Author: Human Rights Watch

Israeli forces’ deadly attacks on schools sheltering Palestinian civilians highlight the absence of safe places for displaced people, the vast majority of Gaza’s population. Hundreds of Israeli attacks since October 2023 have struck over 500 school buildings, many used as shelters, killing hundreds of civilians and causing significant damage to nearly all of Gaza’s schools. […]

(Beirut) – Lebanese authorities have yet to deliver truth and justice for the victims and their families five years after the devastating Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. It is imperative to conduct a comprehensive and unobstructed investigation that establishes the full chain of responsibility. The blast, […]

Israeli forces occupied schools in southern Lebanon during hostilities between September and November 2024 and in the following weeks, used some of them as barracks, and appear to have intentionally vandalized, pillaged, and destroyed school property. The hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have had a devastating impact on children’s access to education and pillaging of […]

(New York) – The Taliban have deepened their repression since taking over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, by intensifying restrictions on the rights of women and girls, detaining journalists, and silencing all dissent, Human Rights Watch said today. Afghanistan now faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, exacerbated by donor governments’ aid cuts and […]

Countries will resume negotiations in Geneva on August 5, 2025, on a global plastics treaty. Previous talks have stalled amid deep divisions over key issues. To make the treaty meaningful, countries need to tackle plastic pollution at its source by limiting production, including by phasing out fossil fuels and subsidies. Each year, more than 400 million tonnes of plastics […]

The United Kingdom’s announcement on July 22 that it would use AI face-scanning technology to evaluate whether an asylum seeker is under age 18 threatens to harm children seeking refuge. The asylum minister, Angela Eagle, said that the decision was because this experimental technology is likely to be the cheapest option. Experimenting with unproven technology to […]

(Beirut) – Iranian authorities used a “guillotine machine” to amputate fingers of three detained men in the late hours of July 30, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The three men, Hadi Rostami, 38, Mehdi Sharifian, 42, and Mehdi Shahivand, 29, had been convicted of theft after grossly unfair trials.  An informed source told Human Rights Watch […]

US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths. The dire humanitarian situation is a direct result of Israel’s use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war—a war crime—as well as Israel’s continued intentional deprivation of aid and basic services, which amounts […]

This week, a Tanzanian court postponed the politically motivated treason trial of political opposition leader Tundu Lissu for the fifth time. Since treason is a capital offense, Lissu, who was arrested in April, cannot be released on bail and will remain in custody until the trial, now scheduled for August 13, is completed. This postponement comes amidst growing concerns about […]

Videos released by the Houthis on July 27, 2025, showing several crew members from a sunken ship who apparently have been detained for weeks is an outrage on their personal dignity, an apparent war crime. The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, attacked and sunk the Eternity C, a commercial ship, earlier in July. In […]