Author: Human Rights Watch

(New York) – The Hong Kong High Court’s conviction of Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, is the latest marker of Hong Kong’s dramatic shift from respecting press freedoms to endorsing outright hostility toward the media, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should quash the baseless conviction and immediately release Lai. On December […]

On December 13, Belarusian authorities released 123 prisoners following negotiations led by the US administration, which had agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. The majority were sent to Ukraine, and a group of nine to Lithuania. Most of those released had been prosecuted and imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their human rights. Among […]

In the latest crackdown on media freedom in Ethiopia, Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international public broadcaster, said in a December 12 statement that the Ethiopian Media Authority had permanently suspended two of its journalists. The Ethiopian Media Authority, a government agency that has the power to sanction news outlets operating inside the country, sent DW a […]

(Nairobi) – Militia fighters killed at least 22 civilians and injured many more in an attack in late November 2025 on a village in Kwamouth territory in western Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. Witnesses from the village of Nkana, about 75 kilometers northeast of Kinshasa, the national capital, said that militiamen […]

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order that proposes to challenge and dismantle a range of “cumbersome” artificial intelligence (AI) laws at state and city level in the US and replace them with a not yet defined national AI regulatory framework. The move is supposedly an effort to “sustain and enhance the United States’ global […]

(Brussels) – The European Parliament’s approval on December 16, 2025, of final amendments watering down the European Union’s flagship corporate accountability law severely undermines the EU’s ability to hold businesses accountable for human rights and environmental harms, Human Rights Watch said today. The vote on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive draws to a close […]

(Washington, DC) – Human Rights Watch today published a detailed question-and-answer document analyzing the Trump administration’s boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. To date, 26 reported strikes have unlawfully killed at least 95 people, none of whom the US government has identified. The Question-and-Answer document is intended as a resource for understanding the legal […]

China’s government has long sought to silence dissent abroad, but recently there’s been a disturbing escalation: harassment through sexually explicit letters targeting activists outside the country. Hongkongers Carmen Lau and Ted Hui are exiled activists who face arrest warrants back in Hong Kong under the draconian National Security Law. They revealed last week that anonymous […]

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities should quash the conviction of prominent economist Abd al-Khaliq Farouk, who on October 2, 2025, was sentenced to five years in prison for articles and social media posts in violation of his free speech and due process rights, Human Rights Watch said today. An appeals court is scheduled to hear his case […]

Gyula Balog had a twinkle in his eye to match his wide smile, as he declared, “I’m an alcoholic, a homeless person, an activist, an actor, and an expert by experience.” He made sure the interpreter captured these words in that precise order, and then continued, “I have been sober for 31 years, and spent […]