Author: Human Rights Watch

Prolonged heavy rains have caused deadly flooding across Southern Africa. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, most of them in Mozambique, where more than half a million have already been displaced. Gender inequality already leads to women being disproportionately affected by climate disasters.  This week, I visited some of the school buildings that are being used as accommodation […]

Last week, Mali’s military junta moved to limit the ability of everyday people to get information from one of the most influential news outlets covering African affairs. On January 16, the Ministry of Territorial Administration issued a decree banning the circulation and distribution of Jeune Afrique “in all its forms,” citing “the need to preserve public order.” The […]

The Cambodian government has issued formal instructions that will allow it to arbitrarily strip Cambodians of citizenship without any judicial review or appeal. The government’s longtime crackdown on peaceful dissent and the political opposition heightens concerns that these new powers will be abused. The instructions, the “Sub-Decree on Implementing the Law on Nationality,” were posted on […]

Truck drivers in Niger now face a stark choice: risk your life or lose your livelihood. On January 6, Niger’s transport minister issued a decree punishing at least 34 fuel transport operators and long-haul truck drivers who refused to deliver fuel to neighboring Mali. Since September 2025, an Al Qaeda-linked armed group, known as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa […]

(Kinshasa) – The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group’s sudden withdrawal from the city of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on January 17, 2026, has put civilians at grave risk from abusive Wazalendo militias, Human Rights Watch said today. After the M23 and Rwandan forces captured Uvira on December 10, M23 forces threatened, harassed, and assaulted people […]

On January 19, a court in Makhachkala, the capital city of Russia’s Dagestan region, sentenced women’s rights defender and journalist Svetlana Anokhina to five years in prison for allegedly spreading “fake news” about the Russian armed forces. The sentence was handed down in absentia: Anokhina left Russia in 2021 after a shelter her organization Marem […]

Uganda’s electoral commission has declared President Yoweri Museveni as the winner of the January 15 elections, securing his seventh term in office with 71 percent of the vote.  The weeks leading up to the elections were marred by rights abuses. Security officers reportedly beat and arrested hundreds of people during opposition rallies, indiscriminately fired teargas, […]

(Bangkok) – The Sri Lanka government’s proposed counterterrorism legislation includes numerous provisions similar to the current abusive law and risks facilitating the same kind of repression, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill does not meet benchmarks set out by the United Nations counterterrorism expert or comply with human rights obligations and commitments that Sri Lanka […]

The recent death of Sha Bahadur Gurung, one of Bhutan’s longest serving political prisoners, is a tragic reminder of the injustice and needless suffering endured by alleged government critics in Bhutan’s grim prisons.  Gurung, 65, was arrested in 1990 while he was a member of the Royal Bhutan Army and accused of attending protests demanding […]

The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council should use its January 19 ambassadorial-level meeting to address the urgent protection needs and escalating abuses in South Sudan.  The meeting follows a visit by the AU High-Level Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan, during which they assessed the 2018 peace agreement’s implementation, which has been undermined by, […]