Click to expand Image Activists and supporters of Together with Refugees stage a protest in Parliament Square in London, January 25, 2023. © 2023 NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock It is a dark day in the United Kingdom as the Safety of Rwanda Bill will soon become law after passing its final stages in parliament yesterday. This will have a devastating impact on human rights and the rule of law, risking the lives of people who came to the UK seeking safety and setting a dangerous global precedent. The government’s new law tries to legislate away the facts and declare Rwanda safe to send asylum see ..read more

Click to expand Image Adama Dieng, then-UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, New York, June 2019. © 2019 Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Adama Dieng has been appointed as the first African Union (AU) special envoy for the prevention of the crime of genocide and other mass atrocities. Dieng will drive the organization’s agenda to “combat the ideology of hate and genocide on the continent,” said AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat. The April 6 appointment could not be more symbolic, marking 30 years since the Rwandan genocide and harkening to ..read more

Click to expand Image President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London, UK, May 4, 2023. © 2023 Press Association via AP Photo In an interview on the BBC’s Today Program this week, Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell sang the praises of Rwanda’s “remarkable regime.” But as the debate over the government’s Safety of Rwanda bill came to a close, he left out some important facts about Rwanda’s human rights record. When asked about an incident in which Rwandan security forces shot and killed 12 Congolese refugees during a 2018 protest over cuts in food rations in the K ..read more

Click to expand Image Activists hold a rally to support women's rights on International Women's Day in Almaty, Kazakhstan, March 8, 2023. © 2023 Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters (Berlin, April 23, 2024) – Kazakhstan’s President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev signed a new law on April,15, 2024, to strengthen protections from violence for women and children, including domestic violence survivors, but it falls short in key areas, Human Rights Watch said today. The law aims to advance women’s rights and enhance their safety, but among other concerns, it fails to explicitly make domestic violence a stand-alone offense ..read more

Click to expand Image The National Assembly building in Luanda, Angola, February 13, 2013. © 2013 FrankvandenBergh/Getty Images (Johannesburg) – Angola’s parliament should significantly revise or withdraw a proposed national security law that fails to meet international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today. The draft National Security Law passed a first vote in parliament on January 25, 2024. Following specialist committee review, the bill is expected to be submitted to parliament for final approval. The draft law in its current form would permit excessive government control ..read more

Click to expand Image Osvalinda Marcelino Alves Pereira.  © Edelstam Foundation This Earth Day is an opportunity to celebrate the work of the courageous people who put themselves at risk fighting for a world in which people and the planet can thrive. I personally would like to honor Osvalinda Marcelino Alves Pereira. Sadly, she passed away from a long-standing illness just over a week ago. I first met her in 2018: She was a small-scale farmer from Trairão, a village in the state of Pará, in the heart of Brazil’s Amazon. When I met Osvalinda, she lived on a settlement set up by Brazil’s fe ..read more

Click to expand Image Twelve Vietnamese rights activists and bloggers currently detained for exercising their basic rights. Top row from left to right: Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Hoang Duc Binh, Dinh Van Hai, Nguyen Tuong Thuy. Center row:  Pham Doan Trang, Le Trong Hung, Pham Chi Thanh, Pham Chi Dung. Bottom row: Nguyen Lan Thang, Can Thi Theu, Dang Dinh Bach, Hoang Thi Minh Hong. © 2023 Human Rights Watch (Geneva) – United Nations member countries should use the upcoming review of Vietnam’s rights record at the UN Human Rights Council to press the government to end its crackdown on disse ..read more

Click to expand Image Silhouette of a woman (representation).  © coldsnowstorm/Getty Images (Beirut) – Iran's security forces raped, tortured, and sexually assaulted detainees while repressing widespread protests in 2022 and 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. The grave abuses are part of a broader pattern of serious human rights violations to repress dissent. Human Rights Watch investigated abuses against ten detained people from Kurdish, Baluch, and Azeri minority regions that occurred between September and November 2022. Detainees described being raped by security forces and some said ..read more

Click to expand Image Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, emir of Qatar, in Doha, November 29, 2023.  © 2023 Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Photo (Beirut) – The upcoming visits of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to Bangladesh and Nepal should prioritize labor protections for migrant workers, Human Rights Watch said today. Both are key countries for Qatar’s migrant workforce, which makes up 88 percent of the country’s population. Al-Thani is expected to arrive in Bangladesh on April 22, 2024, and in Nepal on April 24. “It is important for Qatar, Bangladesh, a ..read more

(Amman) – Jordanian authorities should halt the imminent deportation of a Syrian communications student who faces a significant risk of persecution if forcibly returned to Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. Click to expand Image Atia Mohamad Abu Salem, 24. © Private. The police arrested Atia Mohamad Abu Salem, 24, and a Jordanian friend on April 9, 2024, as they were on their way to film a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in Amman. He and a number of his family members, known for their opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria, have been registered as asyl ..read more