Author: Human Rights Watch

Israeli attacks on four oil depots around Tehran on March 7, 2026, may cause long-term health and environmental harm for civilians. Strikes on primarily civilian infrastructure causing foreseeable civilian harm are violations of international humanitarian law and are likely war crimes.  Israeli forces don’t appear to have factored in the foreseeable long-term harm in the […]

(Budapest, April 14, 2026) – Hungary’s incoming government should take immediate steps to restore fundamental rights, dismantle abusive laws and institutions, and strengthen democratic institutions, after years of backsliding, Human Rights Watch said today. The incoming government should in its first weeks in office demonstrate a clear commitment to restore for fundamental rights and reinstate democratic […]

A Kazakh court convicted today 19 Kazakhstan citizens for participating in a peaceful protest against human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China. During the protest, which took place in November 2025, activists from the Nagyz Atajurt Volunteers Group condemned Chinese government abuses, some of which amount to crimes against humanity. They called for the release of a […]

A United Nations report has found that members of a UN-authorized force operating in Haiti, the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, were responsible for four cases of sexual violence in the country, including the rape of a 12 -year-old girl and two 16-year-olds. While Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi claims the allegations were investigated internally and […]

(Nairobi) – South Sudan’s military and opposition forces are blocking humanitarian access and unjustifiably ordering civilians to evacuate populated areas, Human Rights Watch said today. Since late 2025, the military has issued multiple evacuation orders, at least three of them sweeping in nature and the opposition forces at least three, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians […]

(Beirut) – A 32-year-old man who was forcibly disappeared in Bahrain on March 19, 2026, died in custody more than a week later and his body bore signs of torture, Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said today.  After Sayed Mohamed Almosawi’s family lost contact with him for over […]

Koo Sze-yiu was a fixture of Hong Kong’s protest scene. Standing out with his close-cropped hair and long gray beard, the gruffy activist and other leaders of the League of Social Democrats nevertheless fit right in marching next to lawyers and tens of thousands, sometimes millions, of ordinary Hong Kongers demanding democracy. Protesting in Hong […]

(Berlin) – The Russian Supreme Court on April 9, 2026, designated “International Public Movement Memorial” as an “extremist” organization in a dramatic escalation of the Kremlin’s efforts to suppress human rights work, Human Rights Watch said today. The sweeping “extremist” designation entails a ban on engaging in any of Memorial organizations’ activities under the threat of […]

(New York) – World Cup city host committees and FIFA have fallen short on the steps needed to protect players and fans, Human Rights Watch said today, with the tournament two months away. All but one of the host city committees have either failed to present action plans required by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association […]

(Berlin, April 10, 2026) – Georgian authorities forcibly returned an exiled Azerbaijani journalist, Afgan Sadigov, to Azerbaijan, exposing him to a credible risk of politically motivated prosecution and ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said today.  The authorities deported him without a meaningful assessment of these risks in proceedings that raise serious due process concerns. Their actions call into […]