Category: Human Rights

(London) – The forced displacement of the entire Chagossian people by the United Kingdom and United States governments and the UK’s racial persecution, and continued blocking of their return home, are crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report and video released today. Both governments should provide full reparations to the Chagossian people, including […]

The six-hour-long documentary “The US and the Holocaust”, released in 2022, sheds light on the catastrophic consequences of hate speech and disinformation, and the desperate bid for freedom by millions of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. Taste of freedom What does freedom taste like? Joseph Hilsenrath, a young Jewish boy evacuated to the US during the […]

Click to expand Image A sketch of Somchai Neelapaijit, a prominent Muslim human rights lawyer abducted in Bangkok on March 12, 2004.  © 2015 Prachatai (New York) – The Thai government’s decision to delay enforcement of key provisions of the new torture and enforced disappearance law should be immediately reversed, Human Rights Watch said today. On February […]

(Washington, DC) – A new United States Department of Defense directive concerning development of autonomous weapons systems is an inadequate response to the threats posed by removing human control from the use of force, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today. Instead of creating adequate controls on the development of these weapons, the directive […]

Several governments and companies have taken steps, or announced future steps, to protect millions of children in their online classrooms. These moves come after Human Rights Watch uncovered children’s rights violations worldwide by governments that authorized unsafe online learning products during the Covid-19 pandemic. France’s education ministry removed ad tracking from websites it built to […]

  Indian tax officials raided the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai today in an apparent reprisal for a two-part documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gaurav Bhatia, national spokesperson for Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), described the BBC as the “most corrupt organization in the world.” Officials said they were conducting “surveys, […]

United Nations member states agreed to fully fund UN human rights mechanisms that China, Russia, and their allies had sought to defund in the 2023 budget. This should set a precedent for UN human rights funding in the future. Human Rights Watch has warned for years about China and Russia-led efforts to slash funding for […]

Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said that since Saturday, at least nine people have been reportedly arrested and some detained, on security and graft charges.  Among those arrested were two former judges, a lawyer, a prominent businessman, the head of a radio station and the leader of the Islamist Ennahdha political party, according to media reports.  Concern […]

(Bangkok) – The Cambodian government effectively eliminated all vestiges of media freedom in Cambodia by shutting down one of the last remaining independent domestic news outlets, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 12, 2023, Prime Minister Hun Sen unexpectedly announced the revocation of the operating license of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, the parent […]

Last week, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir directed relevant government ministries to ensure that primary and secondary education is free throughout the country. This news could benefit millions of children in South Sudan, but it will need to be followed up with adequate resources and genuine steps for it to make a difference. School tuition […]