Author: Human Rights Watch

(Berlin, June 18, 2026) – Uzbek authorities should release a local human rights activist accused of extortion and investigate his allegations of abuse in police custody, Human Rights Watch said today. Javokhir Muminov, the activist, told his lawyer on June 10, 2026, that following his arrest, police officers had beaten and suffocated him. “This criminal […]

The Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota led to widespread human rights violations, terrorized residents, and spotlighted the deeply abusive patterns in US immigration enforcement. In addition to unlawful killings, excessive force, racial profiling, and unlawful detentions, the abuses and resulting terror forced many people to stay at home, causing […]

© 2026 Glenn Harvey for Human Rights Watch     (Brussels, June 18, 2026) – The Bulgarian government between 2018 and 2023 licensed exports of surveillance equipment to countries that were likely to use it for internal repression or to commit serious human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch previously reviewed […]

China has pledged to strengthen protections for gig workers, and on June 12 the country voted for a landmark International Labour Organization (ILO) convention on “Decent Work in the Platform Economy.” These commitments could matter: an estimated 320 million people in China now rely on flexible, tasked-based gig work for employment, according to a new […]

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), along with its coalition partner Japan Innovation Party and the opposition Democratic Party for the People, and Sanseito, jointly submitted a bill on June 16 that would criminalize “publicly damaging, removing, or defacing” Japan’s national flag in a “way or situation that evokes significant discomfort or disgust in people.” The […]

French police issue on-the-spot fines for alleged public disturbance offenses to harass boys and young men perceived as Black, Arab, or North African and evict them from public space in their own neighborhoods. Children and young men have received fines that can grow to tens of thousands of euros, causing immense economic hardship, and social […]

(Beirut) – Israeli authorities are accelerating home demolitions and forced evictions of Palestinian residents in the Silwan district of occupied East Jerusalem, Human Rights Watch said today. The forcible deportation or transfer of the population of an occupied territory within or outside the territory, unless justified on a temporary basis for the protection of the […]

(London) – Indian authorities are forcibly expelling ethnic Bengali residents, mostly Muslims from West Bengal state, to Bangladesh without basic due process, Human Rights Watch said today. Indian Border Security Force (BSF) actions, combined with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) efforts to block those expelled from entering, has left dozens of families stranded at the “zero line” between […]

The recent arrest of a prominent political analyst on Myanmar visiting China demonstrates Beijing’s intensifying intolerance of any independent voices or viewpoints not to their liking. On June 3, Chinese authorities reportedly detained Min Zin, a US citizen from Myanmar and the executive director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, as he flew into Yunnan province […]

Buried in the US$1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act is a provision that would deepen US military cooperation with Israel while walling that cooperation off from further congressional oversight. Section 219 creates the role of an “executive agent” focused on folding Israeli technology into US weapons programs, and vice versa, including in missile and air […]