Category: Human Rights

US President Joe Biden has once again turned to ineffective and deadly deterrence policies at the United States’ southwest border, proposing a rule last week that rights groups have labeled an “asylum ban” due to its unconscionable narrowing of access to protection. The rule would take effect after a 30-day public comment period. Through its […]

Foreign ministers of Group of Twenty (G20) countries are meeting in New Delhi on March 1-3. US-China tensions and Russia’s war in Ukraine loom large over the meetings, which will be attended by Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, China Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Given the highly charged […]

This week, the Indian government announced a third-party security audit of Diksha, the educational app it owns and uses to provide online education to students in grades 1 to 12. The government also committed to better protect the data privacy of children and teachers using its app. The news comes after Human Rights Watch reported […]

Since earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, claiming the lives of more than 5,900 people across Syria and exacerbating the country’s humanitarian crisis, several Arab countries have rushed to further normalize ties with the government of President Bashar al-Assad. And they are doing so without pressing for accountability for the crimes that the […]

The biennial panel’s theme is human rights violations relating to the use of the death penalty, in particular with respect to limiting the practice to only the most serious crimes. Promise of the Charter Mr. Türk said this is ultimately about the United Nations Charter’s promise of the highest standards of protection of all human […]

(Port of Spain, Trinidad) – Over 90 nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, including at least 56 children, are unlawfully detained in life-threatening conditions as Islamic State (ISIS) suspects and family members in northeast Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. The government of Trinidad and Tobago has taken almost no action to help them return, even […]

(Beirut) – Three members of a cultural society in Bahrain are scheduled to go to trial on February 28, 2023, for merely exercising their right to free expression and belief, Human Rights Watch said today. Bahraini authorities should immediately drop all charges against the men and halt inflammatory public comments condemning the society on religious […]

(Beirut) – The Egyptian authorities should increase transparency by making essential figures about the country’s detainee population public, nine organizations said today. The figure should include how many people have been kept in custody in recent years under the nationwide crackdown on dissent. The Egyptian Interior Ministry’s Prison Authority last released periodic figures on prisoners […]

(Sydney, February 28, 2023) – The Australian government should take concrete steps to address disinformation, surveillance, and interference through social media platforms by China and other foreign governments, Human Rights Watch said today in a submission to Australia’s Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media. The ruling Chinese Communist Party controls all Chinese social media […]

On February 10, government security agents arrested the satirical comedian Junior Nkole in central Kinshasa in the latest attack on freedom of expression in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nkole’s relatives told Human Rights Watch that he and his brother Serge Nkole were waiting for a meeting with a business contact in the restaurant of […]