Author: Human Rights Watch

The United Nations leadership and its member countries need a backup plan to ensure lifesaving UN humanitarian aid and human rights work continue. This is necessary because the UN’s top financial contributor—the United States—cannot be trusted to honor its commitments. Since taking office, President Donald J. Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders with […]

On February 6, 2023, Türkiye’s southern provinces were hit with devastating earthquakes that left more than 53,000 people dead and over 107,000 injured. The earthquakes exposed the decades’ long failure of municipalities, and other public authorities to ensure builders’ compliance with safe building standards. Yet two years on, there is little sign of accountability for […]

The Italian government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is pushing a security bill through parliament that, if enacted, could have a devastating impact on fundamental rights, including the rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. The draft law, approved by the Chamber of Deputies in September and currently under discussion in the senate, would introduce several […]

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” […]