Author: Human Rights Watch

(Nairobi) – Pro-government militias in Burkina Faso are implicated in video footage circulating on social networks showing the massacre of dozens of civilians in and around the western city of Solenzo on March 10 and 11, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should impartially investigate and appropriately prosecute all those responsible for serious crimes. […]

This month, a court in Azerbaijan convicted the prominent opposition leader Tofig Yagublu on fabricated forgery and fraud charges, sentencing him to nine years in prison. Yagublu’s prosecution and imprisonment is part of the Azerbaijani government’s relentless efforts to silence dissenting voices in the country. Yagublu, 64, is a former journalist and a senior member […]

President Trump’s pick to lead the United States Department of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, will soon oversee the federal government’s response to labor rights issues across the US. One of her key priorities should be taking action to end hazardous child labor. In recent years, investigative reports from around the US showed children working harrowing overnight […]

(Beirut) – After months of legal and political wrangling, an amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law that entered into force on February 17, 2025, violates women’s and girls’ rights to equality before the law and puts them at risk of other abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. Persistent pressure and advocacy by women’s rights groups partly reduced the […]

Nine women journalists in Azerbaijan are marking International Women’s Day behind bars or under house arrest amid the government’s relentless crackdown on critics. Women journalists and civic activists who speak truth to power face unique risks in Azerbaijan’s patriarchal society. The authorities have a long record of subjecting them to gender-based smear campaigns and trolling in an […]

People who have escaped from North Korea since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have described severe repression and restrictions on economic activity. North Korean escapees’ accounts illustrate the devastating impact of the government’s oppressive Covid-19 measures that further shrank people’s already limited freedoms. The UN Human Rights Council should renew the mandate of the UN special rapporteur […]

(Johannesburg, March 3, 2025) – South Africa and other countries that have not yet done so should endorse a widely adopted political commitment aimed at protecting civilians from the bombing and shelling of cities and towns during wartime, Human Rights Watch said today following a regional meeting on this concern held in Johannesburg, South Africa […]

This week, the Trump administration announced that it will ramp up enforcement of a relatively obscure legal provision that requires undocumented immigrants in the United States to register with the government. This move risks adding another layer of fear and anxiety in immigrant communities where the Trump administration’s moves on immigration have already left many fearful […]

On February 28, 2024, a key Chadian opposition politician, Yaya Dillo, was killed during an assault carried out by state security forces on his party’s headquarters in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. A year on, authorities have yet to clarify the circumstances surrounding his death. At the time of the incident, state prosecutor Oumar Mahamat Kedelaye said at a news […]

On February 27 and 28, 2025, European Union commissioners will conduct an “unprecedented visit” to India, seeking to “upgrade the strategic partnership” and strengthen bilateral trade, economic, technology, and security ties. In a letter sent ahead of the visit, 12 human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, urged EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the […]