All news on the topic: Human Rights Watch

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Starmer faces "complicity" claims over Trump’s deadly Yemen strike that killed at least 80 civilians
Royal Air Force (RAF) refueling planes supported US strikes on Yemen that the Pentagon assessed “more likely than not” resulted in 281 civilian casualties, it has emerged.
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EU and UK face calls for action as Israeli settler violence engulfs the West Bank
This weekend brought yet another surge in the endless surge of Israeli violence in the Palestinian territories. But as the EU and UK get increasingly vocal over settler attacks in the West Bank, it’s well past the time that action, rather than words, was needed.
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Iran moves to criminalise contact with “hostile” foreign media
International watchdogs warn that a proposed law imposing prison sentences for communications with “hostile” foreign media aims to keep evidence of state repression hidden.
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Pregnant women in Haiti risk their lives to reach maternity care amid gang violence
As fighting intensifies in Port-au-Prince, only a fraction of its maternity services remain, and they are under constant threat
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Former Moroccan intelligence officer details Pegasus surveillance operation
Morocco’s government has long denied using the Israeli spyware Pegasus to surveil its citizens. Now, a former Moroccan intelligence officer provides new evidence that the government did employ the software, and explains how it was used.
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UK asylum AI age checks exposed as unreliable and biased against African children
The UK has turned to AI to determine ages of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.
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UAE accused of targeting Pakistani Shi’ites in wave of deportations during Iran conflict
In a cluster of villages in Pakistan’s largely rural Chakwal district, more than 100 Shi’ite Muslims have returned from the United Arab Emirates without jobs, luggage, or access to the savings they spent years building abroad.
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China’s "language purge": Tibetan children forced to abandon their mother tongue in state preschools
Weeks after a Tibetan-speaking five-year-old started preschool, she had "completely stopped speaking Tibetan", according to her mother.
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Greece faces renewed scrutiny as Frontex files link border abuses to state authorities in Evros pushback cases
Frontex reports and a recent BBC investigation have renewed scrutiny of Greece’s Evros border operations, documenting allegations of violent pushbacks in which masked men were allegedly used alongside Greek officers.
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BBC accused of boosting Saudi image with branded content funded by sovereign wealth fund
BBC Storyworks, the corporation’s commercial division, has partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to produce films and articles highlighting the kingdom’s claimed progress on women’s rights and environmental initiatives, published on a BBC-branded mini-site.
751
Court shuts out public from Istanbul mayor trial as rights groups warn of legal breach
An Istanbul court has restricted public and media access to the mass corruption trial of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a move a prominent rights group said violates Turkish and European law.
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Pressure works: Kyrgyz journalist released after UN and rights groups condemn crackdown
A Kyrgyz court freed a prominent investigative journalist after 18 months behind bars, placing her under a travel ban as she awaits a retrial in a case widely condemned as an attack on free speech.
984
Iran arrests tens of thousands in brutal post-protest crackdown as rights groups warn of torture, executions and mass detentions
Iranian authorities have arrested tens of thousands of people in what Human Rights Watch described on Tuesday as a “brutal campaign” of mass, arbitrary, and violent detentions aimed at terrorizing the population since late December.
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At least 16 arrested as Cambodia cracks down on reporters and activists over Thai border conflict
As clashes intensified on the border with Thailand, Cambodian authorities increased their crackdown on journalists and online activists covering the conflict and expressing their views.
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Haiti gangs continue to terrorize civilians despite UN presence
A new United Nations force has begun operating in Haiti amid a flurry of media messaging about its mandate to “neutralize” heavily-armed criminal gangs, which have seized control of much of the Caribbean nation in a murderous rampage.
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EU accused of hypocrisy for exporting banned toxic pesticides to Global South
Human Rights Watch has warned that the European Union continues to export vast quantities of hazardous pesticides banned for use inside the bloc — mainly to countries in the Global South — despite evidence linking the chemicals to cancer, infertility, miscarriages, developmental problems, neurological disorders, and even death.
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Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah freed after nearly 12 years in prison
Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah was released under a presidential pardon after spending nearly 12 years in and out of prison, following international and domestic pressure.
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Ethiopian government accused of shrinking space for press freedom
Ethiopian security forces have detained at least six journalists and media workers since early August, Human Rights Watch said in a report Monday, as press freedom groups warn of a shrinking space for independent reporting ahead of the country’s 2026 elections.
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Yemen becomes one of the most dangerous countries for journalists amid ongoing conflict
Warring factions in Yemen have turned the country into one of the most dangerous places in the Middle East for journalists, detaining, torturing, and disappearing media workers in a campaign that has silenced reporting and gutted press freedom.
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HRW accuses Saudi Arabia of using executions to silence dissent as 241 people put to death in 202
Human Rights Watch warns that Saudi authorities are increasingly using capital punishment to silence dissent, citing recent cases such as the execution of a journalist arrested in 2018 for exposing corruption within the royal family.
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UK High Court refuses to halt supply of F-35 parts that could reach Israel
The UK’s High Court has dismissed a case filed by campaigners seeking to halt the transfer of all British-made spare parts for US-produced F-35 fighter jets to Israel, stating it lacked the constitutional authority to intervene.
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Death instead of wages: migrant workers dying on 2034 World Cup construction sites in Saudi Arabia
From electrocution to decapitation, migrant workers on Saudi World Cup construction projects face deadly conditions amid a persistent lack of transparency and accountability.
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Human Rights Watch warns of Tunisia’s repression under President Saied
Human Rights Watch cautions that Tunisia is imprisoning critics under ambiguous laws and severe conditions, with many facing imprisonment or death for online posts and political opinions.
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Saudi border forces accused of killing ’hundreds of Ethiopian migrants’
Witnesses crossing from Yemen report being fired at with machine guns and seeing decaying bodies.
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Kyrgyz Supreme Court maintains prison sentences for journalists amid press freedom crackdown
Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court upheld prison sentences for two journalists accused of inciting mass unrest. This move was condemned by international rights groups as a blatant attack on press freedom.
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