Author: Human Rights Watch

Ethnic Malay Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand shot dead Pongkorn Chumapan, 16, and wounded Pokanit Morasin, 12, on Tuesday when they attacked a pickup truck taking Buddhist monks and novices from Wat Kura temple to collect alms in Songkhla province’s Sabayoi district. Children have frequently been victims of the separatist conflict in Thailand’s southern border provinces, […]

(Bangkok) – The Maldives government should immediately reinstate three Supreme Court justices who were improperly suspended and cease other efforts to undermine judicial independence, Human Rights Watch said today. The three justices had until April 24, 2025, to respond to a Maldives Judicial Service Commission report recommending their dismissal. On February 26, the Judicial Service Commission […]

In two months, the FIFA Club World Cup, an international football tournament for club teams, will kick off in the United States, serving as a testing ground for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup next year. But FIFA has inexcusably not put a clear and comprehensive child safeguarding framework in place to protect children from […]

A harmful bill in the Texas legislature would criminalize transporting youth younger than 18, or funding their transportation, out of state to access abortion without written parental consent.  The legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 2352 and House Bill (HB) 4595, aims to stop young people from getting abortions by making it a second-degree felony, punishable with fines […]

(Washington, DC) – Increasing violence in Haiti by criminal groups and clashes with “self-defense” groups are contributing to the dangerous insecurity facing the country’s population, Human Rights Watch said today. Criminal groups have been tightening their grip on Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and expanding into other regions. Opposition leaders and “self-defense” groups have led violent protests against the […]

This week, US federal court judges pushed back on the Trump administration’s abusive deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who, along with over 200 others accused of gang membership, was unlawfully transferred to a maximum security prison in El Salvador a month ago. The Trump administration admits transferring Abrego Garcia in contravention of a court order […]

Luisinho, a 26-year-old man with albinism whom I interviewed in Mozambique, faced a heartbreaking choice: either continue working outdoors under life-threatening sun exposure or quit his job selling second-hand clothes, thereby pushing himself and his family deeper into poverty. He needed to make this choice because he could not afford adequate sun protection. Luisinho’s experience […]

Last week, the authorities in Tanzania arrested opposition presidential candidate Tundu Lissu on fabricated charges, then used his party’s calls for electoral reform to disqualify it from participating in upcoming elections. The government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan has previously repressed the political opposition and critical voices.  The authorities charged Lissu with treason and “publishing false […]

(Brussels, April 14, 2025) – Frontex, the European Union’s Border and Coast Guard agency, should ensure that its aerial surveillance capacity is used to save lives at sea, Human Rights Watch said today. The organization met with Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens on April 2, 2025, to deliver an EU-wide petition calling on the agency to […]

Global leaders need to respond to reports of fresh attacks by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Zamzam displacement camp near North Darfur’s capital of El Fasher. The camp hosts at least half a million people who have fled past and present violence and abuse in Darfur.  In recent days, hundreds of desperate civilians […]