Category: Human Rights

Uganda hosts the largest refugee population in Africa and the 3rd largest in the world, of which 57% are from South Sudan. The EU’s support is crucial to providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to refugees and host communities. The story of Tabitha, a 37-year-old single mother of 6, serves as a great example. A refugee and […]

(Beirut) – The Iraqi government should immediately withdraw a proposed law currently before parliament that would impose the death penalty for same-sex conduct and imprisonment for transgender expression, Human Rights Watch said today. If adopted, the bill would violate fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, association, privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination of […]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres was delivering his message marking the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief and began by reiterating that freedom of belief is “an inalienable human right”. “Yet, around the world, people and communities, particularly minorities, face intolerance, discrimination and threats – to their places of […]

(Kinshasa) – The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have targeted leaders of opposition political parties, restricting their fundamental liberties and arresting party officials since May 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. The crackdown is taking place amid heightened political tension ahead of the formal presidential election campaign, which begins on November 19. The […]

(New York) – A mob attack on a Christian settlement in Pakistan highlights the need for the authorities to take immediate action to protect religious minorities from violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have an obligation to investigate and appropriately prosecute all those responsible for intimidation, threats, and violent […]

A new United Nations report on extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan under the Taliban makes for very grim reading. The report confirms fears about the Taliban’s treatment of the former government’s security force personnel. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, its forces carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former police, […]

(Beirut) – Tens of thousands of internally displaced people in overstretched camps and shelters in northeast Syria are not receiving sustained or adequate aid, thereby negatively impacting their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said today. There is an urgent need for weather-appropriate shelter, sufficient sanitation, and adequate access to food, clean drinking water, health care, […]

GN Saibaba, a former English professor at Delhi University, was arrested in 2014 and accused of links to banned Maoist groups, according to media reports. He was sentenced to life imprisonment three years later for multiple offences under the country’s Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. ‘Shameful’ detention “GN Saibaba is a long-standing defender of the rights […]

Read a text description of this video Text on Screen: WARNING This video contains violent images and descriptions including people being shot at, and dead bodies. Viewer discretion advised. Actor’s Voices have been used to protect the identity of the people Human Rights Watch interviewed for the film. Audio recording, Actors’ Voice: Even when I […]

(Bangkok) – One million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face little prospect of safely returning home, six years since the Myanmar military launched a campaign of mass atrocities in Rakhine State on August 25, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The United Nations Security Council has failed to hold Myanmar’s generals accountable for crimes against humanity […]