Author: Human Rights Watch

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced it will block new referrals for gender-affirming hormone therapy for transgender youth under 18, restricting access to evidence-based care and undermining young people’s rights to health, bodily autonomy, and nondiscrimination. The decision came into force on March 9 and will undergo a 90-day consultation period after which the NHS […]

“The company’s chemicals have contaminated our land, water, and people,” 28-year-old “Elizabeth” recently told Kontomaa Darimu Alliance, an Ethiopian nongovernmental organization. Elizabeth’s 2-year-old son died a few years ago and she suffered miscarriages in 2024 and 2025; she believes the mine is to blame.  Residents living near Lega Dembi mine, located in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, have complained […]

(Berlin, March 12, 2026) – Russian authorities have escalated their internet censorship efforts over the past month, Human Rights Watch said today, a day marked by free speech defenders as World Day Against Cyber Censorship. The government has blocked the most popular social media platform in Russia, coercing users to switch to a state-approved application, […]

(Paris) – An Islamist armed group has killed at least 38 civilians, abducted 9 women, and burned property in 3 separate incidents in northeastern Burkina Faso since late January 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The atrocities by the Al Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, or JNIM) […]

(Beirut) – A prominent Iraqi women’s rights activist was gunned down outside her Baghdad home by two men on motorcycles on March 2, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today.  Yanar Mohammed, 65, co-founded the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq in 2003. She opened Iraq’s first women’s shelters that same year, building a network that […]

The Thai authorities should immediately release Le Chi Thanh, a prominent Vietnamese anti-corruption activist, and ensure that he is not forcibly returned to Vietnam, Human Rights Watch said today. Le Chi Thanh’s lawyers told Human Rights Watch that the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok has been pressing Thai authorities to deport him as soon as possible […]

Imagine living in North Korea. Then imagine your mother selling herself into a forced marriage in China to pay for your escape. This is what happened to Kim Geum Sung. In 2019, the teenager arrived in South Korea alone. His mother remained in China so that her son might have a better life.For more than a year, […]

This week, the Australian government introduced a new bill, that if passed, will prevent people from conflict and crisis-affected countries from visiting Australia.  Under the Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Bill 2026, the minister for home affairs can issue an “arrival control determination” that would stop people from specified regions from entering Australia on […]

Two women are currently in custody in Uganda for allegedly kissing in public. The pair, whom Ugandan police arrested on February 18, are detained under the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, one of the most draconian anti-LGBT legislations in the world. Uganda criminalizes consensual same-sex relations under its British colonial-era Penal Code Act. Over the last decade, […]

As the United States and Israel carry out thousands of strikes on Iran and Iran carries out attacks across the Middle East, detainees in the region face even greater risks than usual. In Bahrain, an island state that Iranian forces have repeatedly attacked, the authorities should immediately release detainees.   Many of those behind bars […]