• People hold placards reading "I am Charlie" to pay tribute to victims during a vigil in Frankfurt, Germany on January 8, 2015.
    © 2015 Reuters
    France: An Attack on Free Expression
    French authorities should bring to justice those responsible for the horrific attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015. The authorities should guard against backlash against French Muslims and ensure that their broader response protects human rights.
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Europe/Central Asia

  • Joint NGO Statement on the draft Brussels Declaration on the “Implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Our Shared Responsibility”
    Mar 6, 2015
    The Brighton Declaration of 2012 recognized that the long-term sustainability of the European Convention must be built around better national implementation of Convention rights at the domestic level. Greater respect for human rights at home remains the most important way to ensure both the Convention and the Court function effectively.
  • Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner for Human Rights
    Mar 5, 2015

    In the face of massive human rights abuses, the Human Rights Council has a responsibility to be part of the solution. It needs to resist the temptation to retreat into political and regional factionalism, to undermine the independence of your Office, High Commissioner, invoke selectivity to deflect attention from situations demanding international attention, or engage in procedural tactics to silence debate.

  • Kyrgyzstan: Reject Anti-LGBT Bill
    Mar 5, 2015
    Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary Committee on Law, Order and Fighting Crime approved a blatantly discriminatory anti-gay “propaganda” bill on February 17, 2015. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament should resolutely reject the bill when it goes to a vote.
  • Azerbaijan: Rights Crisis Overshadows European Games
    Mar 4, 2015
    The Azerbaijani government should immediately release all wrongly detained activists and journalists, with only 100 days remaining before the first European Games begin. A new photo essay highlights the plight of 12 people serving or facing long prison terms in Azerbaijan, apparently in retaliation for criticizing government policies.
  • Letter to the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan
    Mar 2, 2015
    Human Rights Watch is concerned that far from protecting family values, the bill, if adopted, will lead to a situation in which people in Kyrgyzstan will be unable to access information they need to protect their health; that human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, doctors, HIV/AIDS prevention workers and others involved in issues related to sexual health, as well as sexual orientation and gender identity, will be prevented from publicly addressing these topics; and that cases of violence against LGBT people, which are already underreported and rarely investigated in Kyrgyzstan, would be concealed even more.
  • Dispatches: Opposition Leader Gunned Down Steps From Kremlin
    Feb 28, 2015
  • Detaining the President’s Daughter
    Feb 27, 2015
  • Kazakhstan: Journal Loses Shutdown Appeal
    Feb 27, 2015
    The February 26, 2015 decision by an Almaty appeals court to uphold an order to close a media outlet known for its critical articles weakens media pluralism in Kazakhstan.
  • Russia: Government against Rights Groups
    Feb 26, 2015

    In early March 2013 the Russian government launched an unprecedented, nationwide campaign of inspections of thousands of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to identify advocacy groups the government deems “foreign agents” and force them to register as such. This list tracks the legal consequences of the law on dozens of NGOs.

  • The EU Stands By as Thousands of Migrants Drown in the Mediterranean
    Feb 25, 2015
    On the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa stands a graveyard filled with simple wooden crosses. We don’t know the names and stories of those buried there, except that they perished at sea trying to reach Europe, fleeing conflict in Syria, human-rights abuses in Somalia and Eritrea, poverty in West Africa.
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