani authorities have sharply escalated abusive raids, arbitrary detentions, and forced returns of Afghan refugees following renewed border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said today. Police operations have left thousands of already vulnerable Afghan refugees, including children, facing serious barriers to health care, education, and other essential services. “Pakistani […]

This week, a military court in the town of Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province, will hand down a verdict in the case against three members of the citizens’ movement Lutte pour le Changement (Struggle for Change, or Lucha). The activists were arrested on March 12, 2026, after organizing a peaceful demonstration […]

(Nairobi) – Burkina Faso’s military government is intensifying its sweeping crackdown on civil society through restrictive legislation, administrative pressure, and punitive actions targeting domestic and international organizations, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organisation Against Torture within the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and Observatoire KISAL said […]

Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi traveled to Pyongyang for his first visit since 2019. During the trip, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, with both sides pledging to deepen cooperation and coordination. This visible and cordial diplomacy between Beijing and Pyongyang was deliberate. Transport links between […]

Belarusian authorities are systematically using vaguely defined “extremism” laws to target dissent, including Belarusians in exile. Most recently, on April 14, the Belarusian Supreme Court designated the Lithuania-based European Humanities University an “extremist organization,” claiming it was “destabilizing the sociopolitical situation in the country.” This exposes thousands of current and former students and professors, the […]