Category: Human Rights

(Beirut) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should establish an international fact-finding mission into the August 4, 2020 blast at Beirut’s port, 18 organizations including Human Rights Watch, and dozens of relatives of the victims of the blast said in a statement released today.  Nearly four years after the blast, nobody has been held […]

Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara will travel to Istanbul and Ankara, Türkiye, June 30 – July 3 to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities across several policy areas. During her trip, SAIDR Minkara will promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in crisis response and recovery, NATO, and the media.  SAIDR Minkara’s travel […]

(Brussels) – Judges are set to deliberate on a verdict in a landmark domestic trial in Guinea for gross human rights abuses committed by government security forces in 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. The closing arguments of all parties in the trial concluded on June 26, 2024. The judges indicated they will deliberate on a verdict […]

From June 30 to July 2, Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Jessica Stern will travel to Dublin, Ireland. Special Envoy Stern will meet with senior Irish government officials to discuss Ireland’s efforts to advance LGBTQI+ equality via multilateral fora and domestically to address discrimination and provide mental health support for […]

Over 1,300 Muslim pilgrims reportedly died during the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, this month in Saudi Arabia, where temperatures have soared beyond 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).  Unmitigated exposure to extreme heat can cause a range of known health harms including organ failure and even death. Heat stress is believed to have […]

Government officials in Sri Lanka are withholding exam results from 70 Muslim women and girls because their head coverings allegedly covered their ears while they took their exams. The decision violates the students’ right to freedom of religion and further entrenches discrimination widely experienced by Muslims in Sri Lanka. The students, many from relatively low-income […]

Last week, an Iranian court imposed a new bogus sentence on imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights defender Narges Mohammadi. Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Mohammadi to another year in Iran’s Evin prison on charges of “propaganda against the state.” In January 2022, the same court, Branch 26 of the […]

(Bangkok) – Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a prominent human rights defender in Pattani province in southern Thailand on June 25, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. Thai authorities should urgently conduct a transparent and impartial investigation into the killing of Roning Dolah, 45, and bring those responsible to justice. On June 25 at about […]

(Beirut) – Iraqi authorities in Baghdad and Erbil have arbitrarily detained and deported Syrians to Damascus and to parts of northeast Syria under the control of Kurdish-led forces, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraqi authorities have deported some Syrians even though they possessed official Iraqi documents, enabling them to stay and work in the country or were registered as […]

(Nairobi) – Kenyan security forces shot directly into crowds of protesters on June 25, 2024, including protesters who were fleeing, Human Rights Watch said today.  Protests began in cities and towns across Kenya and online after the Finance Bill 2024 was introduced in parliament on June 18. The protests have been organized largely by Kenyans […]