Finn Lau, a Hong Kong activist, was taking his daily walk along London’s River Thames when Chinese government thugs beat him up. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was filing paperwork at a Saudi consulate in Turkey when Saudi government assassins murdered and dismembered him. And Bi-2, a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock

In Vietnam, more than 160 political prisoners are currently locked up simply for exercising their basic rights. Rights bloggers and activists face police harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and interrogation on a daily basis. Activists face long stints of pre-trial detention, without access to lawyers or family in a one-party police state that tolerates no dissent.

 (Jerusalem, September 30, 2024) – The Israeli government’s attacks and unlawful blockade against Gaza have inflicted profound trauma and suffering on Palestinian children, especially those with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Israeli military’s extensive use of explosive weapons has caused serious injuries resulting in permanent disabilities and lifelong scarring for children in Gaza.  The 95-page report, “‘They Destroyed What Was Inside Us’: Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza,” documents that children who have acquired a disability and children who already had a disability in Gaza face a precarious security situation and additional difficulties as they struggle to comply with frequent Israeli army evacuation orders and a lack of effective advance warning of attacks. The ongoing siege of Gaza, the unlawful obstruction of humanitarian aid, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and damage and destruction of hospitals cause disproportionate harm to children with disabilities, who struggle to access desperately needed medical treatment and supplies, assistive devices, food, and water. They are at particular risk of lasting psychological harm.

The United States will hold federal elections on November 5. But as people prepare to head to the polls, both voters and election administrators face threats and intimidation from those trying to subvert the democratic process.

President Nayib Bukele came to power in El Salvador on a promise of ending gang violence. He succeeded, turning a state that was the world’s murder capital into to one with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. But in the process, he systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances and

President Nayib Bukele came to power in El Salvador on a promise of ending gang violence. He succeeded, turning a state that was the world’s murder capital into to one with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. But in the process, he systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances and

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, one of their early actions was to ban women from the legal profession. In this conversation, HRW’s Macarena Sáez is joined by Judge Marzia Babakarkhail, Justice Mona Lynch, Judge Basira Qazizada, and Judge Bahida Rahimi to discuss this crisis.

Arrests, Tickets, Property Destruction Brutalize People Who Need Housing.

 (San Salvador, July 16, 2024) –El Salvador’s state of emergency, declared in March 2022, has led to severe human rights violations against children of low-income communities, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 107-page report, “‘Your Child Does Not Exist Here’: Human Rights Abuses Against Children Under El Salvador’s ‘State of Emergency,’” documents arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment against children under President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs.” Detained children have often faced overcrowding, lack of adequate food and health care, and have been denied access to their lawyers and family members. In some cases, children have been held, in the first days after arrest, alongside adults. Many have been convicted on overly broad charges and in unfair trials that deny due process.

Since April 2023, more than a half-million people have been forced from their homes in Sudan due to fighting between two armed groups who were once aligned. The story of how the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces turned on each other, with devastating consequences for Sudan’s civilians, can be traced back to