(Bangkok) – Bangladesh authorities should suspend plans to send Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar , where their lives and liberty would be at grave risk, Human Rights Watch said today. Rohingya told Human Rights Watch that they were lied to, deceived, or otherwise coerced by Bangladesh administrators into meeting with a recent delegation of Myanmar junta officials as part of a 'pilot repatriation' effort to return about 1,000 refugees. Some were told the meetings concerned possible resettlement to a third country.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/31/bangladesh-halt-pilot-plan-return-rohingya

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Skip to cookie privacy notice Skip to main content Australia's Governor-General David Hurley will visit Hanoi this week to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the governments of Australia and Vietnam . Hurley should publicly and privately raise a number of serious human rights concerns with the Vietnamese leadership. It's crucial that he discuss the plight of more than 160 people in prison for peacefully exercising their basic rights.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/03/australia-should-raise-abuses-during-vietnam-visit

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The government of the Central African Republic is cracking down on civil society , media, and opposition political parties ahead of local and national elections in 2023. The specter of a de facto one-party state should raise serious concerns about the potential for human rights violations and the narrowing of democratic space and free expression. Diplomats and regional groups should press for building strong institutions to protect human rights, but the greatest responsibility falls on the president himself.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/04/central-african-republic-closing-civic-space

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(New York, April 11, 2023) – Pakistan authorities are forcibly evicting thousands of farmers near the city of Lahore for a massive infrastructure project, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should enforce environmental protections and reform colonial-era laws that grant the government broad powers to acquire land for private as well as public use. The Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project was begun in August 2020 by then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, who claimed it would address Lahore's many problems – pollution, sewage, water, housing, and employment – while reviving its 'lost glory .

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/11/pakistan-farmers-forcibly-evicted-urban-project

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Many times, I refused to leave the house to try to escape; it was just too difficult for me to run with crutches. It would take several people to help me get into the car, which would make them an easy target for an airstrike. I wanted to avoid exposing other people to that risk.   —      Thara J., who lost a leg in an airstrike in 2015 when she was 13 The conflict in Syria has been one of the deadliest in the world, killing at least 350,000 people over the past decade and forcibly displacing over 13 million.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/09/08/it-was-really-hard-protect-myself/impact-armed-conflict-syria-children

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(New York) – Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe should immediately end the use of draconian counterterrorism laws to target peaceful protesters and release those in custody, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities detained three student activists who participated in an August 18, 2022 demonstration under the abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which allows up to a year's detention without trial. Since he was sworn in as president on July 21 following the flight and resignation of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President Wickremesinghe has suppressed rights including the freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/31/sri-lanka-end-use-terrorism-law-against-protesters

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(Bangkok) – Rohingya Muslims are still awaiting justice and protection of their rights five years after the Myanmar military began a sweeping campaign of massacres, rape, and arson in northern Rakhine State on August 25, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. More than 730,000 Rohingya fled to precarious, flood-prone camps in Bangladesh, while about 600,000 remain under oppressive rule in Myanmar. No one has been held accountable for the crimes against humanity and acts of genocide committed against the Rohingya population.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/24/myanmar-no-justice-no-freedom-rohingya-5-years

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The façade that Bahrain's autocratic rulers allow free and fair democratic processes has long worn away with years of repression. But in recent years Bahraini authorities' marginalization of any political opposition has expanded into new spheres, utilizing a sophisticated, legal regime aiming to strangle what remains of Bahrain's vibrant, independent civil society. At the heart of the Bahraini state's lawfare against its own citizens' peaceful activism are its political and civil isolation laws passed in 2018.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/10/31/you-cant-call-bahrain-democracy/bahrains-political-isolation-laws

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(Tokyo) – The Japanese government should press Cambodian authorities to stop using Japan-funded public buses to forcibly remove striking workers from picket lines in Phnom Penh, Human Rights Watch said today. The Cambodian government's actions against workers have violated their basic rights to strike and to freedom of association and expression. Since the NagaWorld Casino laid off 1,329 workers in April 2021, former employees have been protesting outside the casino in central Phnom Penh and went on strike in December.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/08/japan-press-cambodia-end-trade-union-crackdown

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(Washington, DC) – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's plan to formalize and indefinitely extend military control of federal law enforcement tasks poses a serious threat to human rights and transparency, Human Rights Watch said today. On August 25, 2022, Interior Secretary Adan Augusto López announced that President López Obrador plans to send legislation to Congress on September 1 that would formally transfer control of the National Guard—the main federal law enforcement agency charged with public security operations—from the Public Security Ministry to the Defense Ministry.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/29/mexico-extending-military-policing-threatens-rights

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(Geneva) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet should publicly call for an immediate end to serious abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances during her upcoming visit to Bangladesh, nine human rights organizations said today. Bachelet will visit Bangladesh from August 14-18, 2022. During the trip, she will meet with government officials and civil society organizations and visit the Rohingya refugee camps. If the high commissioner fails to clearly condemn these abuses and seek reform, the ruling Awami League could use her silence to legitimize its abuses and undermine activists.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/10/bangladesh-un-rights-chief-should-raise-concerns

