Category: Human Rights

On September 21, Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld Indigenous peoples’ rights to their traditional lands by ruling against the so-called cutoff date, a legal argument that Indigenous peoples should not obtain title of their ancestral territories if they were not physically present on them on October 5, 1988, the day Brazil’s current Constitution was adopted. Following […]

Pakistan remains one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Regional instability, climate change, and widespread poverty have only contributed to a rising number of humanitarian emergencies in Pakistan. Many struggle to meet their basic needs, including adequate food, sanitation, and healthcare. Coupled with catastrophic flooding in the summer of 2022 — which impacted […]

The members of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) issued the appeal after concluding their first visit to the State of Palestine, conducted from 10 to 21 September. Daniel Fink, who headed the delegation, said they received full cooperation from the Palestinian Authority to visit locations in the West Bank, “but we regret that, despite all […]

The US government has apparently failed to provide compensation or other redress to Iraqis who suffered torture and other abuse by US forces at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons in Iraq two decades ago. Iraqis tortured by US personnel still have no clear path for receiving redress or recognition from the US government though […]

(Brasilia) – The Brazilian government, in its upcoming plan for people with disabilities, should set out concrete plans for deinstitutionalization, Human Rights Watch said today. The plan, to be released in October 2023, is a timely opportunity to create a system that would enable people with disabilities to live independently in the community. Thousands of […]

In the past year, more than 50 victims of Guinea’s 2009 brutal stadium massacre have been heard by judges in front of 11 accused, including Guinea’s former president. The trial is a rare current example of domestic accountability involving high-level suspects and should inspire more similar justice efforts. International partners can help ensure the trial […]

The Guna people have been on the coast of Guna Yala [in Panama] for over 100 years. The ancestral knowledge and experience of the Guna people contributes a lot towards [fighting] climate change. We will leave the island and move to the mainland because the circumstances warrant it // due to overcrowding, as we already […]

(Washington DC) – The International Monetary Fund, with a global debt crisis looming, is setting conditions for its loans that risk undermining people’s economic, social, and cultural rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The conditions are compounding problems related to rising inequality. The 131-page report, “Bandage on a Bullet Wound: IMF […]

South Korea’s National Assembly is rushing to approve a bill that would allow women to give birth anonymously at medical facilities. The bill, which pledges to protect women and children by tackling the issue of unregistered births, fails to address major factors that drive the incidence of births being unregistered, such as poverty and the […]

(Berlin, September 23, 2023) – Thousands of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh have dire humanitarian needs following Azerbaijan’s military operation to regain control over the region, Human Rights Watch said today. The military intervention followed months of acute shortages of food, medications, hygiene products, and other essential supplies to the region, as Azerbaijan had disrupted vehicular and […]