Category: Human Rights

Each year on May 17, we commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia.  On this day, we reflect upon the violence and discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons worldwide suffer and re-commit ourselves to opposing these acts.  This year, like every year, we state unequivocally: LGBTQI+ persons deserve […]

(Athens, May 17, 2024) – The imminent trial of nine survivors of the June 2023 Pylos shipwreck off Greece raises fair trial concerns, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The survivors are charged with smuggling, aggravated by the deaths of passengers, causing a shipwreck, irregular entry, and forming and membership of a criminal organization, […]

A new aid shipment from Cyprus to Gaza via the Maritime Corridor and the newly constructed US pier is taking place today, carrying EU supplies.  Through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, Romania is sending more than 88,000 cans of food to Palestinians in need. The Commission covers the transport costs of this delivery. An EU […]

Dr. Adnan Al Bursh, 50, the head of the orthopaedic department at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, died on April 19, 2024, in Ofer prison, a detention facility in the West Bank. His body has not yet been released by Israeli authorities. Before his death, he had reportedly been beaten in prison, with his body […]

Peru’s government published a presidential decree on May 10 classifying trans identities as mental health conditions in the country’s Essential Health Insurance Plan, which lists insurable health conditions for insurance policies. The decree, signed by President Dina Boluarte, the minister of health, and the minister of the economy, also refers to “ego-dystonic sexual orientation” as a mental […]

Two years ago, Tajik authorities cracked down on protesters in an autonomous region of the country, resulting in the death of a local man by what witnesses reported was live ammunition from security forces. In the next couple of days, police reportedly killed up to 40 people from the area during so-called security operations. These […]

The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence requires media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad. It was adopted on Tuesday. The adoption has sparked protests in the capital, Tbilisi, and has been […]

Thai authorities are helping neighboring governments to take unlawful actions against refugees and dissidents from abroad, making Thailand increasingly unsafe for those fleeing persecution. These targets of transnational repression have gotten caught up in a “swap mart” in which foreign dissidents are effectively traded for critics of the Thai government living abroad. The Thai government […]

Thai anti-monarchy activist Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom, 28, died in custody in Bangkok today while on a hunger strike she began in January. Netiporn brought attention to Thailand’s cruel use of its lese majeste (insulting the monarchy) law, which punishes critics of the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison. Thai authorities had paused lese […]

In April 2016, Vietnam experienced one of the worst environmental disasters in its history when Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, a subsidiary of the Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group, discharged toxic chemical waste off the coast of Ha Tinh province, killing millions of fish and destroying the livelihoods of fishing communities. Afterwards, Formosa admitted responsibility for the […]