Category: Human Rights

(Berlin, May 28, 2026) – Russian authorities have banned nine groups that provide support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as “extremist,” Human Rights Watch said today. The apparent aim is to further suppress, stigmatize, and criminalize those who document abuses, share information, and provide legal, medical, and other assistance to Russia’s LGBT […]

The European Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) are reinforcing their cooperation to support national authorities in responding to the ongoing Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with the aim of rapidly containing transmission, protecting communities and strengthening preparedness in the region, ultimately saving lives.  Through the European […]

(New York) – Ten years after United Nations Security Council Resolution 2286 was adopted to protect health care in armed conflict, attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers continue, Human Rights Watch said today. Resolution 2286, unanimously adopted on May 3, 2016, obligates countries to “prevent and address” attacks on health. A decade later, a new report […]

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has been reviewing a discrimination petition filed last October by a man in a same-sex relationship who was denied marriage leave by his employer. The employer’s policy offered marriage leave without defining marriage or providing criteria for employees to satisfy to claim the benefit. When the employee provided a […]

Armenia will hold parliamentary elections on June 7 that will determine the country’s next government. Whichever party or parties prevail, what happens after the vote may prove whether Armenia has built foundations strong enough since independence to protect human rights and the rule of law in a contested political moment. The stakes on June 7 […]

On May 20, a court in California temporarily suspended a Trump administration policy that stripped key protections from immigrant survivors of domestic violence. The 2025 directive at issue had made many immigrant survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking much more vulnerable to arrest, detention or deportation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Congress […]

The Joint Communication on Humanitarian Aid adopted today sets out how the EU will remain a reliable and principled donor in a global aid system under severe pressure. Humanitarian needs are at an all-time high with 239 million people worldwide in need of assistance, yet current global humanitarian funding can assist fewer than half of […]

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), the Catholic Church’s authoritative pastoral letter released on May 25, emphasized the need for “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence,” including the use of AI in warfare and the threat posed by killer robots. Building on the church’s long-held position, Pope Leo wrote that “the […]

This weekend, the Commission concluded the European Citizens’ Panel on Preparedness in Brussels. After almost 3 months of deliberation, the 150 randomly selected citizens, from all 27 Member States and representing EU diversity, formulated 20 recommendations on how to strengthen the EU’s capacity to prevent and respond to emergencies.  On Sunday, the citizens officially handed them over to the Director-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, Maciej Popowski. They will now feed into the […]

Russian occupation authorities are seizing civilian property in occupied areas of Ukraine, despite international law prohibiting occupying powers from such conduct. Authorities have introduced a sham process to declare properties “ownerless” and transfer them to municipal ownership, while also imposing administrative and travel barriers making it nearly impossible for displaced Ukrainians to assert their rights. […]