Author: Human Rights Watch

The US state of Texas has filed a lawsuit against a Dallas-based doctor, accusing her of violating the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. This case, among the first of its kind, underscores the severity of draconian restrictions on best practice medical care for transgender youth by state officials. Currently, 24 US states have imposed bans on medication […]

(Manila) – The Marcos administration should initiate sweeping reforms in Philippine law enforcement in response to recent congressional hearings on police corruption and abuse in the “war on drugs,” Human Rights Watch said today.  In recent weeks, witnesses testified before four committees in the House of Representatives about extrajudicial killings committed by the police during anti-drug raids since […]

(Bangkok) – The Thai government should conduct effective investigations into how a group of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar were found dead and injured on Thai soil on October 17, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. The Thai authorities should urgently provide protection to survivors and prosecute those responsible for abuses. Monks outside a monastery in […]

As government officials gather in Washington DC next week for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings, social security systems around the world are at risk. Faced with a looming debt crisis, governments, often encouraged by international financial institutions, are cutting social spending, leaving millions of people without their right to adequate […]

(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 […]