Category: Human Rights

In the wake of recent racist and Islamophobic riots in the United Kingdom, the United Nations’ anti-racism body has issued a report on the UK’s record addressing racial discrimination. In it, the UN  urged the UK government to finally right the wrongs committed against Black Britons from the Windrush generation and the Chagossian people as […]

Special Representative for International Labor Affairs (SRILA) Kelly Fay Rodríguez will travel to Berlin, Germany September 1-5 to promote President Biden’s Memorandum on Advancing Workers’ Rights, Empowerment, and High Labor Standards Globally. In Germany, SRILA Fay Rodríguez will meet with government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Labor, German labor leaders, […]

According to media reports, the Taliban “morality police” said earlier in the day that they would no longer cooperate with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) because of criticism of the law adopted last week. UNAMA – alongside other parts of the UN system – denounced the new law, describing it a “distressing vision” […]

“The lack of care, stigma, and administrative barriers, including in accessing medical and trauma services, rape kits, emergency contraception, and safe abortion performed by medical professionals, have resulted in dire consequences for survivors and repeated cycles of violence,” they emphasised. The experts added that for those who have carried pregnancies to term, pre and post-partum […]

Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group, claimed responsibility for the attack in Burkina Faso on August 24. The attacks in Pakistan, which took place on Wednesday, were claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Ben Saul, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on protection of human rights while countering terrorism, urged both countries […]

This week, Mexico’s Aguascalientes state took an alarming step backwards on access to abortion in violation of Mexico’s legal obligations. One year ago, in August 2023, Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered the decriminalization of abortion in Aguascalientes, after five civil society organizations – GIRE, CECADEC, Cultivando Género, Morras Help Morras, and TERFU A.C. – challenged the abortion prohibition […]

(Berlin) – Azerbaijani authorities have arrested a researcher and political analyst, Bahruz Samadov, on spurious treason charges, in the government’s escalating crackdown against its critics, Human Rights Watch said today. A Ph.D. candidate at Prague’s Charles University, Samadov is the latest scholar targeted ahead of COP29, the global United Nations climate summit, to be hosted by […]

It was an extraordinary sight for Indonesia: On August 28, protesters set up tents outside a government guesthouse in Yogyakarta city where the president, Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, was staying the night after inaugurating a local market. Hundreds of protesters, surrounded by police officers and presidential guards, shouted slogans accusing the president of corruption […]

The president’s decree launching the Public Policy to Eradicate Sexual Violence in Schools is an important step in Ecuador’s efforts to tackle endemic levels of school-related sexual violence. Human Rights Watch analysis shows the policy lacks adequate long-term funding, which could affect its implementation, reinforce longstanding barriers to response, and jeopardize the implementation of the […]

(New York) – The Hong Kong government should quash the politically motivated convictions of two journalists and cease its assault on media freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. On August 29, 2024, the Hong Kong District Court convicted two editors of the now-defunct Stand News – Chung Pui-kuen, 54, the former editor-in-chief, and Patrick Lam, 36, […]