Category: Human Rights

In the United States of that period, laws in many states enforced separate schools, transportation and bathrooms based solely on race. The military was still segregated, laws prohibiting interracial marriage remained in place and many housing developments enforced “whites-only” policies.  One early resident and later UN staff member, Carlos Figueroa, remembered being friends with children […]

(Dakar) – Senegalese families remain in limbo in a site called Khar Yalla, a decade after coastal floods destroyed their homes, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite recent progress, the government has not yet provided displaced families with a permanent, durable solution. The approximately 1,000 people who lost their homes to tidal surges in 2015 […]

The European Union today opens a landmark 2-day conference in Brussels to mark the 1st anniversary of its Preparedness Union Strategy. It brings together government representatives, civil protection experts, military representatives, private sector leaders and partners from across Europe to take stock of progress and chart the path ahead. Launched in March 2025, the strategy […]

The crowd gathered outside Sharpeville police station on 21 March 1960 “came armed not with weapons, but with conviction – not to divide society, but to claim their dignity within it,” General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock recalled in her opening remarks.  But the annual commemoration is about much more than one notorious incident, she said, as racism clearly persists in every corner of the world.  Sinister […]

Preliminary information indicates at least 13 civilians were killed and seven injured in Nangarhar province, including women and children. Further strikes Additional strikes in Paktika province damaged buildings, including a madrassa – or school – and a residential property, though no casualties were reported there. “UNAMA calls on all parties to bring a lasting end to […]

(Bangkok) – A senior cabinet minister in Thailand has brought criminal defamation lawsuits against two prominent journalists who reported about a bribery case, raising serious concerns for media freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial court can dismiss the case if it lacks legal merit or is without basis. On February 27, 2026, the Minister […]

As Cyprus continues to fight the consequences of February’s foot and mouth disease outbreak, the European Commission has mobilised its strategic stockpile of emergency supplies, rescEU, to support the ongoing response. The mobilisation follows a request for assistance from the Cypriot authorities via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. It comprises disinfectants, personal protective equipment, disposable […]

“During the first two months of this year, 60 per cent of all civilian casualties were in frontline regions (and) almost half of those killed were older persons,” said Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif.  In a scheduled update on the war to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ms. Al-Nashif noted that […]

As of the end of November 2025, there were over 140,000 Burundian refugees in neighbouring Tanzania, who have fled over years of civil unrest in Burundi. While thousands continue to be “voluntarily repatriated”, an official with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says thousands may still need international protection in Tanzania. Up to 17,000 say they are […]

On April 7, Australian police arrested Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated Australian soldier who stands accused of committing five counts of war crimes in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.  Many of the details of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes were made public when he sued media outlets that had first reported on the allegations. He lost the defamation case.  For victims of […]