Click to expand Image Activists across the United States have worked to repeal laws which disproportionately criminalize Black and LGBT communities and subject them to police violence, including anti-loitering legislation in California and New York. Above, protesters gather in Union Square in New York City on May 30, 2020. © 2020 Ron Adar/Shutterstock In January 2023, California removed “loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution” from the state’s penal code. It was a victory for transgender people, Black communities, trafficking survivors, sex worke ..read more

Click to expand Image Protesters gathering to protest Georgia’s “Foreign influence” bill in Tbilisi, Georgia on the night of April 30, 2024.  © 2024 Giorgi Gogia/Human Rights Watch (Berlin, May 9, 2024) – The Georgian parliament’s introduction of a bill obliging certain nongovernmental groups and media outlets to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power” threatens fundamental rights in the country, Human Rights Watch said today.  The bill, under debate since mid-April 2024, prompted harsh criticism from Georgia’s bilateral and international partners an ..read more

Click to expand Image Incendiary damage to the Imam al-Kazem school, an IDP gathering site in El Geneina. © 2023 Roots for Human Rights and Monitoring Violations Attacks by the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias in El Geneina, capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, killed at least thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands as refugees.Committing serious violations that targeted the Massalit people and other non-Arab communities with the apparent objective of at least having them permanently leave the region constitutes ethnic cleansing.The United Nations and African Union should u ..read more

Click to expand Image Photos of the North Korean refugees helped by the North Korea Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea are displayed in Seoul, South Korea on June 11, 2019. © 2019 Josh Smith/Reuters The Chinese government forcibly returned about 60 North Korean refugees on April 26, putting them at grave risk of enforced disappearance, torture, sexual violence, wrongful imprisonment, forced labor, and execution. This round of forced returns came soon after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with China’s third highest official, Zhao Leji, on April 13, seeking stronger bilater ..read more

Click to expand Image Protesters against “red tagging” gather in Quezon City, Philippines, on July 25, 2022. © 2022 Larry Monserate/Sipa via AP Photo (Manila) – The Philippine Supreme Court issued a major ruling on May 8, 2024, declaring “red-tagging” a threat to people’s life, liberty, and security, Human Rights Watch said today. The Philippine government has been using red-tagging—accusing individuals and groups of supporting the country’s communist insurgency—to harass, threaten, and at times assault or kill critics of the government. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should publicly endo ..read more

Click to expand Image Do Hung Viet, Vietnam’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, at the Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam’s human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland, May 7, 2024 © 2024 UN Web TV (Washington) – Vietnam is providing false or misleading information to the United States and other economic partners to secure or maintain preferential trade preferences, Human Rights Watch said today. The US Department of Commerce held a public hearing about Vietnam’s trade status on May 8, 2024. The US government is currently considering a reclassification of Vietna ..read more

Click to expand Image Participants at a student-journalist organized conference on the “legal umbrella” (payung hukum) of laws and regulations that protect media outlets, in Solo, Central Java, May 2023. © 2023 Andreas Harsono/Human Rights Watch As student journalists in Indonesia face increasing intimidation, censorship, and newsroom closures, the Ministry of Education has agreed to have the national Press Council mediate all defamation disputes involving student journalists and publications. It’s an important step toward better protecting student media in the country. Until now, crimina ..read more

Click to expand Image The National Road 15, going from Mopti region in southern Mali – where the Islamist armed group JNIM attacked two villages on January 27, 2024 – to Burkina Faso. © 2021 AMAURY HAUCHARD / AFP (Nairobi) – An Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist armed group killed at least 32 civilians, including 3 children, and set fire to over 350 homes in central Mali in January 2024, forcing about 2,000 villagers to flee, Human Rights Watch said today. Earlier in January, an ethnic militia killed at least 13 civilians, including 2 children, abducted 24 other civilians, and looted property and l ..read more

Click to expand Image Israeli forces enter the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus during a large-scale search-and-arrest operation on November 23, 2023.  © 2023 Sipa via AP Images Israeli security forces have unlawfully used lethal force in fatal shootings of Palestinians, including deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent security threat, based on documentation of several cases since 2022.The United Nations reported that such killings are now taking place at a level without recent precedent in an environment in which those responsible need not f ..read more

Click to expand Image Egyptian trucks carrying humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip queue outside the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side on March 23, 2024. © 2024 Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images (Jerusalem) – Israel is contravening the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) legally binding orders by obstructing the entry of lifesaving aid and services into Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. Since January 2024, the court has twice ordered provisional measures requiring Israel to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance as part of South Africa’s case ..read more