Author: Human Rights Watch

The Australian government’s decision to grant asylum to five members of the Iranian women’s national football team and one official shows the importance of protecting courageous athletes who stand up for what they believe. The six Iranians sought protection in Australia after their final match of the Asian Women’s Cup on March 8. In their opening […]

Earlier this week the Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic (CAR) announced that Maturin Kombo, who was in the court’s custody charged with crimes committed in 2014, died in hospital in Bangui. Twelve years ago, as CAR was in the throes of a civil war, I arrived in the village of Guen, in the southwest of […]

(Washington, DC, March 12, 2026) – Ecuador’s Constitutional Court’s ruling, made public on March 10, 2026, that people under 18 cannot automatically be refused a request to modify their gender on identity documents is an important victory for the rights of transgender youth, Human Rights Watch said today. The ruling affirms that constitutional protection cannot […]

(Washington, DC) – Reported findings that the United States is responsible for the recent deadly school attack in Iran, and that it was based on outdated targeting data, highlight the need for reform and accountability within the US military to minimize civilian harm during conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. The New York Times reported on March 11 […]

(Tokyo) – The Vietnamese authorities should give priority to releasing political prisoners with urgent health problems, Human Rights Watch said today. Le Huu Minh Tuan, Can Thi Theu, and other unjustly imprisoned political activists should be urgently freed to obtain appropriate medical care in Vietnam or abroad. Le Huu Minh Tuan, a 37-year-old journalist who has been in […]

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced it will block new referrals for gender-affirming hormone therapy for transgender youth under 18, restricting access to evidence-based care and undermining young people’s rights to health, bodily autonomy, and nondiscrimination. The decision came into force on March 9 and will undergo a 90-day consultation period after which the NHS […]

“The company’s chemicals have contaminated our land, water, and people,” 28-year-old “Elizabeth” recently told Kontomaa Darimu Alliance, an Ethiopian nongovernmental organization. Elizabeth’s 2-year-old son died a few years ago and she suffered miscarriages in 2024 and 2025; she believes the mine is to blame.  Residents living near Lega Dembi mine, located in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, have complained […]

(Berlin, March 12, 2026) – Russian authorities have escalated their internet censorship efforts over the past month, Human Rights Watch said today, a day marked by free speech defenders as World Day Against Cyber Censorship. The government has blocked the most popular social media platform in Russia, coercing users to switch to a state-approved application, […]

(Paris) – An Islamist armed group has killed at least 38 civilians, abducted 9 women, and burned property in 3 separate incidents in northeastern Burkina Faso since late January 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. The atrocities by the Al Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, or JNIM) […]

(Beirut) – A prominent Iraqi women’s rights activist was gunned down outside her Baghdad home by two men on motorcycles on March 2, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today.  Yanar Mohammed, 65, co-founded the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq in 2003. She opened Iraq’s first women’s shelters that same year, building a network that […]