Reports

The 72-page report, “Punished for Getting Older: South Korea’s Age-based Policies and Older Workers’ Rights,” documents how three age-based employment laws and policies – the mandatory retirement age of 60 or older, the “peak wage” system, and re-employment policies – harm older workers, and how inadequate social security programs exacerbate their situation.

The 43-page report, “Congress in Cahoots: How Peru’s Legislature is Allowing Organized Crime to Thrive,” details how recent legislative actions and decisions by Congress have undermined efforts to investigate and prosecute criminal networks, eroded the autonomy of key public institutions, and rolled back environmental protections. President Dina Boluarte’s administration has often enabled this agenda, while relying heavily on declaring “states of emergency” – which suspend constitutional rights – as its primary crime-fighting tool.

The 88-page report, “‘Without Water, We Are Nothing’: The Urgent Need for a Water Law in Guatemala,” documents the pervasive lack of access to safe and sufficient water and sanitation services in Guatemala, which disproportionately affects Indigenous people, particularly women and girls. It also details the impact of inadequate access to water and sanitation on the right to health, including for children, in a country where nearly one in two children under five suffers from chronic malnutrition.

The 29-page report, “‘A Conspiracy to Grab the Land’: Exploiting Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws for Blackmail and Profit," documents the use of blasphemy accusations for personal economic gain. Accusers have long used blasphemy charges to incite mob violence that has forced entire communities to flee their homes, leaving their property vulnerable to land grabs. Those seeking to exploit the law for their own profit have used blasphemy accusations as a weapon against rivals and businesses owned by religious minorities.

The 93-page report, “Hunted From Above: Russia’s Use of Drones to Attack Civilians in Kherson, Ukraine” and an accompanying web feature, document how Russian forces appear to be deliberately or recklessly carrying out drone strikes against civilians and civilian objects with these mostly inexpensive commercially available drones. The attacks spread terror among the civilian population and cause them to fear leaving their homes, and have caused the depopulation of the two areas being targeted in Kherson.

The 98-page report, “‘They’re Ruining People’s Lives’: Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in the US,” documents the devastating consequences of these bans for transgender youth, including increased anxiety, depression, and, in seven reported instances, suicide attempts. Human Rights Watch found that these laws contribute to an increasingly hostile, anti-trans climate, compelling youth to hide their identities and socially withdraw. The bans also destabilize health care systems and undermine civil society and create geographic and financial challenges in accessing care. The impact has intensified since early 2025, when the administration of President Donald Trump took a series of executive actions escalating federal attacks on transgender rights.

The 39-page report, “Injustice By Design: Need for Comprehensive Justice Reform in Libya,” documents how outdated and repressive legislation, lack of fair trial rights, and rampant due process violations urgently need reform. Unsafe conditions for judicial staff, abusive military trials of civilians, and inhumane conditions in prisons compound abuses and entrench impunity.

The 69-page report, “‘They’re Putting Our Lives at Risk’: How Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Climate Unleashes Abuse,” documents the actions by Ugandan parliament members, government institutions, and other authorities that culminated in the enactment of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. Human Rights Watch found that the law has ramped up already existing abuse and discrimination against LGBT people to unprecedented heights. They also detailed the rights violations enabled by the law and the devastating impact it has had on the lives of LGBT people, activists, allies, and their families in Uganda.

The 67-page report, “‘The Strategy Is to Break Us’: The US Expulsion of Third-Country Nationals to Costa Rica,” documents the US expulsions, which came after the US government held migrants and asylum seekers in abusive detention conditions – sometimes for weeks on end – while denying them due process and the right to seek asylum. The report also details Costa Rica’s months-long arbitrary detention of third-country nationals expelled from the US, as well as the mixed messages the Costa Rican government has given those third-country nationals.

The 155-page report, “The Gig Trap: Algorithmic, Wage and Labor Exploitation in Platform Work in the US” focuses on seven major companies operating in the US: Amazon Flex, DoorDash, Favor, Instacart, Lyft, Shipt, and Uber. These companies claim to offer gig workers “flexibility” but often end up paying them less than state or local minimum wages. Six of the seven companies use algorithms with opaque rules to assign jobs and determine wages, meaning that workers do not know how much they will be paid until after completing the job.

The 101-page report, “From Bad to Worse: The Deterioration of Media Freedom in Greece,” documents the hostile environment for independent media and journalists since the New Democracy government took office in July 2019, including harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and abusive lawsuits, all of which contribute to self-censorship and chill media freedom. Human Rights Watch also found the use of state funds to sway coverage, and editorial influence over public media, further exacerbating this climate. These conditions undermine freedom of expression and the public’s right to information.

The 54-page report, “Facing the Bulldozers: Iban Indigenous Resistance to the Timber Industry in Sarawak, Malaysia,” details how the Malaysian company Zedtee, part of the Shin Yang Group timber conglomerate, logged in the ancestral territory of the Iban community Rumah Jeffery without their consent. Human Rights Watch found that Zedtee’s conduct did not meet Sarawak’s laws and policies, or the terms of the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme. Rather than hold Zedtee accountable, the Sarawak state government threatened to arrest protesters and demolish Rumah Jeffery’s village.

The 59-page report, “United States: Repeal the Alien Enemies Act, A Human Rights Argument,” describes how the Trump administration has utilized the act as a vehicle for its attempted end run around basic due process and human rights protections. Modern international law binds the United States to respect human rights through treaty frameworks and customary norms, many of which have been incorporated into US domestic law. The Alien Enemies Act is an archaic statute that predates these legal norms and is entirely incompatible with them.

The 104-page report, “Punished for Seeking Change: Killings, Enforced Disappearances and Arbitrary Detention Following Venezuela’s 2024 Election,” documents human rights violations against protesters, bystanders, opposition leaders, and critics during post-electoral protests and the months that followed. It implicates Venezuelan authorities and pro-government groups, known as colectivos, in widespread abuses, including killings of protesters and bystanders; enforced disappearances of opposition party members, their relatives, and foreign nationals; arbitrary detention and prosecution, including of children; and torture and ill-treatment of detainees.