Displaced Syrian children laugh and play among temporary tents set up after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government near Idlib, Syria, May 15, 2025.
Dispatches
December 15, 2025

Good News for Children in 2025

Each year, Human Rights Watch reflects on progress in children’s rights worldwide. From better access to education to stronger protections in wartime, these are some highlights from 2025.

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Special police force officers stand outside the Orda.kz editorial office in Almaty, Kazakhstan, during a December 1, 2025 search of the premises after authorities opened a criminal case against Gulnara Bazhkenova, the publication's editor-in-chief, for allegedly “disseminating knowingly false information."
December 17, 2025 | News Release

Kazakhstan: Journalism, Free Expression in Further Peril

(London, December 17, 2025) – Authorities in Kazakhstan have targeted independent journalists and media outlets in recent weeks, a coalition of nine human rights groups said today. The authorities have searched the newsroom of an independent news agency, detained media workers, and pressured journalists over their reporting.

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    A woman stands in the forest with her hand on a wire fence.
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    SOUNDBITES

    Toto Arara

    Every year, the invaders clear more land for cattle. Then they burn it.

     

    SOUNDBITES

    Givanildo dos Santos Lima

    Today, the biggest driver of deforestation in the Amazon region is cattle ranching.

    DATE/PLACE

    February 2025

    Cachoeira Seca Indigenous Territory, Brazil

     

    Powdem Arara

    I don't know why the government doesn't remove the invaders from our land.

     

    Pyjaka Arara

    We, the Arara people, are very afraid of ranchers.

     

    Maria Márcia de Melo

    The landgrabbers made me lose 17 years of work in a matter of minutes. Look! It's all dead.

    DATE/PLACE

    November 2024

    PDS Terra Nossa, Brazil

     

    Maria dos Reis

    We can't say anything, or the land grabbers threaten us.

     

    Cleve Gonçalves da Silva

    And it's very dangerous here in Terra Nossa. They've already killed many people in this settlement.

     

    TITLE

    Invaded

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    Anti-Homosexuality Law Makes Supporting LGBT Loved Ones Dangerous

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          Children and women run among a cloud of dust at the village of El Gel, in Ethiopia’s Somali region, on January 12, 2023. The last five rainy seasons since the end of 2020 have failed, triggering the worst drought in four decades in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

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