Author: Human Rights Watch

When the former Afghan Women’s National Football Team, now known as Afghan Women United, took the field this week in Morocco for their first games in four years, they didn’t just play a match; they returned from exile, from dispossession, and from a system that sought to erase them. Their return to compete after the Taliban banned […]

(São Paulo) – Police have failed to take crucial investigative steps to determine the circumstances of the killing of at least 121 people, including 4 police officers, during a raid in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 28, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The raid affected low-income, primarily Black neighborhoods.  Police did not preserve crime […]

(New York) – The Chinese government has announced it is investigating the Taiwanese legislator Puma Shen Pao-Yang (沈伯洋) for the crime of “separatism,” infringing upon his basic human rights, Human Rights Watch said today.  The government said Shen was being investigated under China’s judiciary guidelines on “punishing Taiwan independence separatists,” making Shen the first person from Taiwan known to […]

No member of the Eswatini security forces has been held accountable for deploying tasers, teargas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition against participants and passers-by in the June 2021 pro-democracy protests. Over four years have passed since scores of students, activists, and passers-by were killed, and hundreds more injured, and many victims are in difficult situations […]

France’s Parliament has adopted a landmark law – that defines rape as any non-consensual sexual act, a significant milestone in the fight against sexual violence in the country. In an overdue change, France is following Denmark, Finland, Spain, Greece, and other European nations in updating legal provisions that make clear autonomy, particularly women and girls’ […]

(Seoul) – South Korea’s Ministry of Data and Statistics updated the 2025 Population and Housing Census on October 22, 2025, to allow same-sex couples to be counted, Human Rights Watch said today. The census, which will be conducted from October 22 to November 18, will recognize the same-sex relationships of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) […]

(Istanbul, October 29, 2025) – A government proposal would pave the way to bring criminal charges against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Türkiye, one of the most alarming rollbacks of rights in decades, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposal should be immediately withdrawn.  A draft of the omnibus reform law, referred to as […]

Mali’s military junta has temporarily shut down all schools and universities after an Islamist armed group laid siege to the nation’s capital, Bamako, and cut off fuel supplies, deepening the suffering of children and youth whose education has been disrupted by years of conflict. Mali’s education minister announced on October 26 that classes would be suspended […]

Intersex Awareness Week is marked annually to recall a small group of protesters who picketed the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1996 for ignoring the rights of children born with sex variations. While the academy has not budged, medical institutions and governments around the world are increasingly recognizing that people born with intersex variations deserve […]

Cameroon’s post-election period has been marred with violence, with at least four people killed allegedly by security forces, dozens injured, and hundreds more arrested across the country since the October 12, 2025 presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately rein in their security forces, promptly and impartially investigate the excessive use […]