Category: Human Rights

(Berlin, May 9, 2024) – The Georgian parliament’s introduction of a bill obliging certain nongovernmental groups and media outlets to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power” threatens fundamental rights in the country, Human Rights Watch said today.  The bill, under debate since mid-April 2024, prompted harsh criticism from Georgia’s bilateral and international […]

UN Photo/Allan Tannenbaum A segregated beach at Stranofontein near Cape Town, South Africa, in 1985. (file) The music legend held a press conference following an epic performance at a meeting of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid to honour him on his 35th birthday. “All people are created equal, not created to take care of another race of […]

Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya is on travel to Amman, Jordan, and Baghdad, Erbil, and Ninewa, Iraq from May 6-10, 2024, to advance regional humanitarian, human rights, and civilian security priorities. In Amman, Under Secretary Zeya engaged senior Jordanian government officials and United Nations representatives on maximizing […]

Israeli security forces have unlawfully used lethal force in fatal shootings of Palestinians, including deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent security threat, based on documentation of several cases since 2022. The United Nations reported that such killings are now taking place at a level without recent precedent in an environment in which those responsible […]

(Nairobi) – An Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist armed group killed at least 32 civilians, including 3 children, and set fire to over 350 homes in central Mali in January 2024, forcing about 2,000 villagers to flee, Human Rights Watch said today. Earlier in January, an ethnic militia killed at least 13 civilians, including 2 children, abducted 24 other […]

In an alert, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) noted that torrential rains have unleashed catastrophic flooding and mudslides while also severely damaging roads, bridges and dams.  More than 637,000 people have been affected by weeks of deluges including 234,000 displaced in just the last five days. There is no official figure for the number of […]

(New York) – United Nations member countries should use negotiations on the “Pact for the Future” to commit to strengthening human rights, including promoting economic justice and protecting the right to a healthy environment, Human Rights Watch said. The UN Pact for the Future, currently being negotiated, is expected to be adopted at the Summit of the Future, a […]

(Beirut) – An Israeli strike on an emergency and relief center in south Lebanon on March 27, 2024, was an unlawful attack on civilians that failed to take all necessary precautions, Human Rights Watch said today. If the attack on civilians was carried out intentionally or recklessly, it should be investigated as an apparent war […]

Advocates of media freedom in the Philippines got some good news within days of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. On April 29, police arrested a third suspect in the on-air shooting of radio broadcaster Juan Jumalon in Mindanao. And a court in Manila on May 6 sentenced the gunman responsible for the murder of the radio commentator […]

World Migration Report 2024 reveals a significant shift in global migration patterns, including a record number of people displaced due to conflict, violence, natural and other disasters.   Speaking at the launch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, IOM Director General Amy Pope said the report aims to “demystify the complexity of human mobility through evidence-based data and analysis”.  […]