Category: Human Rights

As world leaders spoke about protecting the environment at the United Nations General Assembly this week, Colombia took an important concrete step by ratifying the Escazú Agreement, a landmark treaty for Latin American and Caribbean nations that advances the right to a healthy environment.  The record-breaking fires ravaging South American ecosystems this year, including the Amazon […]

Tanzania authorities have arrested leading opposition politicians who had planned to demonstrate in response to a wave of enforced disappearances of party officials. On September 23, police arrested and later released on bail Freeman Mbowe, the chairman of the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) party; Tundu Lissu, Mbowe’s deputy and former presidential candidate; and several […]

Between July and September 2024, Aliaksandr Lukashenka signed four presidential decrees pardoning some of those convicted for “protest-related” and “extremism-related” crimes. As a result, authorities released 115 prisoners.  Many of those who “repented” their crimes when seeking a pardon were forced to do so with threats and physical violence. Despite these recent releases, the extreme […]

The Philippine government has accused union leaders and members of being combatants or supporters of communist insurgency, putting them at great risk of harassment and violence. This sinister and at times deadly practice, known as “red-tagging,” has become a serious threat to labor rights in the Philippines. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should direct officials to end […]

(Bangkok) – Bangladeshi authorities should allow Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar to obtain protection and humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said today. An estimated 18,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in recent months to escape abuses amid the surging fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and the ethnic Arakan Army, while another 10,000 are reportedly waiting at […]

The crew of the Geo Barents, the Médécins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders or MSF) rescue ship in the central Mediterranean Sea, had just brought on board a 7-month-pregnant Syrian woman when a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie: small boat fast approaching. As an observer on the ship, I ran to the bridge and watched […]

The Rwandan army and the M23 armed group have throughout 2024 indiscriminately shelled displacement camps and other densely populated areas near Goma in eastern Congo. The Congolese armed forces and allied militias have increased the risk faced by displaced people in the camps by deploying artillery nearby and by entering the camps, where they have committed […]

The United States is today sanctioning a former member of Haiti’s parliament, Prophane Victor, for his role in forming, supporting, and arming gangs that have committed serious human rights abuse in Haiti, as well as the current leader of the Gran Grif gang, Luckson Elan, for his involvement in serious human rights abuse related to […]

Global critics of the international financial architecture say the system is broken. As Brazilian President Lula da Silva said today addressing the United Nations General Assembly, it’s become “the Marshall Plan in reverse where the poorest finance the richest.” From realizing people’s socioeconomic rights to tackling climate change, the laws and institutions that make up the global […]

Academic freedom in Hong Kong has severely declined since the Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law on the city on June 30, 2020. Students and faculty accustomed to academic freedom must now tread carefully to avoid retribution for what they teach, research, and publish, and even with whom they associate. Concerned governments and […]