Author: Human Rights Watch

Students in the French overseas department of Mayotte are returning to school this week, a month-and-a-half after a devastating cyclone leveled homes and infrastructure on the Indian Ocean islands. Mayotte, a former French colony, was already the poorest part of France and on nearly every social indicator, one of the worst-off parts of the European Union. Reconstruction […]

On January 26, Belarusians will go to the polls for “presidential elections,” an event seen by many as a “sham,” a “no-choice election” (bezvybory), and little more than a ritual for Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who has been president of Belarus for more than three decades. The last presidential elections, held in 2020, resulted in country-wide protests […]

(Nairobi) – Civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are at increasing risk as the abusive M23 armed group, supported by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), approaches Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, Human Rights Watch said today. The M23 is opposed by Congolese military forces and a coalition of abusive militias known as “Wazalendo” (“patriots” […]

Within hours of his inauguration, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order purporting to restrict citizenship by birth on US soil. Under its terms, starting next month, children born in the United States to parents who are undocumented, or whose immigration status is only temporary, would no longer come into the world as US citizens. […]

United States President Donald Trump, on his first day in office on January 20, 2025, issued numerous executive orders that threaten to undermine respect for international human rights both in the US and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today.  “The sweeping scope and impact of these executive orders is deeply alarming,” said Tirana Hassan, executive […]

On January 14, prominent activist and former president of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, Sihem Bensedrine, began a hunger strike while detained in Manouba prison. “I will no longer stand the injustice that strikes me. Justice cannot be based on lies and calumnies, but on concrete, tangible evidence,” she said in a message relayed by her […]

The Guna Indigenous community of Ukupa in Panama has announced a plan for the relocation of their entire village out of harm’s way after December flooding rendered homes in the area uninhabitable. Community members chose relocation as a measure of last resort after the floods and now seek government and international support. This is not […]

Less than three weeks after a December 25 military airstrike in Sokoto state reportedly killed 10 villagers, an airstrike in Zamfara state has resulted in more accidental deaths. The victims, who the military wrongly identified as bandits, were members of a local vigilante group and farmers in the vicinity of Tungar Kara village, Zurmi Local […]

The Cameroonian government in December suspended the activities of four nongovernmental organizations for three months, without any warning or legal basis, in a move that is harming victims of gender-based violence. As one of these organizations provides services to support gender-based violence survivors, its abrupt suspension affected survivors’ access to support and resulted in some survivors […]

On January 9, 2025, Lebanon’s parliament elected military commander Joseph Aoun as president, ending a two-year political deadlock in the country that resulted in a leadership and governance vacuum. In his first remarks to parliament, President Aoun said that “a new phase of Lebanon’s history has begun” and vowed to “protect the sanctity of individual […]