Author: Human Rights Watch

The commission established to investigate violence during and after Tanzania’s October 2025 general elections submitted its findings to President Samia Suluhu Hassan on April 23, but it missed an opportunity to establish the full truth and lay the foundation for accountability. The commission chair, Mohamed Chande Othman, said the commission documented 518 deaths across 11 […]

Georgia’s new centralized health database law took effect on May 1, creating serious risks of privacy violations and discrimination, and potentially deterring people from seeking health care and mental health services. Parliament adopted the legislative package on December 9, 2025, mandating the establishment of a unified database covering people with mental health conditions and those diagnosed […]

Wilfredo, un niño venezolano de 10 años, compareció solo ante un tribunal de inmigración hace dos semanas, obligado a defenderse frente a su posible deportación a Ecuador mientras su madre permanecía detenida en un centro de ICE. Como miles de niños y niñas en procedimientos de deportación, Wilfredo no cuenta con representación legal.  “Tenía miedo porque […]

Wilfredo, a 10-year-old child from Venezuela, appeared in immigration court on his own two weeks ago, forced to fight his deportation to Ecuador while his mother remained imprisoned in an ICE facility. Like thousands of children in removal proceedings, Wilfredo does not have an attorney. “I was afraid because it was my first time ever going […]

(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government began a refugee registration system in January 2026 that has raised protection, rights, and privacy concerns for the hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The new initiative, Dokumen Pendaftaran Pelarian (Refugee Registration Document, DPP), aims to replace the current registration system […]

A 2021 Ministry of Education directive—the Children’s Speech Harmonization plan—mandates the use of standard Mandarin Chinese for all preschool instruction and care, including in ethnic minority areas. By severely limiting Tibetan-language education in early childhood, and imposing ideological indoctrination on kindergarten children, the Chinese government is speeding up its erasure of Tibetan language and culture. […]

(Johannesburg) – The Zambian government’s decision to postpone RightsCon 2026, effectively canceling the summit, raises concerns about the authorities’ commitment to free expression and assembly and about possible Chinese government interference, Human Rights Watch said today. The 14th edition of RightsCon was scheduled to be held in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, from May 5 to 8, […]

(Geneva) – Nepal’s recently elected Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) government, led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah, which came to power on a wave of popular demands for change, should use this opportunity to bring lasting protections for human rights and the rule of law, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Commission of Jurists said […]

The European Parliament adopted on Tuesday a resolution calling on the European Commission to make consent the determining factor in rape legislation across the EU, with 447 members voting “for,” 160 “against,” and 43 abstaining. Stating that “affirmative, freely given and unambiguous indication of consent is valid and that silence, a lack of verbal or […]

(Bangkok) – On April 30, 2026, the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal upheld the politically motivated conviction of the Cambodian political opposition leader Kem Sokha, Human Rights Watch said today. The court extended Sokha’s de-facto house arrest and 27-year sentence that had been imposed in March 2023 and added an additional five-year ban on international […]