Category: Human Rights

(Bogota) – Venezuelan authorities are committing widespread human rights violations against protesters, bystanders, opposition leaders, and critics following the July 28, 2024, presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerned governments should push for independent verification of the electoral results and support international efforts to ensure accountability.  International observers have raised serious concerns about the […]

(Beirut) – The Lebanese Armed Forces and Cypriot authorities work together to keep refugees from reaching Europe, then deport them to danger in Syria, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 90-page report, “‘I Can’t Go Home, Stay Here, or Leave’: Pushbacks and Pullbacks of Syrian Refugees from Cyprus and Lebanon,” documents […]

(Berlin) – A Tashkent regional appeals court on August 21, 2024, upheld a woman’s 30-month restricted freedom sentence for alleged anti-constitutional activity in gross violation of her right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Sevara Shaydullaeva, 31, had sent her mother a video clip of Uzbekistan’s late President Islam Karimov speaking to […]

Teams of prominent scientists and ethicists have called for the end of medically unnecessary nonconsensual surgeries on intersex children in two new papers.   On the heels of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s first-ever resolution affirming the rights of intersex people, the papers signal growing international resolve to address rights violations experienced by people born with […]

Issuing the appeal in Geneva on his behalf, Chief Spokesperson for his Office OHCHR, Ravina Shamdasani, “unequivocally” rejected the “false allegations” for which one staff member appeared to have been made to confess under duress. “These are completely made-up allegations,” she told journalists, highlighting “a video of our staff member that was put on social […]

This month, Netflix released “The Goat Life,” a movie centered on the experiences of an Indian migrant worker, Najeeb Muhammed, who worked in Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s and, after being stranded in the desert, was forced to work as a goat herder. It is based on the 2008 bestselling book, “Goat Days,” which […]

Last week, a 17-year-old boy died by self-harm in his cell at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. This tragic event was the second death of a child within the state’s youth detention system in less than a year. In October 2023, Cleveland Dodd, a 16-year-old, lost his life by self-harm in Unit 18, a repurposed […]

In response to the transmission of mpox cases from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to neighbouring countries, the European Commission is providing extra humanitarian funding to assist the Burundi Red Cross in preparing to and respond to the mpox epidemic. The funding of €200,000 will help disease surveillance and case detection, activities in the field of water and sanitation, as […]

“It is a climate of fear in the country at the moment. We are urging the government to ensure that all steps are taken in line with international human rights law with transparency and that steps are taken to resolve this dispute peacefully,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva. The alert is just […]

North Korean athletes who took selfies with their South Korean and Chinese counterparts at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are reportedly facing intense scrutiny and possible punishment upon their return home. In North Korea, even an innocent selfie can have stark implications, given the government’s strict ideological controls and repression. While the athletes’ selfies were celebrated by […]