Category: Human Rights

(New York) – Human Rights Watch will present a podcast twice a month starting May 6, 2024, that will explore human rights hotspots around the world through the eyes and ears of people on the front lines. Rights & Wrongs will take listeners behind the scenes of in-depth Human Rights Watch investigations.  Human Rights Watch […]

For Immediate ReleaseMay 2, 2024 STATEMENT BY ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER USAID Will Provide Nearly $55 Million to Address Dire Humanitarian Crisis in Burkina Faso  Growing conflict and a dire humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso is unfolding in communities cut off from the world’s view.  Human Rights Watch recently documented horrific first-hand accounts that the Burkinabe military forces […]

 “Historic,” said the activist Haris Azhar, describing Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruling in March to revoke three false news and defamation clauses from the country’s 1946 criminal code. The judges wanted to protect human rights, he said, and they found that the code’s vague definition of “fake news” could be used to punish legitimate criticism of […]

(Bangkok) – The Thai government should urgently bring to justice officials responsible for the deaths and injuries of scores of ethnic Malay Muslim protesters in Tak Bai district in 2004, Human Rights Watch said today. A failure to do so will call into question Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s pledge to strengthen the rule of law […]

(Nairobi) – Kenyan authorities have not responded adequately to flash floods resulting from heavy rains, Human Rights Watch said today. The floods have left at least 170 people dead; displaced more than 200,000; destroyed property, infrastructure, and livelihoods across the country; and exacerbated socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Kenya’s government has a human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable […]

(Kyiv, May 2, 2024) – Russian forces appear to have executed at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers as they attempted to surrender, and possibly six more who were surrendering or who had surrendered, since early December 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. These incidents should be investigated as war crimes. “Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, […]

(Washington, DC, May 02, 2024) – Governments concerned about autonomous weapons systems – so-called killer robots – should urgently act to start negotiations on a new international treaty to ban and regulate them, Human Rights Watch said today. Such weapons would select and use force against targets based on sensor processing rather than human inputs. […]

The 36 athletes were announced on Thursday by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, during a live-streamed ceremony from Lausanne, Switzerland.  They come from 11 countries and will compete across 12 sports.  Resilience and excellence  “With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and […]

(Berlin, May 2, 2024) – Azerbaijani authorities should immediately free a prominent human rights defender, Anar Mammadli, and drop the charges against him, the Human Rights House Foundation said this week in a statement signed by Human Rights Watch and 28 other groups. Mammadi was arrested on April 29, 2024, on bogus “smuggling” charges amid […]

Thousands of people have taken to the streets for days to protest the draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, which would require media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving more than 20 per cent of funding from abroad to register as “organizations acting in the interest of a foreign power”.  Respect human rights  Mr. Türk […]