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(Jakarta) – Indonesian authorities should drop the criminal defamation charges against two prominent human rights defenders in Jakarta, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 3, 2023, the East Jakarta district court began the trial of Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti based on a complaint filed by Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a coordinating minister in President Joko Widodo's cabinet, in August 2021. The complaint concerns the activists' discussion on YouTube about a report that alleged that the Indonesian government had conducted 'illegal military operations' in Papua's Central Highlands to access lucrative gold deposits.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/14/indonesia-activists-trial-criminal-defamation

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If I wasn't poor, I wouldn't be unfit. —Bobbie Butts, advocate, California, April 15, 2022 It has been more than two years since Adaline Stephens' six children were removed from her care and placed in the foster system. Her nightmare began on a night like any other. Her 9-year-old son, Elijah, was dancing in the kitchen and slipped on some water, injuring his hip. 'I rushed him to the emergency room when he got hurt,' Adaline said. 'The doctors asked me questions, and I told them everything. I trusted them to help him.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/11/17/if-i-wasnt-poor-i-wouldnt-be-unfit/family-separation-crisis-us-child-welfare

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(New York) – The authorities in Hong Kong should immediately drop the baseless charges against Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media tycoon, and unconditionally release him and his six co-defendants, Human Rights Watch said today. Lai's trial is scheduled to resume on December 13, 2022. Hong Kong authorities have called on the Chinese government to change Hong Kong law to bar foreign lawyers from national security cases, denying Lai's right to a lawyer of his choosing, and have threatened to try him in mainland China, where the courts are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/12/13/hong-kong-media-tycoon-trial-travesty

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Skip to cookie privacy notice Skip to main content (Bangkok) – Bangladesh's Armed Police Battalion (APBn) is committing extortion, arbitrary arrests, and harassment of Rohingya refugees already facing violence from criminal gangs and armed groups, Human Rights Watch said today. Donor governments should press the Bangladesh authorities to investigate alleged abuses against Rohingya living in refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, ensure that victims have effective remedies, and develop measures to better protect refugees.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/01/17/bangladesh-rampant-police-abuse-rohingya-refugees

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(New York) – Philippine authorities are using 'red-tagging' and other forms of threats and violence to intimidate Indigenous leaders and activists opposed to government-backed projects in the Philippines, Human Rights Watch said today. The longtime practice of 'red-tagging,' in which those resisting projects are accused of being fighters or supporters of the communist insurgency, makes them potential targets of government security forces. The harassment and attacks against Indigenous peoples contribute to making the Philippines one of Asia's most dangerous countries for environmental activists and land defenders.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/01/26/philippines-officials-red-tagging-indigenous-leaders-activists

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(Athens, January 26, 2023) – Greek authorities have brought unfounded charges against two migrants' rights defenders, Panayote Dimitras and Tommy Olsen, linked to their peaceful activism, Human Rights Watch said today. The case is part of a wider pattern of prosecutions of activists working with migrants. The activists were charged by Greek judicial authorities on the island of Kos for 'forming or joining for profit and by profession a criminal organization with the purpose of facilitating the entry and stay of third country nationals into Greek territory.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/01/26/greece-migrant-rights-defenders-face-charges

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Imagine being locked alone in a tiny cell for over 20 hours a day and for more than 500 days over a 744-day period. That is how Michael (not his real name), an Aboriginal teenager with an intellectual disability, spent most of his time in pretrial detention in the Townsville youth prison in Queensland, Australia. Michael grew up in an unstable family environment where he faced neglect and domestic violence, leaving him severely traumatized. But despite being referred to adolescent mental health services in prison, Michael didn't receive any support.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/03/australian-teen-locked-solitary-confinement-500-days

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(Brussels) – Bangladesh authorities should ensure an independent and transparent investigation into the murder of union leader, Shahidul Islam, Human Rights Watch said today. Islam, who was president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation Gazipur district committee, was beaten to death on June 25, 2023, after he visited a factory in Gazipur to secure unpaid wages for the factory's workers. The Bangladesh government is yet to act comprehensively to end continuing violations of garment workers' rights, including anti-union tactics by managers and assaults on union organizers, Human Rights Watch said.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/06/bangladesh-labor-activist-killed

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(Paris) – There has been serious unrest across France for the past week after police killed French 17-year-old boy of North African descent in a traffic stop. The incident has reignited discussion over police violence and discrimination in the country. Ethnic profiling by the police is a well-documented widespread problem in France. Human Rights Watch joined five other groups (Amnesty International France, MCDS, Open society Justice Initiative, Pazapas Belleville, and REAJI) on July 5, 2023, in urging the French government to reform the system for police stops to eliminate racial profiling and other discriminatory practices.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/05/france-reform-police-stop-practices

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Pakistan has an important opportunity to support Palestinian rights at the World Court and in doing so to advance key principles of international law that protect human rights globally. In December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of Israel's prolonged occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Though this is the second time the General Assembly has asked the ICJ for an advisory opinion related to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the December request is wider in scope.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/14/pakistan-palestine-and-world-court

