Author: Human Rights Watch

On September 11, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General published reports outlining findings from visits to Krome North Service Processing Center and the now-shuttered “Alligator Alcatraz,” immigration detention facilities in Florida. The oversight body found that the facilities failed to comply with DHS standards, including for medical care, environmental health and safety, […]

(Istanbul, September 18, 2026) – The Turkish government’s major crackdown on groups and activists defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people threatens the rule of law and fundamental rights in Türkiye, Human Rights Watch said today.  On September 12-14, 2026, coordinated police raids targeted seven groups defending the rights of LGBT people […]

(Berlin, September 18, 2026) – Georgian authorities are using vague administrative offenses to jail or heavily fine people for online speech, deepening the government’s crackdown on freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Since June 2026, a new Ministry of Internal Affairs unit has monitored social media and referred hundreds of posts to courts to be […]

Hungary’s new government has taken an important step toward dismantling a key discriminatory legacy of the Orbán era—the legal targeting of LGBT people. The job is not finished, however. The government submitted legislation to Parliament on September 14 to remove several provisions of the 2021 so-called “child protection” law that restrict the “portrayal” or “promotion” of sexual […]

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 14 that it is repealing limits on climate-warming pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants, the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. By gutting the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, the EPA is eliminating most of the limits on power plants’ carbon […]

Satirist and political commentator Azamat Omarov, who had been in pre-trial detention in Kazakhstan since mid-April on “inciting discord” charges, struck a plea bargain with the prosecution, under the terms of which he pled guilty, and on September 15, was released. While Omarov avoided what could have been a long and unjustified prison sentence, he […]

This week 25 former political prisoners arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania having been released from detention in Belarus. Their release was negotiated by the United States special envoy to Belarus John Coale with president Aliaksander Lukashenka. In exchange, the US lifted sanctions on two Belarusian companies. Among those released are journalist Andrei Aleksandrau and activist Iryna […]

(Berlin, September 17, 2026) – The convictions of Kosovo’s former President Hashim Thaçi and three senior former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders for war crimes on September 16, 2026, are an important step toward accountability for victims of the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.  The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, based in The Hague, found Thaçi, […]

(New York) – A new Chinese government decree expands the discretion of administrative authorities to arbitrarily bar people from leaving China, violating the internationally protected right to leave a country, Human Rights Watch said today. The State Council’s 19-article Regulations on Exit-Entry Administration, known as Decree No. 841, took effect on September 15, 2026. The new decree […]

Hungary’s new government has taken an important step toward dismantling a key discriminatory legacy of the Orbán era—the legal targeting of LGBT people. The job is not finished, however. The government submitted legislation to Parliament on September 14 to remove several provisions of the 2021 so-called “child protection” law that restrict the “portrayal” or “promotion” of sexual […]