Author: Human Rights Watch

Millions of Syrians in the diaspora are closely watching the exhilarating and tumultuous developments in their homeland. With misinformation rampant and being deliberately spread, Syrians abroad, including asylum seekers and refugees, are struggling to make informed decisions about permanently returning to a country ravaged by over 12 years of war that has just started navigating […]

(Nairobi) – Uganda’s Supreme Court ruling declaring military trials of civilians unconstitutional is a victory for human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 31, 2025, the Supreme Court held that military courts lack jurisdiction to try civilians and ordered officials to halt all ongoing military trials of civilians and transfer them to the […]

(Nairobi) – Rwandan forces and the abusive M23 armed group should urgently ensure access to and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent fighting and the shelling of medical infrastructure in the city, which the M23 captured on January […]

In a significant boost to recognizing transgender people’s rights, the Thai government announced this week that it will invest 145 million baht (US$4.3 million) in providing hormone therapy to transgender people. Thailand has a growing international reputation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, especially since it passed marriage equality last year. The country is […]

Students in the French overseas department of Mayotte are returning to school this week, a month-and-a-half after a devastating cyclone leveled homes and infrastructure on the Indian Ocean islands. Mayotte, a former French colony, was already the poorest part of France and on nearly every social indicator, one of the worst-off parts of the European Union. Reconstruction […]

On January 26, Belarusians will go to the polls for “presidential elections,” an event seen by many as a “sham,” a “no-choice election” (bezvybory), and little more than a ritual for Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who has been president of Belarus for more than three decades. The last presidential elections, held in 2020, resulted in country-wide protests […]

(Nairobi) – Civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are at increasing risk as the abusive M23 armed group, supported by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), approaches Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, Human Rights Watch said today. The M23 is opposed by Congolese military forces and a coalition of abusive militias known as “Wazalendo” (“patriots” […]

Within hours of his inauguration, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order purporting to restrict citizenship by birth on US soil. Under its terms, starting next month, children born in the United States to parents who are undocumented, or whose immigration status is only temporary, would no longer come into the world as US citizens. […]

United States President Donald Trump, on his first day in office on January 20, 2025, issued numerous executive orders that threaten to undermine respect for international human rights both in the US and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today.  “The sweeping scope and impact of these executive orders is deeply alarming,” said Tirana Hassan, executive […]

On January 14, prominent activist and former president of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, Sihem Bensedrine, began a hunger strike while detained in Manouba prison. “I will no longer stand the injustice that strikes me. Justice cannot be based on lies and calumnies, but on concrete, tangible evidence,” she said in a message relayed by her […]