Author: Human Rights Watch

(Bangkok) – Thailand’s new government should take concrete steps to make human rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Prime Minister Paetongtarn is expected to take office on September 16, 2024. “The Paetongtarn government needs to act quickly to address Thailand’s widespread human rights problems,” said John […]

Today, the Australian government committed to developing the country’s first data protection law for children. The decision, which rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, Australian academics, and many Australians have long called for, comes as part of a package of reforms to Australia’s privacy law. These reforms include creating the right to sue for serious invasions […]

(Geneva) — World Health Organization (WHO) member countries negotiating a new international agreement to address pandemics need to ensure that the agreement reflects their domestic and international obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill all human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Negotiators will meet in Geneva for two weeks starting September 9, 2024.  The draft WHO […]

One year ago, the Malaysian government launched Baitul Mahabbah, an initiative to move children ages 10 and younger from regular immigration detention centers, known as depots, and place them in dedicated centers for children. There are now 170 children – some unaccompanied – in Baitul Mahabbah centers, facilities that do not provide a genuine alternative to […]

(Geneva, September 9, 2024) – The international treaty banning cluster munitions is making demonstrable progress, but is being tested by new use and transfers of cluster munitions by countries that have not joined it, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing an annual monitoring report on cluster munitions. The 100-page report, “Cluster Munition Monitor 2024,” […]

On August 23, I was aboard the Geo Barents, the rescue ship operated by the humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders or MSF), in the port of Salerno when the news arrived that the ship was to be detained by authorities for 60 days. Instead of witnessing lifesaving efforts in the Mediterranean Sea, […]

(Nairobi) – South Sudan’s parliament has approved two laws on transitional justice that advance accountability and justice for victims of abuses committed since the start of the country’s armed conflict which broke out in December 2013, Human Rights Watch said today. The bills, adopted on September 3, 2024, were sent to parliamentary committees that will […]

Last week, the Ethiopian government finally released seven long-detained senior members of the Oromo Liberation Front, an opposition political party. Abdi Regassa, Dawit Abdeta, Lammi Begna, Michael Boran, Kenessa Ayana, Gaada Oljira, and Gaada Gebissa should never have been arrested, let alone jailed. They spent four years in detention without charge while the government ignored […]

Last month, South Korea’s Constitutional Court held that the country’s current climate measures were insufficient for safeguarding citizens’ rights, particularly those of younger generations, who will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. The ruling is the first of its kind in Asia, and could set a powerful example for the rest of the […]

(Jerusalem, September 10, 2024) – The Israeli military’s use of surveillance technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and other digital tools to help determine targets to attack in Gaza may be increasing the risk of civilian harm, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document about the tools. These digital tools raise grave ethical, legal, […]