Author: Human Rights Watch

(Washington, DC) – Mexican legislators who will take office on August 31, 2024, should reject a series of proposed constitutional changes that would undermine judicial independence, government accountability, and the right to privacy, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposals could also lead to an increase in military abuses and arbitrary detentions. The proposals are contained […]

(New York)– The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court will hear a challenge on August 30, 2024, to laws that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct by officers in the police and armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today. In an amicus curiae brief, Human Rights Watch said that these discriminatory laws violate the rights under international law of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and […]

A few meters from the public door of Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply (MAPA), is a separate private door. To better understand who has access to one of Brazil’s most powerful ministries, the investigative group, Reporter Brasil, obtained a private log of those who entered through this second door between January and November […]

(Nairobi) – The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and affiliated fighters have summarily executed, tortured, and ill-treated people in their custody, and mutilated dead bodies, Human Rights Watch said today. Leaders of both forces should privately and publicly order an immediate halt to these abuses and carry out effective investigations. […]

(Beirut) – The Egyptian authorities have in recent weeks arbitrarily detained and referred for prosecution at least four critics of the government on charges stemming solely from their legitimate exercise of freedom of expression, as part of their work, in a fresh assault on freedom of expression, eight organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said today. Those […]

(New York) – Bangladesh’s interim government should seek expertise and technical assistance from the United Nations for its new commission of inquiry investigating all cases of enforced disappearances during the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina, Human Rights Watch said today. The interim administration, led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has announced a five-member team […]

As government leaders gather in Tonga this week for the Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is sounding the alarm on rising sea levels as not just an environmental issue but a serious threat to human rights. The latest report from the World Meteorological Organization shows that sea levels in the Pacific are rising faster than the global […]

South Korea faces an epidemic of digital sex crimes, hundreds of women and girls targeted through deepfake sexual images being shared online. One group sharing these images reportedly has 220,000 members. The number of reported deepfake cases alone has soared from 156 in 2021 to 297 as of July this year. While South Korea’s president […]

(Beirut) – The Lebanese government’s continued mismanagement of the electricity sector and its failure to carry out key reforms is diminishing the public’s already-limited access to electricity, Human Rights Watch said today. On August 17, 2024, Lebanon’s only operational power plant shut down after the state-run electricity company, Electricité du Liban (EDL) ran out of fuel, resulting […]

Last week, the Taliban in Afghanistan published outrageous new laws on “vice and virtue” that require women to completely cover their bodies, including their faces, in public at all times. In issuing the law, the Taliban claimed that women’s voices could lead to vice, referring to their voices as aurat (a term in Sharia, or […]