Category: Human Rights

(Paris) – France’s lawmakers are examining a draft immigration law that threatens to limit rights of asylum seekers and migrants, Human Rights Watch said today. The draft law is to be debated in the French Senate starting on November 6, 2023, and is expected to move to the National Assembly in December. The government initially introduced […]

(Beirut) – Syrian government forces used widely banned cluster munitions in an attack on Termanin, a town in northern Idlib, on October 6, 2023, killing two civilians and injuring nine others, Human Rights Watch said today. The next day, a 9-year-old boy picked up a munition that had failed to detonate on impact during the […]

On Monday, nine student climate activists in Uganda will again appear before a Kampala court charged with “common nuisance” for their activism against a proposed oil pipeline. They were arrested and charged last year while marching to deliver a petition to the European Union’s mission in Kampala supporting a European Parliament resolution. The resolution raised […]

Clashes intensified on Sunday and continued through the week, significantly impacting northeast and southeast Myanmar and forcing over 48,000 people from their homes, amid rising needs, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). There are also reports that an alliance of three rebel groups seized towns in the country’s north, overrunning […]

The Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7 targeted Israelis, but migrant workers in Israel were also killed and taken hostage. Their families are grieving for them halfway around the world in Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines, and Cambodia. More than 240 people were taken hostage on October 7, the Israeli government reported. After Israeli […]

The stark report comes against the backdrop of a sharp uptick in fighting between the Government’s Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF and heightened intercommunal tensions in the restive region. The rival militaries plunged the country into a brutal civil war more than six months ago. Thousands have died and more than 5.7 million are […]

On Monday, November 6, the United Nations Human Rights Council will closely evaluate Turkmenistan’s rights record during the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This is a rare opportunity, as Turkmenistan’s extremely repressive government routinely punishes anyone inside the country or abroad who dares to scrutinize its actions.  The Human Rights Council should call Turkmenistan out […]

Abuk Garang is in cheerful mood with a huge smile plastered across her face. Her children are in similarly high spirits and playing together outside their small house in Halbul, Aweil East. See how EU-funded food and cash assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) helped her family and empowered her community. The reason […]

  (Istanbul) – The Turkish government should abide by international law and implement the binding judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by immediately releasing politicians Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, who formerly co-chaired the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), four rights organizations said today. The four nongovernmental organizations—Human Rights Watch, the Turkey […]

Rakza Salih Fawaz, 50, and her 14-year-old daughter, Farah Adnan Ramdan, were among a group of 30 daily laborers toiling away in cotton field on October 9 near the village of Bcheïrîyé in northeast Syria. “Around 10 in the morning, something struck my head,” said Rakza. “I heard Farah screaming about losing her leg. I […]