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Eswatini: No Justice for June Protester Killings

New Reports of Attacks by Security Forces

(Johannesburg) – Eswatini authorities should ensure accountability for their security forces’ crackdown on protesters in June 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite concerns, including by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner…
Eswatini soldiers and police officers are seen on the streets near the Oshoek Border Post between Eswatini and South Africa on July 1, 2021.
News

Police Continue to Crack Down on Pro-Democracy Marches in Eswatini

Authorities Should Respect the Right to Peaceful Protest

Eswatini police fired live ammunition and teargas into a bus full of people traveling to the capital, Mbabane, on October 20 to protest the incarceration of two pro-democracy Members of Parliament. Some of the bus passengers were injured and had to be…
A soldier stands in the road in Manzini on October 20, 2021 where at least 80 people were injured in Eswatini.
News

Cuba: Peaceful Protesters Systematically Detained, Abused

Arbitrary Detention, Ill-Treatment, Abusive Trials Affect Hundreds

(Washington, DC) – The Cuban government has systematically engaged in arbitrary detention, ill-treatment of detainees, and abuse-ridden criminal prosecutions in response to overwhelmingly peaceful anti-government protests in July 2021, Human Rights…
Uniformed police officers shove a man into a car by the head
News

Cuba: Telecommunications Decree Curtails Free Speech

Latin American, US, EU Leaders Should Condemn New Restrictions on Internet

(Washington, DC) – A new decree and accompanying legislation announced by the Cuban government severely restricts freedom of expression online and threatens users’ privacy, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments in Latin America, as well as the…
Cuban Rolando Remedios shows a photo on his mobile phone of him being arrested during the July 11 protests. Remedios was released on August 6. 
News

Letter to the Editor: the Turmoil in Cuba

Just as largely unprecedented mass street protests erupted on the streets in Cuba [“In the streets, Cubans ‘have lost their fear’, ” front page, July 13], the Coast Guard’s interdiction of a boat off the coast of Key West and summary return of Cubans…
A Coast Guard Station Marathon boat crew and 15 migrants aboard 45-foot Response Boat-Medium near Big Pine Key, Florida on July 3, 2021. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Estrada. Source: United States Coast Guard
News

Cuba Responds to Landmark Demonstrations with Brutal Repression

Internet Outages as Protesters Are Detained, Held Incommunicado

Since July 11, thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets across the country in landmark demonstrations protesting longstanding restrictions on rights, scarcity of food and medicines, and the government’s poor response to the Covid-19 pandemic.…
Plainclothes officers detain a protester during a protest in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021. 
News

Eswatini: Respect Rights While Policing Protests

Security Forces Should Safeguard Citizens Against Violence

(Johannesburg) – Eswatini authorities should ensure that security forces deployed in the wake of protests respect citizens’ rights and observe international standards of law enforcement, Human Rights Watch said today. Eswatini, Africa’s last…
King Mswati III of Eswatini addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 25, 2019.
News

Cuba: Clampdown on Artists, Journalists

Arbitrary Detention, Restrictions on Movement, Communications

(Washington, DC) – The Cuban government is committing systematic human rights abuses against independent artists and journalists, Human Rights Watch said today as it released a video on the abuses. In recent months, Cuban authorities have jailed…
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, an artist who has vocally criticized repression in Cuba, speaks during an interview at his home in Havana, Cuba, on May 2, 2018. Police and intelligence officers in Cuba have repeatedly harassed and detained Alcántara.
Video

What Cuba doesn't want you to know about its artists and musicians.

(Washington, DC, June 30, 2021) – The Cuban government is committing systematic human rights abuses against independent artists and journalists, Human Rights Watch said today as it released a video on the abuses. In recent months, Cuban authorities…
News

Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Eswatini

March 2021  

Introduction This submission highlights concerns about Eswatini’s compliance with its international human rights obligations. It focuses on Eswatini’s failure to implement reforms and the recent, drastic deterioration in the human rights situation.…
News

Cuba: Covid-19 Rules Used to Intensify Repression

Critics Imprisoned, Fined, Harassed

(Washington, DC) – The Cuban government is using regulations designed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 to harass and imprison critics, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 26, 2020, Cuban security forces detained 14 government critics in…
Artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Anamelys Ramos present a habeas corpus regarding detained musician Denis Solís, in Havana, on November 10, 2020. Otero Alcántara and Ramos were arrested on November 26.
News

Cuba’s Government Targets Social Media Influencers

YouTubers Have Faced Police Harassment and Death Threats

Cuba’s government has a well-documented history of harassing dissidents, journalists, and opposition party members. Now it has a new target: social media influencers. On October 14, police arrived at the homes of four Cuban YouTubers about to…
Screenshot from a video showing Ruhama Fernández. 
News

UN: Deny Rights Council Seats to Major Violators

General Assembly Members Should Not Vote for China, Saudi Arabia

(New York) – United Nations member countries should not vote for China and Saudi Arabia, two of the world’s most abusive governments, for seats on the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch said today. Russia’s numerous war crimes in Syria’s…
A view of the United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters, October 1, 2018.
News

Cuba’s Government Throws Its Repressive Playbook at a Journalist

Camila Acosta Endures a Year of Harassment, Arrest, and Forced Relocation

The Cuban government’s brutal restrictions on free speech fall particularly hard on journalists. Camila Acosta has learned this from experience. In just the one year since August 2019, when she began working as an independent journalist for the news…
Journalist Camila Acosta wears a facemask saying “no to Decree 370,” a 2019 law curtailing free speech in Cuba, on August 1, 2020.
News

Cuba: Protest Over Police Killing Suppressed

Covid-19 No Excuse for Arbitrary Detention, Communication Restrictions

(Washington, DC) – Cuban authorities committed numerous rights violations in June 2020 against people organizing a protest over police violence, effectively suppressing the demonstration, Human Rights Watch said today. Many Cubans planned to gather…
A man is detained at the site where a protest against the killing of a Black man by police was due to take place in Havana, Cuba, June 30, 2020.
News

Cuba: Repressive Rules for Doctors Working Abroad

Receiving Governments Should Press for Change

The Cuban government imposes draconian rules on doctors deployed in medical missions globally that violate their fundamental rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments seeking support from Cuban health workers to respond to the Covid-19…
Medics and paramedics from Cuba pose upon arrival at the Malpensa airport of Milan, Italy, Sunday, March 22, 2020. Fifty-three doctors and paramedics from Cuba arrived in Milan to help with coronavirus treatment.
News

Southern Africa: Weak Rights Protections

Leaders Should Promote Human Rights Across Region

  (Johannesburg) – Weak domestic and regional institutions undermined human rights in several Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries during 2019, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2020…
A delegate attends the 37th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Pretoria, South Africa, August 19, 2017. © 2017 Reuters