Category: Human Rights

In February 2026, it will be 80 years since the United Nations selected its first secretary-general, a man. Since then, eight other people have had that job, all men. Surely, it’s long past time a woman held the post.  António Guterres, the current secretary-general, completes his term in December 2026. Maneuvering over his successor is well underway. […]

Three years ago, a series of protests in China has sparked a political awakening among Chinese youth, with many questioning Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s authoritarian policies and practices and notably confronting the government’s abuses against Tibetans and Uyghurs. In response to a deadly apartment fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, blamed on harsh Covid-19 restrictions, thousands in […]

She knows what it’s like to be silenced. Born into a family that didn’t believe in educating girls, she had to stay home while her brothers went to school. Only when she moved to Khartoum with her uncle did she get a chance to study, though not for long. “I was forced into marriage at 14,” Awrelia said. “Even before then, some […]

(Tokyo) – Japan’s new government should make the promotion of human rights central to its foreign policy, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on November 6, 2025. The Japanese government should affirm its commitment to human rights by taking the lead in promoting civilian democratic rule and the rule […]

More than twenty international and regional rights organizations have urged the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to take decisive action against Egypt’s worsening human rights record. The appeal follows the Commission’s 85th session, where Egypt presented its official report covering 2019–2024, a document that rights groups say misrepresented or omitted key abuses […]

A quiet desert night in northern Mali turned deadly when an apparent military drone launched its explosive munition on a tent, leaving an entire family dead. The strike was a recent example of Malian military operations killing civilians and may amount to a war crime. The November 13 strike at about 9:30 p.m. on the village […]

Conflicts and crises cause harm based on gender. Because women and girls across the globe experience legal, economic, and cultural discrimination, they also experience the impacts of conflict in distinct and often more profound ways than others. With data underscoring escalating conflict globally, reaching a level not seen since the post-World War II era, creating better […]

(Beirut) – Bahraini authorities have detained Ebrahim Sharif, a prominent political activist, for peaceful comments he made in Beirut, Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said today. Yusuf al-Jamri, a blogger, said that the authorities detained Sharif, former secretary general of Bahrain’s National Democratic Action Society, due to comments he made […]

(New York) – The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court has struck down provisions in the Codes of Justice of the National Police and the Armed Forces that criminalized consensual same-sex conduct by officers, Human Rights Watch said today. The ruling, made public on November 18, 2025, is a landmark victory for equality, ending a regime of state-sanctioned discrimination […]

(Nairobi, November 21, 2025) – The African Union (AU) and European Union should put respect for human rights and international humanitarian law at the center of their partnership, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of the blocs’ seventh summit on November 24-25, 2025, in Luanda, Angola. Both regional blocs should redouble efforts to tackle conflict-related atrocities and […]