Category: Human Rights

Recent use of white phosphorus munitions by Israeli forces in Lebanon underscores the need for new international law to regulate these devastating weapons. White phosphorus munitions can inflict excruciating burns and cause lifelong physical, psychological, and socioeconomic harm. Countries should condemn ongoing use of white phosphorus munitions, call for further international talks on the matter, […]

(Beirut, September 9, 2026) – Hezbollah unlawfully fired widely banned cluster munitions into a town in northern Israel on March 4, 2026, and again on March 15, Human Rights Watch said today.  The attacks, neither of which caused civilian casualties, took place during a major escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah beginning on […]

Barely a week after African leaders met in Luanda, Angola to strengthen the African Union’s conflict prevention capacity, escalating tensions in northern Ethiopia are testing whether the AU can turn early warning into action. Tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the Tigray region’s main political party, have grown for over […]

Hungary’s government has extended until December 31 the “state of crisis caused by mass migration,” prolonging an emergency regime introduced in 2016 despite the absence of the conditions that could justify its continued use.  Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced on September 4 that the government would extend the measure, which was due to expire on September 7. […]

As schools in Ukraine opened for the new academic year on September 1, repeated air raid alerts in Kyiv and elsewhere have disrupted classes and sent children into shelters, sometimes for hours. On September 3, Olya’s daughter managed to complete just one lesson – math –before alerts sent her fourth-grade class into a cramped underground shelter. […]

(Seoul) – Women in South Korea face systemic gender discrimination at every stage of their working lives, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These adverse impacts accumulate as women get older, and are compounded by systemic age discrimination, resulting in harm to their physical and mental health. The 92-page report, “Too Old and […]

Delivering their latest update, the members of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria commended the Government and people for significant achievements made since the fall of the Assad regime nearly two years ago, including establishing a legislative body and constitutional court. Difficult test They noted the inherent difficulties in building institutions that respect human rights […]

Cluster munitions killed or injured at least 1,063 people globally in 2025. This figure is among the highest annual totals recorded by the Cluster Munition Coalition in its annual Cluster Munition Monitor.  Cluster munitions typically disperse multiple explosive submunitions over a wide area. Many fail to explode on initial impact, leaving unexploded duds that can […]

In the early hours of September 5, a UN disarmament meeting in Geneva concluded three years of work on autonomous weapons systems, colloquially known as killer robots. While the final report was significantly watered down, it left the door open for more concrete action in November, with a record number of states now supporting negotiations on legally […]

(Berlin, September 8, 2026) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and other senior officials should publicly call out the United Arab Emirates’ human rights record and its role in regional conflicts when they meet President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Berlin on September 10, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today.  “The […]