US: An Outlier in Denying Voting Rights for Criminal Convictions

(Washington, DC, June 27, 2024) – The United States is out of step with the rest of the world in disenfranchising large numbers of citizens based on criminal convictions, the Sentencing Project, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released today. In this US election year, and going forward, US states […]

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Peru Walks Back Anti-Trans Guidance in Health System

Peru’s Ministry of Health has clarified that trans identities are not mental health conditions, walking back a heavily criticized presidential decree in May that portrayed trans identities as diagnosable in in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (Plan Esencial de Aseguramiento en Salud, PEAS). The health ministry justified the decree as necessary to facilitate healthcare access […]

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Concerns Over ‘Transnational Repression’ Raised at UN Rights Body

Many journalists living in exile are being targeted by their home governments in an attempt to silence them, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression told the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, voicing concern over the problem of transnational repression.  “Targeting journalists on foreign soil violates international law,” Irene Khan said […]

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Sierra Leone Acts to Ban Child Marriage

Last week, Sierra Leone’s parliament enacted landmark legislation to ban child marriage. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2024, which makes marriage for anyone under 18 a criminal offense, seeks to protect girls from a harmful practice that has long violated their rights and hindered their development. Child marriage is a serious problem in Sierra […]

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Myanmar: Junta Evading International Sanctions

(New York) – The United States, European Union, and other governments should urgently counter illicit activities by foreign banks that are assisting the Myanmar military in evading sanctions imposed after its 2021 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. A United Nations report released on June 26, 2024, reveals that since 2022 the military junta has switched the […]

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World News in Brief: Trafficking victims need more support, deadly risks of inactivity, executions in Iraq

In her report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Special Rapporteur Siobhán Mullally said that the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration commits countries “to save lives and prevent migrant deaths and injuries through individual or joint search and rescue operations” at sea. But, that hasn’t stopped at least 8,565 people from […]

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Release of the Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Around the World

Today the Department of State released the third public report on the U.S. government’s implementation of the 2021 Presidential Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons (LGBTQI+) Persons Around the World.  The report highlights our efforts to promote and protect the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons globally […]

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Sisi Government’s Repression Taints Egypt-EU Investment Conference

European Union leaders and investors are gathering in Cairo on June 29 and 30 for the “Egypt-EU Investment Conference,” which will bring billions to Egypt’s abusive leadership. The conference comes a few months after the controversial upgrading of EU-Egypt bilateral relations to a “strategic and comprehensive partnership” and the related EU pledge of €7.4 billion in concessional loans, […]

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Gaza: The EU and Belgium team up to deliver humanitarian supplies amid the ongoing crisis

The European Commission and Belgium are organising a new aid shipment from Brussels to Gaza via Jordan, in coordination with the City of Brussels and the Belgian Ministry of Defence.  The aid consists of 240 tonnes of supplies collected by the Brussels-based charity organisation Human Smile, including hygiene items, mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows as […]

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Rights expert urges banks to stop financing Myanmar junta weapons trade

Since the February 2021 coup, over 5,000 civilians have been killed, at least three million displaced. More than 20,000 political prisoners remain incarcerated. Military airstrikes against civilian targets have increased five-fold in the last six months, even as the junta loses military outposts, territory, and troops to resistance forces. Potential enablers In a new report, […]

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