Author: Human Rights Watch

The crew of the Geo Barents, the Médécins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders or MSF) rescue ship in the central Mediterranean Sea, had just brought on board a 7-month-pregnant Syrian woman when a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie: small boat fast approaching. As an observer on the ship, I ran to the bridge and watched […]

The Rwandan army and the M23 armed group have throughout 2024 indiscriminately shelled displacement camps and other densely populated areas near Goma in eastern Congo. The Congolese armed forces and allied militias have increased the risk faced by displaced people in the camps by deploying artillery nearby and by entering the camps, where they have committed […]

Global critics of the international financial architecture say the system is broken. As Brazilian President Lula da Silva said today addressing the United Nations General Assembly, it’s become “the Marshall Plan in reverse where the poorest finance the richest.” From realizing people’s socioeconomic rights to tackling climate change, the laws and institutions that make up the global […]

Academic freedom in Hong Kong has severely declined since the Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law on the city on June 30, 2020. Students and faculty accustomed to academic freedom must now tread carefully to avoid retribution for what they teach, research, and publish, and even with whom they associate. Concerned governments and […]

Uruguay is among the first countries in the Americas to provide personal assistance for people with disabilities in their care system, but has yet to provide services for everyone who require them for independent living. The program is riddled with gaps that leave many people with disabilities unable to access the support they need because […]

(Beirut) – More than a thousand Israeli strikes across Lebanon that have killed hundreds of people and injured thousands since September 23, 2024, are placing civilians across the country at grave risk of harm, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN should urgently establish, and UN member countries should support, an international investigation into the recent hostilities […]

(Austin, TX) – The Texas National Guard has repeatedly fired pepper spray projectiles at arriving migrants, Human Rights Watch said today. The Texas legislature should deny additional funds for the Texas Military Department, which oversees the Texas National Guard, until this practice ends. In several incidents, including one newly documented by Human Rights Watch, Texas […]

(New York) – The Chinese government should quash the conviction and release Ilham Tohti, the prominent Uyghur economist and government critic, on the 10th anniversary of his sentencing, Human Rights Watch said today. In 2014, the Xinjiang People’s High Court convicted Professor Tohti on politically motivated charges of “separatism” and sentenced him to life in prison. His family has not been allowed to visit him since early […]

(Brussels) – The European Union should classify Malaysia’s state of Sarawak as high risk under its new anti-deforestation regulation, a coalition of environmental, human rights, and Indigenous organizations said today. Sarawak, whose millions of hectares of ancient rainforests are at risk of being razed for timber and oil palm plantations supplying international markets, is a […]

(Taipei) – Taiwan’s top court on September 20, 2024, ruled that the death penalty was constitutional with greater protections, Human Rights Watch said today. The ruling addressed some concerns with the country’s death penalty, but permits the continued use of the inherently cruel punishment. Following a legal challenge by all 37 inmates currently on Taiwan’s death […]