Category: Human Rights

(Beirut) – United Arab Emirates authorities are continuing to incarcerate at least 51 Emirati prisoners who completed their sentences between one month and nearly four years ago, Human Rights Watch said today. The prisoners are all part of the grossly unfair “UAE94” mass trial of 69 critics of the government, whose convictions violated their rights […]

(Bangkok) – Malaysia’s abolition of the mandatory death penalty is an important step toward aligning with international human rights norms and growing global opposition to capital punishment, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 11, 2023, the Dewan Negara, or upper house of parliament, passed two bills reforming death penalty sentencing, following their passage by […]

(São Paulo, April 12, 2023) – Brazil should not impose an arbitrary cutoff date that curtails the land rights of Indigenous peoples, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Solicitor General Jorge Messias. His office should immediately review a harmful legal opinion that Indigenous communities cannot obtain formal recognition of their lands if they […]

“We are deeply concerned at reports that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going missing and are at high risk of being trafficked within the UK,” the three experts, or Special Rapporteurs, said in a statement.   Local authority responsibility They said that instead of being housed in hotels, children should be placed in the care of […]

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should release Ali Laarayedh from detention, a former prime minister and a vice-president of the opposition Ennahda party, Human Rights Watch said today. He has been held since December 19, 2022, without being taken before a judge. Based on his detention warrant, which Human Rights Watch has seen, Laarayedh is accused […]

(New York, April 11, 2023) – Pakistan authorities are forcibly evicting thousands of farmers near the city of Lahore for a massive infrastructure project, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should enforce environmental protections and reform colonial-era laws that grant the government broad powers to acquire land for private as well as public use. […]

(Bangkok) – The Vietnamese authorities should immediately drop all charges and release the well-known blogger Nguyen Lan Thang, Human Rights Watch said today. Police arrested Nguyen Lan Thang, 48, in Hanoi on July 5, 2022, and charged him with “making, storing, distributing or propagandizing information, materials, documents to oppose the state of the Socialist Republic […]

In a stunning decision issued on Friday, a federal judge in Texas moved to revoke approval of mifepristone, a safe and effective drug used for medical abortion. In a separate decision issued minutes later, a federal judge in the United States state of Washington ordered the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep mifepristone available […]

(New York) – Chinese authorities should immediately quash the lengthy sentences on baseless charges handed down to two of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers and activists, Human Right Watch said today. On April 10, 2023, a court in Shandong province sentenced Xu Zhiyong to 14 years in prison and Ding Jiaxi to 12 years […]

April 8 is a day that lives in infamy for media in Iraq. 20 years ago, two American missiles hit the Al Jazeera offices in Baghdad, killing a reporter and wounding a cameraman. Shortly afterwards, American forces opened fire on the nearby office of Abu Dhabi TV, and a United States tank fired at the […]