Author: Human Rights Watch

(New York) –The Chinese authorities should immediately release the Uyghur filmmaker and director Ikram Nurmehmet, who was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after being convicted on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said today. Xinjiang’s Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court convicted Nurmehmet, 33, in January 2024 for “actively participating in terrorist activities” while […]

This week, in a move that will further limit reproductive freedoms, infringe on women’s rights, and stifle free expression, Russia’s State Duma passed its first vote on draft legislation purporting to ban “propaganda” about so-called child-free lifestyles. The ban would extend to mass media, advertisement, publishing, film, and the internet. The ruling United Russia party proposed the bill, saying […]

In a win for media freedom in Greece, last week an Athens court dismissed a retaliatory defamation lawsuit against journalists. The case was brought by Grigoris Dimitriadis, the nephew of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, against reporters who published allegations of his involvement in a major surveillance scandal. The court ruling comes amid a growing trend in Greece of strategic lawsuits against public participation (known as “SLAPPs”) aimed at silencing […]

Oumar Sylla, known as Foniké Mengué, and Mamadou Billo Bah, two members of the Guinean opposition coalition National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (Front National pour la Défense de la Constitution, FNDC), knew they were at risk for their political activism. “If arrest is the price to pay, I am ready for that,” Sylla […]

Recent fighting between Ethiopian government forces and militias in the northwestern Amhara region has put Sudanese refugees at grave risk. For more than a year, unidentified gunmen subjected the refugees to killings, beatings, abductions, and forced labor. The Ethiopian government should take adequate measures to protect the Sudanese refugees, prohibit forced returns, and ensure, with […]

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a US government agency linked to human rights abuses, has contracted services from the Israeli spyware company Paragon, according to a government contracting website. Wired magazine first reported on the US$2 million contract, which the agency signed with Paragon in September.  The contract summary doesn’t name a specific product, but […]

On October 14, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim A. A. Khan, announced that his office would step up investigative efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing in particular on crimes committed in the North Kivu province since January 2022. This action was prompted by the Congolese government’s request to the ICC last year. The […]

Women, girls, and other vulnerable groups are more likely to be exposed to and impacted by toxic substances – including lead, mercury, endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastics, and other fossil fuel products – not only for biological reasons, but because of how they interact with their environment. The United Nations special rapporteur on toxics and […]

Israeli authorities should withdraw proposed legislation in parliament aimed at preventing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and halt their campaign to destroy the UN’s most important aid agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the proposal to evict UNRWA […]

Air pollution is easy to ignore. It’s often hard to see, little more than an intense hue on the horizon at sunset or a disconcerting tint in the sky seen from a plane window when landing. It often harms or kills us via illnesses that take years to manifest: cardiovascular diseases, stroke, asthma, and lung […]