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Click to expand Image An Indian paramilitary trooper stands in front of a wall painted with the G20 logo on May 23, 2023, in Kashmir, India. © 2023 Saqib Majeed/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The Group of 20, the world's largest economies, will hold its annual summit of heads of government in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. India currently holds the rotating presidency, and is seeking to focus meetings on 'inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth,' among other topics. But with diplomatic relations among world powers strained, the Indian government is struggling to forge meaningful areas for consensus.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/28/believe-it-or-not-g20-agrees-some-human-rights-issues-0

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(Sydney) – The Australian government should press Vietnam 's leadership to end its systemic human rights violations at the upcoming dialogue between the two countries, Human Rights Watch said today. The Australia-Vietnam 18th bilateral human rights dialogue is scheduled for April 23-24, 2023, in Hanoi. Australian leaders should use the opportunity of the two countries' 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations to send a clear public message that respect for human rights is an integral part of their relationship with Vietnam.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/20/australia-press-vietnam-poor-rights-record

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'My husband loved life. He was full of life. He did not deserve to die. They took away my daughter's right to have a father.' – Ruth Bárcena Loayza At 2:50 p.m. on December 15, 2022, Ruth Bárcena Loayza saw on social media that her husband had been shot. Leonardo David Hancco Chacca, a 32-year-old heavy machinery operator, had left home that morning to join a wave of demonstrations that were rocking Peru's impoverished and heavily Indigenous south. The couple lived in Ayacucho, a town high in Peru's Andes where the population had suffered both the extreme violence of the Maoist armed group Shining Path and the indiscriminately brutal response of state forces in the 1980s.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/04/26/deadly-decline/security-force-abuses-and-democratic-crisis-peru

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(Sydney) – The Myanmar military used a 'thermobaric' munition for an attack on an opposition building in Sagaing Region on April 11, 2023, that killed more than 160 people, including children, Human Rights Watch said today. The airstrike using an 'enhanced-blast' type munition on the village of Pa Zi Gyi in upper Myanmar caused indiscriminate and disproportionate civilian casualties in violation of international humanitarian law , and was an apparent war crime. Foreign governments should prevent funding, arms, and aviation fuel from going to Myanmar's military, which continues to commit serous abuses with impunity.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/09/myanmar-enhanced-blast-strike-likely-war-crime

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(Bangkok) – The Vietnamese authorities should immediately drop all charges and release rights activist Tran Van Bang, Human Rights Watch said today. Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Tran Van Bang on March 1, 2022, and charged him for criticizing the government under article 117 of the penal code. A court is scheduled to hear his case on May 12, 2023. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison. 'The Vietnamese government has repeatedly rolled out article 117 of the penal code to silence any citizen who dares to use the internet to criticize the government or voice support for human rights and democracy,' said Phil Robertson , deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/11/vietnam-free-democracy-campaigner-tran-van-bang

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(Bangkok) – A Vietnamese rights activist, Bui Tuan Lam, is scheduled to go on trial on May 25, 2023, on charges of propaganda against the state for his online criticism of the government. If the court convicts him at his trial on May 25, 2023, he faces up to 12 years in prison under article 117(1) of the penal code. The authorities should drop the charges against him. Over the past decade, Bui Tuan Lam has publicly advocated democracy for Vietnam. He has said that his ' ideology and passion ' is 'to advocate for freedom, democracy and human rights,' and he expressed longing for 'human rights to become universal in his homeland.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/24/vietnam-activist-charged-propaganda

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Skip to cookie privacy notice Skip to main content Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Join our movement today. Have it sent to your inbox. In a courtroom, I now have to worry about not getting myself detained rather than speaking the truth. This is especially true when I have to represent political cases. Everyone at the court knows who I am, and the court has all my credentials and personal information. The SAC [military junta] can detain me at any time, and they can and will make up any reasons they want.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/06/08/our-numbers-are-dwindling/myanmars-post-coup-crackdown-lawyers

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Several weeks ago, prosecutors in South Korea opened an investigation into the involuntary return of two North Korean fishermen to North Korea in 2019. Human Rights Watch considers the men's forcible return to a country where they faced torture, forced labor, and possible execution a clear violation of their human rights. Few details about the case are known. The South Korean navy reportedly apprehended the two men off South Korea's coast in November 2019. After five days, the authorities forcibly returned them to North Korea, claiming that they had killed 16 of their crewmates in North Korean waters.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/22/south-korea-investigates-forcible-return-two-north-koreans

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'Since my husband was abducted, I lost my freedom to do routine activities… Even if I go to the market or temple, they [security officers] ask, ‘Where are you going?'' — Tamil woman from eastern Sri Lanka whose husband was forcibly disappeared in 2000 Countless thousands of Sri Lankans await justice and accountability for serious human rights violations and war crimes committed during decades of civil unrest and armed conflict. They are the victims or family members of victims of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, enforced disappearance, and unlawful killings by government security forces, the successionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or other non-state armed groups.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/09/18/if-we-raise-our-voice-they-arrest-us/sri-lankas-proposed-truth-and-reconciliation

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