Author: Human Rights Watch

(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should press Myanmar’s junta for the immediate release of a refugee family abducted from Kuala Lumpur in July 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. More than two years after her disappearance, Myanmar junta authorities announced on October 17, 2025, that they were detaining Thuzar Maung, a Myanmar pro-democracy activist, along with her […]

(Nairobi) – Burkina Faso authorities should urgently investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts of six judges and prosecutors as well as one lawyer who are feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch said today. The abductions of the judicial officers and lawyer since October 10, 2025, could amount to enforced disappearances and possible […]

The Taliban have gutted Afghan media since taking control of the country in August 2021 through the use of surveillance and censorship and by punishing media workers for perceived criticism. As the Taliban’s oppression of the media has increased, the need for independent news outlets in Afghanistan has become even greater. Journalists described both the […]

The Vietnamese government has a poor record of dealing with allegations of sexual harassment by senior officials. In the latest reported incident, a South Korean civil servant accused Deputy Defense Minister Hoang Xuan Chien of “inappropriate touching” at a banquet on September 11 during the Vietnam–Republic of Korea Defense Dialogue in Seoul. South Korea’s defense ministry summoned the Vietnamese […]

In a damning report published last week, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded France is responsible for grave and systematic violations of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children. The committee noted that due to flawed and arbitrary age assessment procedures many unaccompanied children find themselves homeless, deprived of healthcare, and forced […]

(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 […]