Author: Human Rights Watch

(Tokyo) – The Japanese Diet on July 17, 2026, adopted a flag desecration law that criminalizes damaging Japan’s national flag, a violation of the right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner Japan Innovation Party, and three opposition parties supported the bill during a session […]

Congress is currently considering two bills on Sudan: the Preventing External Aggression and Conflict Escalation (PEACE) in Sudan Act of 2026 in the Senate and US Engagement in Sudanese Peace Act in the House of Representatives. These bills contain several positive initiatives but should go further on accountability.  Human Rights Watch has documented widespread abuses […]

Ordinary people were subjected to torture and arbitrary detention in a partnered operation between the United States and Ecuador. Two fishing boats were attacked by armed drones of unknown origin off the Ecuadorian coast and a third has gone missing with most of its crew.  One incident clearly implicates the US-Ecuador security partnership; the others […]

July 24 marks one year since Alisher Sakhatov and Abdulla Orusov disappeared in Türkiye. Their families are still searching for answers about their whereabouts and fate. Sakhatov and Orusov are Turkmen activists and bloggers who spoke openly about developments in Turkmenistan, including corruption, abuses by Turkmen security services, restrictions on freedom of movement, and the […]

  (New York) – The United Nations General Assembly amended a longstanding rule on June 30, 2026, to ease the world body’s deepening liquidity crisis, but severe funding problems remain, Human Rights Watch said.  A new Human Rights Watch questions-and-answers document describes the effects of the UN’s liquidity crisis on its global human rights activities , and makes recommendations […]

“Through rap, I’ll stage a coup d’Étatwith my spiteful homies, ‘cause their lives are all stormy weather… Go ahead, take me — blindfold my eyes, reopen Tazmamart, and throw me in.” With these biting lyrics, 34-year-old Moroccan rap star Mehdi Lyoubi, known as Mehdi Black Wind, invoked the infamous Tazmamart prison, where those accused of plotting against the […]

(London) – The Bangladeshi authorities should immediately comply with a July 12, 2026 court order to investigate the alleged disappearance of 30-year-old Miraj Sheikh, who was last seen in the custody of the Coast Guard, in what appears to be the first known enforced disappearance case in two years, Human Rights Watch said today. The […]

A man in western Afghanistan recently told me that his neighbors knock on his door to ask for food. A man in the capital, Kabul, said, “I can no longer feed my children properly,” and described how the rising cost of food was affecting him and his family.  Such stories are becoming increasingly common in […]

On July 17, 1998, countries around the world adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a day now recognized as International Justice Day.   The ICC is the court of last resort for victims seeking justice for the most serious crimes in violation of international law. However, this year victims’ access to […]

On July 17, 1998, countries around the world adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a day now recognized as International Justice Day.   The ICC is the court of last resort for victims seeking justice for the most serious crimes in violation of international law. However, this year victims’ access to […]