Category: Human Rights

Lawyers in Myanmar defending anti-coup protesters and critics have faced threats, arrest, and prosecution by the military junta. Those detained have been tortured and mistreated. The military authorities impose systematic obstacles and restrictions on lawyers, impeding their work. The junta has created closed courts inside prisons that violate fair trial rights to fast-track politically sensitive […]

(Bangkok) – The European Union should make use of a bilateral dialogue on June 9, 2023 in Hanoi to press the Vietnamese government to end its systemic violations of human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Vietnam has disregarded the human rights commitments made when signing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and intensified […]

(Nyon, Switzerland) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should immediately act to ensure reports of alleged sexual abuse of athletes by the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, are investigated fully, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. In a statement on May 30, 2023, the IOC called for an “unbiased, […]

(Beirut) – Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Professional Golf Association (PGA) have effectively enabled the Saudi government’s efforts to “sportswash” its egregious human rights record through the announced merger of its LIV Golf and the PGA, Human Rights Watch said today. The merger will place the Saudi government in an unprecedented position […]

“Onward, Karakalpaks!,” shouted blogger and lawyer Daulet Tazhimuratov from his glass cage in the Tashkent courtroom on June 5, minutes after his appeal trial concluded and a judge left his 16-year prison sentence intact. Fourteen other defendants standing trial with Tazhimuratov for alleged crimes in connection with July 2022 protests in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan’s autonomous region, […]

The German and Namibian governments are dodging their obligations to ensure the Ovaherero and Nama peoples of Namibia meaningful participation in ongoing negotiations regarding reparations for Germany’s recognized colonial genocide committed between 1904 and 1908. On February 23, 2023, seven United Nations Special Rapporteurs sent communications to the German and Namibian governments to “express grave […]

(Budapest) – Poland should repeal a new law that creates a commission with the power to investigate “Russian influence” in Poland and ban people from public office without judicial oversight, Human Rights Watch said today. Last-minute amendments, currently at parliament, in response to criticism from the European Union and the United States are insufficient to […]

Sharaf Tupchiboev had just woken up in the early hours of 16 September, when the peace was broken by gun bursts and muffled explosions. Forces from the Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan armies had just started trading fire in what was to become a brief but intense border conflict between the two Central Asian countries. The EU […]

Angolan police shot and killed at least five people in Huambo province on Monday during a taxi drivers’ protest against a recent fuel-price increase. In a statement seen by Human Rights Watch, the Huambo police said “it was not possible to avoid” the killings, as officers tried to contain “acts of violence” by protesters who […]

In late May, I addressed a panel on the militarization of digital spaces – specifically on how Israeli authorities use surveillance technologies to deepen systemic discrimination against Palestinians. I warned that the use of autonomy in weapons systems was a dangerous part of this trend and highlighted the urgent need for an international legal response.   […]