Deported children, along with their parents, sit in a migration office after being processed by staff of the Guatemalan Immigration Institute after arriving on deportation flights from the United States and Mexico, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, January 23, 2024.
Dispatches
September 19, 2025

US Judge Blocks Expulsion of Guatemalan Children

How We Work

Investigate: We investigate human rights abuses globally.

Expose: We publish our findings, share the stories of those affected by abuses, and speak out against injustice.

Change: We mobilize the public and press governments to enforce rights-respecting laws, change policy, and deliver justice.

89
nationalities represented
102
countries worked on
14+ million
global audience members
Zero
government funding

Spotlight

A combination image shows two screen captures from a footage posted on the X account of The White House on September 15, 2025, of what US President Donald Trump said was a military strike on a Venezuelan drug cartel vessel, the second such strike carried out against an alleged drug boat in recent weeks.
September 18, 2025 | News Release

US: Maritime Strikes Amount to Extrajudicial Killings

United States military strikes against two boats allegedly carrying drug traffickers, which the Trump administration said killed at least 14 people, were unlawful extrajudicial killings, Human Rights Watch said today. The strikes come amid efforts by the White House to secure broad new authority to target so-called “narco-terrorists,” which could facilitate further human rights violations.

Reports

See more 

Our deepest research, for people who want all the facts.

Videos

Watch more 
Anti-Homosexuality Law Makes Supporting LGBT Loved Ones Dangerous
Disproportionate Removal of Aboriginal Children
Collage of 15 photos
Researchers walking near Damascus grave

More videos

Quick Takes

Listen, Run, Hide preview image
Featured Investigation

Listen, Run, Hide

How Russia Uses Quadcopter Drones to Hunt and Kill Civilians in Kherson, Ukraine

Regions

Topics

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.

Defend Rights. Secure Justice.

Your gift helps support and sustain our global mission.

Give monthly Make a one-time gift