Author: Human Rights Watch

The new campaign of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to recruit children as young as 12 for patrols and security checkpoints has been widely condemned. Military recruitment and use of children is a grave violation of children’s rights and a war crime when children are under 15. The world has come a long way in just a […]

Since the 1990s conflicts in the Balkans, Croatia suffered from the scourge of landmines, with hundreds of civilians killed and thousands of acres of land inaccessible due to contamination. In March, the country celebrated becoming mine-free, following a US$1.38 billion, 30-year clearance campaign. Croatia’s story underscores the value of the Mine Ban Treaty and should encourage more […]

(London) – The Singaporean government should immediately drop all charges against a human rights activist, Jolovan Wham, for organizing and participating in peaceful gatherings, Human Rights Watch, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Amnesty International, and CIVICUS said today. Wham is scheduled to stand trial at Singapore’s State Court on April 6, 2026, […]

(Berlin, April 6, 2026) – Kazakhstan’s prosecuting authorities have filed criminal charges for battery against a feminist activist who was aggressively accosted at a café in Astana, the capital, while meeting with feminist and queer colleagues and friends, Human Rights Watch said today. The charges, brought on March 26, 2026, follow an investigation into Zhanar Sekerbayeva, […]

(Dakar) – Senegalese families remain in limbo in a site called Khar Yalla, a decade after coastal floods destroyed their homes, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite recent progress, the government has not yet provided displaced families with a permanent, durable solution. The approximately 1,000 people who lost their homes to tidal surges in 2015 […]

(Bangkok) – A senior cabinet minister in Thailand has brought criminal defamation lawsuits against two prominent journalists who reported about a bribery case, raising serious concerns for media freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial court can dismiss the case if it lacks legal merit or is without basis. On February 27, 2026, the Minister […]

On April 7, Australian police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated Australian soldier who stands accused of committing five counts of war crimes in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.  Many of the details of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes were made public when he sued media outlets that had first reported on the allegations. He lost the defamation case.  For victims of […]

On April 7, Australian police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated Australian soldier who stands accused of committing five counts of war crimes in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.  Many of the details of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes were made public when he sued media outlets that had first reported on the allegations. He lost the defamation case.  For victims of […]

Forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated civilians in areas under their control, and denied them due process rights. The military has led a campaign of fear and retaliation against people they label collaborators, because of their ethnic identity, humanitarian work, or political affiliation or for having lived […]

On April 2, the Cuban government announced the release of 2,010 prisoners, framing it as a “humanitarian gesture.” While the announcement raised hopes among many political prisoners’ families, neither Human Rights Watch nor other civil society groups, including Prisoners Defenders and Justicia 11J, have identified any political prisoners among those released. In its announcement, the Cuban […]