Category: Human Rights

On Thursday, a Russian court sentenced artist Aleksandra Skochilenko to seven years in prison for replacing supermarket price tags with information about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When the judge announced the outrageous verdict, the packed courtroom erupted with chants of “For shame!” in support for Skochilenko, who smiled and made a hand heart back […]

Hundreds of ethnic Masalit civilians were reportedly killed earlier this month in Ardamata town, West Darfur, by the RSF and their allied Arab militia. The RSF has its roots in the Janjaweed militias which fought on the Government side against a rebel coalition in the Darfur war two decades ago. Some of its leaders face […]

“My family was torn apart. I truly cannot stop regretting.”  “The right to life was taken from my husband. This justice system needs to change.” Survivors of Japan’s so-called “hostage justice” system came together recently at the Japanese Diet to share their stories of the long, painful history of abuses under Japan’s legal system. Nearly […]

Since 1979, the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has offered immediate financial support to respond to all kinds of emergencies around the globe. Each time a National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society needs funding to respond to a disaster, it can request […]

In the fighting so far, about 70 civilians – and combatants who are out of action – have reportedly been killed and over 90 wounded, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR). The fighting has also fuelled a fresh wave of displacement, driving over 200,000 people from their homes since 27 October. In all, […]

After more than a month of the Israeli government’s unlawful blockade of Gaza, which has included catastrophic cuts to water, fuel, and electricity, as well as very limited deliveries of food, water, and medical supplies, the lack of clean water is resulting in “grave concerns” by public health experts of an imminent infectious disease outbreak […]

Speaking in Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the parties to the conflict to “create the political space for a path out of this horror”.  Mr. Türk condemned the widespread targeting of civilians in the past five weeks of hostilities and urged accountability for gross rights violations. He stressed that attacks directed at […]

(Geneva) – The Bangladesh government should seriously respond to concerns regarding grave abuses and the crackdown on civil society raised by member states on November 13, 2023, during Bangladesh’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Human Rights Watch said today. The review took place amid a violent ongoing crackdown by Bangladesh security forces ahead of the 2024 […]

(Beirut) – The Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) are failing to fulfill Aden residents’ right to electricity and water, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the start of the conflict in Yemen, the residents of Aden, the largest city in southern Yemen and the provisional capital of the Yemeni government since 2015, […]

Despite the horrific and mounting human costs of the grave violations of international humanitarian law in Israel and Palestine, the 27 EU member states have been unable to reach a unanimous position condemning war crimes committed by all parties and calling for accountability. But the Belgian government has shown that it is possible for individual […]