Category: Human Rights

(Beirut) – Iranian security forces used excessive and unlawful lethal force against protesters in Kurdistan’s capital, Sanandaj, in October and November 2022, Human Rights Watch said today. The newly created United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Iran should investigate these grave abuses as part of its broader reporting on Iranian government human rights violations against largely […]

(Berlin, December 21, 2022) – The sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia has been blocked since December 12, 2022, disrupting access to essential goods and services for tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians living there, Human Rights Watch said today. The blocked road also prevents Nagorno-Karabakh residents from leaving the region; over a thousand people […]

Last week, “NLB Team,” a pro-Ukrainian hacker group, reportedly leaked the personal data of more than 17 million children and parents who used the online learning platform Moscow Electronic School. The platform was built by the Moscow city government in 2016 and used as its primary means of delivering online education to children during the […]

Last week, I spoke to 21-year-old Zarmina Ahadi, who had just completed her fourth semester at Kabul University. With the Taliban’s relentless crackdown on women’s rights, Zarmina and her female classmates feared there wouldn’t be a fifth semester for them as rumors circulated of a looming ban on women in universities. Zarmina said, “I’m afraid […]

(Berlin, December 20, 2022) – Russia’s lower house of parliament has adopted a bill that would provide effective immunity for certain crimes committed in occupied areas of Ukraine, in violation of Russia’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill, which the State Duma adopted unanimously in its first reading on December 13, […]

Despite enormous challenges facing many children around the globe, 2022 also brought good news. As we approach the end of the year, here are 10 areas of progress for children we can celebrate: Zambia and Mauritius banned all corporal punishment of children, while Comoros banned corporal punishment in schools, and Cuba banned it in the […]

(Kyiv, December 20, 2022) –Russian military forces and civilians operating under their orders pillaged thousands of valuable artifacts and artworks from two museums, a cathedral, and a national archive in Kherson, before withdrawing after an 8-month occupation of the city, Human Rights Watch said today. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, its forces […]

(Berlin, December 20, 2022) – The failure of the Kazakh authorities to effectively investigate the serious loss of life and other grave human rights violations during and immediately after protests in early January 2022 is a damaging legacy for the year, Human Rights Watch said today. The government has taken no good faith steps to […]

On November 22, missiles hit the maternity ward of the Vilniansk district’s central hospital, in the Zaporizka region of southern Ukraine. Along with nurses, administrative assistants, and other personnel, two doctors were on duty that night: 37-year-old emergency room resident Andriy Kozin and an intensive care unit doctor. Both were injured. Andriy was in the […]

On Sunday, Maldives President Ibrahim Solih signed into law the Waste Management Act, raising serious concerns about the rights to health and to a healthy environment, and the government’s obligation to address climate change. Section 44 of the law opens the door to the importation of waste into the country. Parliament on November 28 had […]