Author: Human Rights Watch

On June 12, the Central African Republic accepted 18 men and women of other nationalities deported from the United States, despite its own fragility as a country recovering from decades of conflict and suffering a protracted humanitarian crisis. The new arrivals included people from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Cameroon, Egypt, and Tunisia, all […]

As Europe swelters through the second intense heat wave of 2026, governments are issuing warnings, closing schools or adjusting class hours, and urging people to stay indoors. Extreme heat is a weather event, but its consequences for people whose specific needs are overlooked in government climate planning or adaptation policies can be perilous. Age, needs and accommodations […]

The European Union’s obligation to ban trade with Israel’s illegal settlements is not in question. But its leadership’s will to comply has long been. Following growing pressure from civil society, trade unions, legal scholars, some EU governments and members of the European Parliament, and a series of unilateral bans by some EUmember states, the European Commission could finally present a “list […]

(Tokyo) – Beijing has restructured Hong Kong’s governance to answer to Party leadership rather than Hong Kong’s people six years after imposing the draconian National Security Law, Human Rights Watch said today. “Hong Kong’s highly repressive national security regime and bureaucracy have erased long-protected rights and cast a deeply troubling shadow over its future” said Elaine Pearson, […]

(Nairobi) – Islamist armed groups and Malian armed forces and their allies have committed serious abuses against civilians since fighting escalated in Mali in April 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 25, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM) carried out coordinated attacks across Mali. JNIM […]

(Sydney) – Australia has refused to commit to reforms for the incarceration of children, offshore detention of asylum seekers, and phasing out fossil fuels, despite repeated calls to do so from United Nations member countries, Human Rights Watch said today. In its written response to its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human […]

When the Egypt and Iran teams meet at Lumen Field in Seattle tonight, soccer fans will be free to wave the rainbow flag. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) confirmedThursday that it would not bar the symbol from the stadium over formal objections from both countries’ football federations. It is the right call.  On June […]

18 months ago, Niger’s military junta arrested and detained Moussa Tiangari, a prominent human rights defender in the country. Following an investigation, the United Nations is now calling for his release.  The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an independent expert body that investigates cases of deprivation of liberty, found that Tiangari’s detention is arbitrary and violates […]

Click to expand Image A German police officer takes a man to a deportation flight to Pakistan, February 25, 2025, Hesse, Germany. © 2025 Boris Roessler/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Photo The European Union is forging ahead on its quest to increase deportations regardless of the consequences for people’s rights. On June 17, the European Parliament approved a Return Regulation […]

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) rejected its ombudsman’s findings about harm related to investments in Cambodia’s microfinance sector, failing a critical test of accountability, Human Rights Watch said today. In its response, published on June 24, 2026, the IFC refuted the ombudsman’s determination that it had violated its own environmental and social policies.  […]