Category: Human Rights

“The current race towards ever more powerful AI is a step change towards greater existential risks to every aspect of our lives,” he wrote in an open letter. The High Commissioner’s message comes six days after a former researcher at Anthropic – the company behind the chatbot Claude – resigned from his position while warning […]

“I dreamed of going to school like other girls,” she said. “Instead, I became a wife before I had the chance to live my childhood, and a mother before I truly understood what that meant.” For a while, life with her husband was steady, if simple. Then war tore through Yemen, closing clinics and hospitals […]

The Minsk City Court sentenced human rights lawyer Dmitri Laevski on September 9 to three years in prison for “aiding an extremist organization” and “discrediting” Belarus. Laevski has represented high-profile political prisoners, including opposition politician Viktar Babaryka and lawyer Maksim Znak. Laevski was charged with “aiding extremism” in connection with an interview he gave to […]

Those reporting on Russia are rarely surprised these days to learn that another critic of the Russian government is being prosecuted over alleged involvement with a “foreign undesirable organization.” But even in Russia, the case against Olga Sibireva rises to new heights of absurdity. Sibireva is an expert on religious freedom at SOVA Center, a […]

Key points At least 46,000 people displaced since renewed fighting began last week in southwest Yemen — the figure is “rising by the hour”, IOM says Houthi fighters have seized the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha, triggering mass departures At least 14 civilians, including two children, killed or wounded this month, per OCHA; WHO […]

(Nairobi) – Criminal gangs in Kenya have carried out a spate of violent attacks targeting civil society and opposition gatherings ahead of the 2027 elections, Human Rights Watch said today. The Kenyan authorities should ensure prompt and transparent investigations into the attacks and that people can exercise their political rights without fear of violence. Over the […]

(New York) – The Punjab provincial assembly in Pakistan on August 31, 2026, passed a bill that would threaten the right to a fair trial in counterterrorism proceedings, Human Rights Watch said today. The provincial governor should return the bill to the assembly, which should develop rights-respecting protections for such proceedings, subject to independent oversight. The Anti-Terrorism […]

In a statement marking the anniversary, António Guterres paid tribute to victims, survivors and first responders who rushed to ground zero – the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York – just a few miles south of UN Headquarters. “As we mark this somber occasion on 11 September, we remember the nearly 3,000 victims – from […]

A court in Azerbaijan on September 7 sentenced the prominent human rights defender and election monitor Anar Mammadli to 13 years in prison following a trial marred by serious due process violations. His co-defendant, civic activist Anar Abdullayev, received a 12-year sentence. Mammadli, 48, spent more than two years in pretrial detention before the Baku […]

The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned that renewed violence, political tensions, shrinking civic space, entrenched corruption and persistent impunity continue to put the population and the planned transition to democracy at risk.  During the four-day visit, the Commission met a wide range of representatives from the Government, the political and security […]