Category: Human Rights

(Bangkok) – Cambodian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release union president, Chhim Sithar, and drop the baseless criminal charges against her and eight other union members, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 14, 2023, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court held a trial hearing in the case against Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights […]

(Beirut) – Bahraini authorities arrested four people over social media posts in early March 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. One of those arrested had called for reform of Bahrain’s parliamentary system ahead of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Manama. The IPU Assembly, an annual gathering of parliament members from around the world, is […]

The Danish Immigration Service has announced that it deems two more areas of government-controlled Syria as “safe” for returns: Tartous and Latakia. In 2019, Damascus and Rif Damascus were also controversially declared “safe”. According to the Immigration Service, the security situation in the two governorates has improved, which means Syrian refugees from these areas may […]

(New York) – The Royal Government of Bhutan should quash the convictions of several dozen political prisoners who have been imprisoned for decades following unfair trials and alleged torture and release them, Human Rights Watch said today. Bhutanese courts convicted and imposed long sentences on peaceful political and anti-discrimination activists and others arrested for a […]

What remains of the human rights gains from Tunisia’s 2011 revolution? Since President Kais Saied’s July 2021 power grab, it’s an open question. Watching anti-Saied demonstrations in Tunis on January 14, 2023, the 12th anniversary of former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s ouster, I thought about how at least two of those gains have survived: […]

President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro has signed an executive order ending the country’s ban on the use and sale of emergency contraception, a step forward in a country with a total ban on abortion. Until now, Honduras was the only country in Latin America that banned emergency contraception, which can prevent pregnancy after rape, unprotected […]

Danièle Darlan, former head of the Constitutional Court in the Central African Republic, knew her post would be challenging when she assumed her role in 2017. The country, much of which was controlled by armed groups that committed human rights abuses with impunity, was emerging from presidential elections after establishing a new constitution. Last week […]

(Beirut) – The Egyptian authorities in recent years have systematically refused to provide or renew the identity documents of dozens of dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists living abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. The refusal is apparently intended to pressure them to return to near-certain persecution in Egypt. The inability to obtain birth certificates […]

A United Nations report on the rights of women and girls in North Korea documents in devastating detail how prolonged Covid-19 border restrictions have pushed an already vulnerable population to the brink. The report, released last week by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Elizabeth Salmon, describes the disproportionate impact of […]

The Ukraine war has had traumatic and devastating consequences for children in residential institutions, including forcible transfers to Russia and separation from their families. The impact on institutionalized children points up the urgency of the need to remove them from institutions and provide support for family and community care. Children sent to Russia should urgently […]