Category: Human Rights

(Beirut) – The Algerian authorities should commit to end their attacks on civic space and allow independent organizations to operate without unreasonable restrictions as a UN official visits in September 2023, 15 human rights groups said today. The United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, […]

More than 5,000 people have reportedly died, many of them residents of Derna, which was struck by a torrent of water from two dams which burst, sweeping away whole neighbourhoods of the port city.  “Search and rescue operations are actively underway, led by national agencies, military, the Libyan Red Crescent and local volunteers”, said a statement […]

(New York) – Bangladesh authorities should immediately release the human rights defenders Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan, quash their convictions, and end all reprisals against them and other human rights defenders for their legitimate human rights work, 39 organizations said today. Khan and Elan were sentenced by the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka to […]

Twenty-two-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested and forced into a van by Iran’s so called “morality police” in the capital Tehran on 13 September last year. Authorities alleged she was not in conformity with the country’s strict laws on mandatory veiling. She died on 16 September reportedly after suffering a heart attack. Her family, however, […]

(Geneva, September 14, 2023) – The news that three countries have destroyed their stocks of cluster munitions highlights the global rejection of the weapon despite its recent use, production, and transfers by countries that have not banned cluster munitions, Human Rights Watch said today. The 11th meeting of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to […]

A displaced man in a camp in North Kivu. © European Union, 2023 (photographer: Peter Biro) Wracked by decades of conflict, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the most complex and protracted humanitarian crisis in Africa and the largest hunger crisis worldwide. It is also considered a forgotten crisis.   After months of […]

“There has been almost one attack every other day hitting vital port and grain facilities in Ukraine,” said Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown, in a statement on Wednesday.  Assault on grain exports A Russian drone attack early on Wednesday damaged infrastructure at Ukrainian grain-exporting facilities on the Danube River. Ukrainian officials say buildings including grain […]

(Bangkok) – Unites States President Joe Biden should publicly urge Vietnam’s leaders to immediately release all political prisoners and reform abusive laws during his planned visit to Hanoi on September 10, 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. In a September 1 letter, Human Rights Watch urged President Biden to publicly as well as privately raise […]

Marking the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was important to defend “havens of education”. “Education is not only a fundamental human right, but a pathway to a better future for every person, and a more peaceful, understanding world,” he underscored.  He voiced a startling truth: around the globe […]

(Beirut) – Iraqi security forces appear to have opened fire on demonstrators without prior warning in Kirkuk on September 2, 2023, killing at least 4 people and injuring 16, Human Rights Watch said today. The violence comes amid months of increasing tensions between Kirkuk’s Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen populations. An inquiry into the incident opened […]