Category: Human Rights

(Beirut) – Bulgarian authorities should immediately suspend any plans to deport a Saudi human rights activist to Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said today. He would be at serious risk of arbitrary detention, torture, and an unfair trial if he is sent back there. Abdulrahman al-Khalidi has been a human rights activist for more than […]

Since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, North Korea’s government has largely sealed its border with China and imposed overbroad, excessive, and unnecessary quarantines and restrictions on freedom of movement and trade, which have worsened the country’s already grave humanitarian and human rights situation. The new restrictions exacerbated existing UN Security Council sanctions, which restricted most […]

In a statement, Tor Wennesland reminded that all Israeli settlements the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international law. Permits for the new dwellings were approved by Israeli authorities on Wednesday, the first since the war in Gaza erupted on 7 October. According to news reports, the permits mean that more than 20,000 housing units […]

At least six journalists were detained on March 6 in Baku after authorities searched the office of an online news platform, Toplum TV, as part of a major crackdown on independent media in Azerbaijan in recent months. Nine other staff members were questioned and released. The office was sealed off by police. All six journalists […]

The Commission has now contracted €81 million out of the overall humanitarian aid allocation of €125 million and is working on its disbursement to humanitarian partner organisations. The EU has to date organised 41 air bridge flights to deliver over 1,800 tonnes of aid to Palestinians via Egypt and is exploring further means of delivering […]

In a hard-hitting report to the Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteur David Boyd underscored that current business practices, particularly large coporations, pose a severe threat to the planet’s ecological integrity. ‘Colossal impacts’ of the ultrarich Mr. Boyd emphasized the “colossal impacts” on natural resources, which are being consumed six times faster than the planet can […]

The Malaysian government is detaining about 12,000 migrants and refugees, including 1,400 children, in conditions that put them at serious risk of physical abuse and psychological harm. Malaysia’s degrading and abusive immigration detention system, which treats migrants and refugees as criminals, denies them their rights to liberty, health, and due process. Malaysia should develop community-based […]

This year, for the first time since 1953, Christians in Indonesia will finally be able to officially use Indonesian terminology for Jesus Christ, Yesus Kristus, when they celebrate the major Christian holidays of Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas. In a victory for freedom of religion and belief, the government is no longer insisting on […]

(Villahermosa) –The lack of a legal gender recognition procedure in Mexico’s Tabasco state creates barriers for transgender people in employment, health, education, and access to banking, Human Rights Watch and Community Center for Inclusion said in a report released today. Tabasco should create a simple administrative procedure to allow trans people to accurately reflect their […]

(Kinshasa) – Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi should ensure that human rights are central to his policies during his second term in office, Human Rights Watch said today in a “Human Rights Agenda” for his administration. Human Rights Watch urged the Tshisekedi administration to prioritize improvements in five key areas: the rights to […]