Author: Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Governments attending upcoming regional summits in Malaysia should reject the Myanmar military junta’s plans to hold “elections” in December 2025, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to all countries sending delegates. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN partner summits will take place in Kuala Lumpur on October 26-28, with […]

(The Hague) – Israel should comply with its obligation to cooperate with the United Nations by ensuring the unhindered provision of essential aid to Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in an October 22, 2025 advisory opinion, Human Rights Watch said today.  The court concluded that Israel’s […]

Last week, German federal, state, and local authorities adopted Common Guidelines on the handling of cultural assets and human remains from colonial contexts. Despite the welcome efforts to regulate the returns cultural belongings and ancestral remains from colonial contexts, the guidelines appear to go out of the way to distance such returns from international human rights […]

Federal law enforcement agents have since mid-September used excessive force against peaceful protesters, legal observers, volunteer street medics, and journalists during demonstrations outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in suburban Chicago. This is not crowd control but a campaign of intimidation and a clear message that dissent will be punished. It […]

This week Brazil is hosting the 4th National Conference on the Rights of LGBTQIA+ People, an ambitious effort to chart new directions for public policy on equality and inclusion. Beyond its national scope, the conference underscores Brazil’s reemergence as a key voice in global equality debates. And as many countries, including in the Global North, roll back support of LGBTQIA+ rights, the conference shows […]

(Washington, DC) – Ecuadorian police and security forces have restricted freedom of assembly and at times used excessive force in their response to anti-government protests since mid-September, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today.  Since September 18, the country’s largest Indigenous organization has led protests following President Daniel Noboa’s decision to scrap diesel fuel subsidies. While some […]

(Beirut) – Three women died in Qarchak prison, a Tehran women’s prison notorious for abysmal conditions, between September 16 and 25, 2025, following a lack of medical care, Human Rights Watch said today.  The deaths in custody of Soudabeh Asadi, Jamile Azizi, and 42-year-old political prisoner Somayeh Rashidi highlight Iranian authorities’ violation of prisoners’ right to […]

When governments convene this week in Paris for a conference on feminist foreign policy, there will be a lot to talk about. The French government’s description of the event laments that progress toward gender equality “is not being made fast enough.” That is an epic understatement. We are deep in a global backlash against women […]

When Martha García, a young disability activist and student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, heard the Supreme Court planned to change a legal precedent that could weaken the right of people with disabilities to engage in the democratic process, she decided to act. On October 13, the Court was expected to issue its […]

(Nairobi) – Chad’s new constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits is a serious setback for the rule of law and democracy, Human Rights Watch said today. The change paves the way for President Mahamat Idriss Déby to remain in power indefinitely, further weakening the prospects for a meaningful, democratic change of government in line with international norms, […]