Category: Human Rights

(Manila) – The Philippine Supreme Court issued a major ruling on May 8, 2024, declaring “red-tagging” a threat to people’s life, liberty, and security, Human Rights Watch said today. The Philippine government has been using red-tagging—accusing individuals and groups of supporting the country’s communist insurgency—to harass, threaten, and at times assault or kill critics of the […]

The Chinese government forcibly returned about 60 North Korean refugees on April 26, putting them at grave risk of enforced disappearance, torture, sexual violence, wrongful imprisonment, forced labor, and execution. This round of forced returns came soon after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with China’s third highest official, Zhao Leji, on April 13, seeking stronger […]

Jamal Abdullah Khamis, Human Rights Lawyer from El Geneina   Of everything that happened what disturbed me most was what happened at the Mohamed Adam Clinic.   When I walked in, I found my friend Mudather in the southeast corner of the clinic.    It was as if he was sleeping.   He didn’t look […]

(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 […]