Author: Human Rights Watch

(Manila) – Philippine authorities should fully investigate and appropriately prosecute new revelations of extrajudicial killings involving former and current officials during the previous administration of Rodrigo Duterte, Human Rights Watch said today. Since August 2024, the Philippine House of Representatives have held joint hearings that have examined extrajudicial killings in the “war on drugs” and whether […]

(Nairobi) – Police in Chad forced the cancelation of a conference in the capital, N’Djamena, on October 2, 2024, that was planned to discuss justice for the victims of abuse by Hissène Habré, Human Rights Watch said today. The police also detained a former Human Rights Watch counsel who was to be a keynote speaker at the […]

This week, Indian authorities detained Sonam Wangchuk, a prominent climate activist and educator from the Himalayan territory of Ladakh, and others participating in a nearly 1,000-kilometer march from Leh, the provincial capital, to the national capital, Delhi. Wangchuk and approximately 120 activists were demanding a greater say in local governance and stronger environmental safeguards. The police […]

Alaa Abdel Fattah, the British-Egyptian writer and activist, should have been released on September 29 after serving an unjust five-year prison sentence. Instead, Egyptian authorities have kept him imprisoned, refusing to count over two years he spent in pretrial detention toward his time served. After spending most of the last decade behind bars, authorities told his […]

(New York) – United Nations member countries should reject Saudi Arabia’s bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council because of the government’s widespread human rights violations, including possible crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said. On October 9, 2024, the UN General Assembly will select 18 new members for three-year terms on the Human Rights […]

(Beirut) – Tunisian authorities have undermined the integrity of the October 6, 2024 presidential election by amending the electoral law just days beforehand, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities excluded or arrested opposition candidates, and took arbitrary measures against political opponents, independent media, and civil society. On September 27, Tunisia’s Assembly of the Representatives of […]

(Bangkok) – Cambodian authorities have arrested and charged an award-winning journalist in apparent reprisal for his investigative journalism, Human Rights Watch said today. Mech Dara, 36, had recently reported on human trafficking and cybercrime that was critical of the government’s role. Military police arrested Dara on September 30, 2024, while he was in his car with […]

An asylum regulation announced by the administration of United States President Joe Biden yesterday is flat-out contrary to both US and international law and is likely to bring immeasurable harm to people seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border. The regulation, effective immediately, extends from 7 to 28 the number of days in which the average amount […]

To mark International Wrongful Conviction Day, the “End ‘Hostage Justice’ in Japan” project, co-sponsored by Human Rights Watch and Innocence Project Japan, has placed a newspaper advertisement to raise awareness of Japan’s abusive “hostage justice” system, which severely violates human rights and continues to result in countless wrongful convictions across the country. The ad states […]

(Berlin, October 2, 2024) – Kyrgyzstan’s government has proposed problematic amendments to the criminal code and other legislative acts that would restore criminal charges for the mere possession of materials deemed “extremist,” Human Rights Watch said today. This move threatens to undo crucial progress made in 2019 when authorities decriminalized possession without intent to distribute […]