Category: Human Rights

(Kinshasa) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should expand their investigation into security force personnel responsible for killing scores of people in eastern Congo one year ago, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also provide prompt and adequate compensation to victims or their families. On August 30, 2023, Congolese security forces killed at least […]

(Washington, DC) – Mexican legislators who will take office on August 31, 2024, should reject a series of proposed constitutional changes that would undermine judicial independence, government accountability, and the right to privacy, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposals could also lead to an increase in military abuses and arbitrary detentions. The proposals are contained […]

In December 2013, the UN General Assembly declared the International Decade for People of African Descent to address issues of recognition, justice, and development. The decade beginning in 2015 aimed to promote the rights of people of African descent, increase awareness of their cultural contributions, and strengthen legal frameworks to combat racial discrimination. In 2021, 31 […]

For many years, the Assad regime has used arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance as a tool of repression against its real and perceived critics.  Over 96,000 men, women, and children remain forcibly disappeared by the regime to this day – leaving families desperate for answers about their fates – with the regime extorting and punishing […]

(New York)– The Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court will hear a challenge on August 30, 2024, to laws that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct by officers in the police and armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today. In an amicus curiae brief, Human Rights Watch said that these discriminatory laws violate the rights under international law of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and […]

A few meters from the public door of Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply (MAPA), is a separate private door. To better understand who has access to one of Brazil’s most powerful ministries, the investigative group, Reporter Brasil, obtained a private log of those who entered through this second door between January and November […]

(Nairobi) – The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and affiliated fighters have summarily executed, tortured, and ill-treated people in their custody, and mutilated dead bodies, Human Rights Watch said today. Leaders of both forces should privately and publicly order an immediate halt to these abuses and carry out effective investigations. […]

(Beirut) – The Egyptian authorities have in recent weeks arbitrarily detained and referred for prosecution at least four critics of the government on charges stemming solely from their legitimate exercise of freedom of expression, as part of their work, in a fresh assault on freedom of expression, eight organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said today. Those […]

(New York) – Bangladesh’s interim government should seek expertise and technical assistance from the United Nations for its new commission of inquiry investigating all cases of enforced disappearances during the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina, Human Rights Watch said today. The interim administration, led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has announced a five-member team […]

As government leaders gather in Tonga this week for the Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is sounding the alarm on rising sea levels as not just an environmental issue but a serious threat to human rights. The latest report from the World Meteorological Organization shows that sea levels in the Pacific are rising faster than the global […]