Category: Human Rights

India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government and its prominent supporters have been responding to recent international criticism of widespread discrimination against minority communities by stoking nationalism, even blaming a “colonial mindset.” Two recent court rulings provide BJP leaders an opportunity to reverse the damage that the government’s divisive Hindu majoritarian policies have caused to the […]

On January 30, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne launched the National Plan Combating Racism, Antisemitism and Discrimination Linked to Origin 2023-2026. While this new action plan on racism is welcome, it leaves huge gaps. For instance, the government aims to improve historical teaching and memorialization in school curricula. The plan however fails to tackle institutional […]

(Gaza) – Gaza authorities should urgently ensure the safety and freedom of two adult sisters reported to be in forced confinement at the hands of their father and at risk of serious harm since their forcible return a month ago, Human Rights Watch said today.  The two women, Wissam al-Tawil, 23, and Fatma al-Tawil, 19, have […]

Couples in Lebanon who married in online civil services are facing unintended – and unfair – consequences. It started on the other side of the world from Lebanon in 2020, when a county in the US state of Utah began conducting civil marriages online. The move was meant to facilitate weddings despite Covid restrictions and […]

“We are very disturbed that in recent years the residential school system for Tibetan children appears to act as a mandatory large-scale programme intended to assimilate Tibetans into majority Han culture, contrary to international human rights standards,” they said in a statement.  Erosion of identity  Residential schools provide educational content and an environment centred around […]

February 2 marked 500 days since the Taliban banned Afghan girls from secondary education. That day the Taliban also arrested university professor Ismail Mashal, one of the few men to bravely protest the Taliban’s recent ban on women’s university education.   In solidarity with his students and thousands of women and girls prevented from exercising their […]

(New York) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should work with Pakistan’s government to protect the economically disadvantaged by broadening social protection systems and minimizing reform measures that risk further harm to the most vulnerable people, Human Rights Watch said today. With poverty, inflation, and unemployment soaring, Pakistan is facing one of the worst economic […]

Several United Nations human rights experts recently sent a letter to Ansar Allah – also known as the Houthis – the de facto authority in much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, detailing the group’s “systematic violations of women’s and girls’ rights,” including their rights to freedom of movement, freedom of expression, health, and work, […]

(Geneva) – United Nations member countries have urged the Ghanaian government to address the shackling and inhumane treatment of people with mental health conditions in Ghana, Human Rights Watch said today. These recommendations were made on January 24, 2023, at the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Ghana. “Ghana has failed to meet its […]

(Abuja) – The failure of the Nigerian authorities to address accountability for past elections-related abuses and widespread insecurity across the country threaten the safe conduct of the upcoming 2023 general elections, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 25, Nigerians will elect a new president to replace President Muhammadu Buhari, who is completing his second […]