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The Fight for Marriage Equality in Panama

The following is an interview with Iván Chanis Barahona, a lawyer and human rights activist currently serving as president of Fundación Iguales, a non-profit organization based in Panama that promotes human rights and respect for diversity. The…
The Fight for Marriage Equality in Panama
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Interview: Helping LGBT People Flee Afghanistan

Rainbow Railroad Operates in Secret to Bring People to Safety

The human rights and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan threatens everyone there, but lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and other sexual and gender minorities, face an acute threat of violence and even death from the Taliban…
Taliban fighters at checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan
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Interview: The Law Putting Illinois' Young People at Risk

Forcing Parental Involvement in Abortion Violates Rights

A law in the US state of Illinois that forces people under 18 to involve an adult family member in their abortion decision is failing some of the state’s young people and violating their human rights. In a new joint report with the American Civil…
An illustration of scales imposed over a woman's torso
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Interview: Cut Down on the Cusp of Glory

Women Athletes Undergoing Invasive Medical Procedures without Consent

After training for hours on end, year after year, some women athletes – particularly those competing on the world stage – are getting their careers and successes ripped away because of “sex testing,” practices, which are invasive and medically unnecessary…
A woman holds a photo of a group of female runners competing
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Amicus Curiae in the Case of Vicky Hernández and Family v. Honduras

Subject: Human Rights Watch Amicus Curiae in the Case of Vicky Hernández and Family v. Honduras I. Introduction Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) respectfully submits this brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“Inter-American Court” or “this…
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Interview: LGBT People Flee Violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

Discrimination Follows them from Home to the US Border

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, sometimes called the Northern Triangle, often face violence and discrimination from their families, gangs, and even the police. When they try to seek asylum…
A group of men and women march walk while holding rainbow pride flags
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Interview: Syrian Sexual Violence Survivors Left Without Support

Men, Transgender Women Particularly Vulnerable, Lacking Services

During Syria’s civil war, many people have been subjected to sexual violence, resulting in ongoing trauma. Many of these victims are men and they have described how such violence gets worse if they are considered gay, or “soft” as the local term…
202007syria_lgbt_main
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Interview: Sports, Equality, and the Power of the Olympics

Fumino Sugiyama is a father, a business owner, a trans rights activist, and the director of Tokyo Pride. But before all that, he was an international athlete and a member of Japan’s women’s fencing team.  This summer, Japan was supposed to be…
Fumino Sugiyama, a transgender man, holds his Japanese ID card, which reads “female,” at his home in Tokyo.
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Interview: What’s Happening to Refugees in Greece

How has the situation on Lesbos changed since your last visit? When I was here in 2016, I couldn’t imagine things being worse. We saw a lawless situation in Moria refugee camp. There were around 6,000 people in the camp,…
Migrants who arrived yesterday to Greece from Turkey eat bread as they try to warm themselves at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday, March 6, 2020.
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Ecuador: Amicus brief regarding Same-Sex Marriage

Honorable Justice Hernán Salgado Pesantes Ecuadorian Constitutional Court Quito – Ecuador Case: 0011-18-CN José Miguel Vivanco, on behalf of Human Rights Watch, located at 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York, United…
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Interview: The Invisible Struggle of Japan’s Transgender Population

A Regressive Law is Forcing Some Transgender People to be Sterilized

What is life like for transgender people in Japan? In Japan, the struggles for transgender people are largely invisible. Especially how hard it is to become legally recognized. In general, most people don’t know that Japanese law requires trans…
Fumino Sugiyama, a transgender man, holds his Japanese ID card, which reads “female,” at his home in Tokyo.
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Repealing Article 92-6 of the Republic of Korea’s Military Criminal Act

Amicus Brief to the Honorable Justices of the Constitutional Court of Korea

I. Introduction Human Rights Watch respectfully submits this amicus brief in connection with case 2017Hun-Ga16, now before the Constitutional Court of Korea (“Constitutional Court”), which involves a review of the…
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Colombia: Amicus Curiae on Access to Abortion

Honorable Cristina Pardo Schlesinger Justice of the Constitutional Court of Colombia Rapporteur of Case T-6.612.909   Case: T-6.612.909 Subject: Human Rights Watch amicus curiae brief …
News

Interview: Licensing LGBT Discrimination in the US

Aren’t these laws just designed to protect religious freedom in the US? Religious freedom is an important value, but these laws don’t respond to any real-world threat to religious freedom and are more about legitimizing discrimination. The…
Demonstrators protest during oral arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorodo Civil Rights Commission case at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2017.
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Interview: Intersex Babies Don’t Need ‘Fixing’

What are some of the misconceptions around being born intersex? Unfortunately, in our society we’re still at a point where most people don’t know the basic facts about being intersex. People think it is very rare, but really, up to two percent of the…
A poster by intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis
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Interview: Indonesia's LGBT Community Under Threat

Indonesia is in the midst of a government-incited meltdown about LGBT rights. In January, the country’s high education minister said he wanted to ban LGBT student groups from university campuses. Not long after, the defense minister said the LGBT movement…
A picture of an anti-LGBT demonstration.
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Profile: A Force Behind Same-Sex Marriage Around the World

“Leave the island!” “Go home Dittrich!” “No homo!” Boris Dittrich, at the time a member of Dutch parliament, was looking out an open window of Aruba’s parliament building when a jeering mob chanting anti…
Boris Dittrich
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Interview: The Bullying of LGBT Kids in Japan’s Schools

School bullying is notorious in Japan and has been for decades. For LGBT kids in particular, the harassment, threats, and even violence in schools can be unbearable. School policies don’t adequately protect these students. At best, teachers are confused…

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