Author: Human Rights Watch

(Bangkok) – The Vietnamese authorities arrested a former political prisoner, Huynh Ngoc Tuan, on October 7, 2025, for his comments on social media, Human Rights Watch said today. Police in Dak Lak province charged him with “conducting propaganda against the state” under article 117 of the penal code. They should immediately release him. Vietnamese law permits […]

On October 14, news broke that Russian forces, using drones, had attacked a United Nations interagency convoy delivering humanitarian aid to Bilozerka in the region of Kherson, southern Ukraine. The next day, a Russian-military affiliated Telegram channel posted video evidence of the attack for the world to see. Having spent the better part of a year investigating similar Russian drone […]

(Beirut) – Saudi authorities on October 20, 2025, executed a man convicted of alleged crimes committed as a child, Human Rights Watch said today. Abdullah al-Derazi had been sentenced to death on terrorism charges related to participating in protests and funeral processions. He was the 300th person executed by Saudi authorities in 2025.  The authorities […]

(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should press Myanmar’s junta for the immediate release of a refugee family abducted from Kuala Lumpur in July 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. More than two years after her disappearance, Myanmar junta authorities announced on October 17, 2025, that they were detaining Thuzar Maung, a Myanmar pro-democracy activist, along with her […]

(Nairobi) – Burkina Faso authorities should urgently investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts of six judges and prosecutors as well as one lawyer who are feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch said today. The abductions of the judicial officers and lawyer since October 10, 2025, could amount to enforced disappearances and possible […]

The Taliban have gutted Afghan media since taking control of the country in August 2021 through the use of surveillance and censorship and by punishing media workers for perceived criticism. As the Taliban’s oppression of the media has increased, the need for independent news outlets in Afghanistan has become even greater. Journalists described both the […]

The Vietnamese government has a poor record of dealing with allegations of sexual harassment by senior officials. In the latest reported incident, a South Korean civil servant accused Deputy Defense Minister Hoang Xuan Chien of “inappropriate touching” at a banquet on September 11 during the Vietnam–Republic of Korea Defense Dialogue in Seoul. South Korea’s defense ministry summoned the Vietnamese […]

In a damning report published last week, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded France is responsible for grave and systematic violations of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children. The committee noted that due to flawed and arbitrary age assessment procedures many unaccompanied children find themselves homeless, deprived of healthcare, and forced […]

(New York) – Governments attending upcoming regional summits in Malaysia should reject the Myanmar military junta’s plans to hold “elections” in December 2025, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to all countries sending delegates. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN partner summits will take place in Kuala Lumpur on October 26-28, with […]

(The Hague) – Israel should comply with its obligation to cooperate with the United Nations by ensuring the unhindered provision of essential aid to Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in an October 22, 2025 advisory opinion, Human Rights Watch said today.  The court concluded that Israel’s […]