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Japan Plays a Diplomatic Double Game on Rights in Myanmar

Despite its official condemnation of the coup, Japan continues to move towards normalizing ties with the junta

Since the February 1 military coup in Myanmar, the junta’s security forces have killed nearly 1,300 people, arrested more than 10,000, and continue to detain nearly 7,400. The junta-controlled courts have sentenced 65 people to death, including 2…
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COP26 Needs to Proclaim End of Coal

Still Major Emitter Despite Coal Phase Out Announcements

“Glasgow must be the COP that consigns coal to history.” Those were the words in July of Alok Sharma, president of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). With world leaders gathered in Glasgow this week, the need to phase out coal has never…
Steam billows out of the cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Huai'an in east China's Jiangsu province, July 20, 2021.
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

Trans Man Fights Japan’s Sterilization Requirement

Revise Regressive Law Compelling Irreversible Surgery

A Japanese transgender man, Gen Suzuki, 46, has filed a court request to have his legal gender recognized as male without undergoing sterilization surgery as prescribed by national law. His case highlights the urgent need for Japan to revise its…
People take part in a rally to support the LGBT legislation in Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan on June 6, 2021.
News

Japan: Establish Safe Sport Center

Protect All Athletes as a Legacy of Tokyo Olympics, Paralympics

(Tokyo) – The Japan Sports Agency and Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games should establish an independent national body to address the abuse of athletes in Japan, six Japanese and international nongovernmental organizations…
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Victims of North Korea’s ‘Paradise on Earth’ Campaign Demand Justice

Hundreds of Thousands Prevented from Returning to Japan

An historic court hearing is set to begin next week in Tokyo as five North Korean escapees in Japan seek compensation for human rights abuses they suffered in North Korea after joining a resettlement program based on the false premise that North Korea…
Escapees from North Korea and their supporters march to the Tokyo District Court to file a lawsuit against the North Korean government for violating their human rights, August 20, 2018. 
News

Japan’s Next Premier Should Endorse a Sanctions Law

Global Magnitsky-Style Act Would Help Curb Rights Abuses Abroad

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will hold its party presidential election on September 29. The winner will almost certainly become Japan's next prime minister. Four candidates – two women and two men – are running: the former foreign…
Myanmar residents in Japan stage a protest rally in Tokyo on August 1, 2021. 
News

Quad Leaders Should Back Covid-19 Intellectual Property Waiver

Summit Meeting Key Opportunity to Address Vaccine Inequities

Leaders from the “Quad” countries – the United States, Japan, India, and Australia – will hold their first in-person summit in Washington, DC, on September 24, amid a global Covid-19 vaccine shortage crisis and deeply inequitable access to vaccines.…
Activists stand outside Pfizer Headquarters demanding US President Joe Biden support the "TRIPS Waiver" in New York, NY on April 22, 2021.
News

Japan: Protect Fleeing Afghans at Risk

Support UN Reporting on Abuses; Increase Humanitarian Aid

(Tokyo) – Japan’s government should urgently protect Afghan civilians who are at risk under the new Taliban authorities, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The Japanese government should also support…
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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

US Paralympian Compelled to Withdraw from Tokyo Games

Sports Federations Need to Ensure Reasonable Accommodation for All Athletes

The Tokyo Paralympic Games begin this week with thousands of Paralympic athletes from around the world competing in 539 events in 22 sports. Sadly, one athlete who had earned a place on the United States team won’t be there. Rebecca Meyers, 26, a…
Rebecca Meyers competes in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 during day 4 of the Para Swimming World Championship in Mexico City, Mexico on November 5, 2017.
News

End Athlete Abuse in Pursuit of Olympic Medals in Japan

Join #AthletesAgainstAbuse Campaign to Stand with Survivors

Tsubasa Araya was a gifted 17-year-old high school volleyball player in Japan. In July 2018, he took his life, writing, “Volleyball is the hardest.” As Japan prepares to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics starting this week, the abuse and…
Athlete Abuse Japan
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Japan: Prime Minister Should Back LGBT Equality Act

Activists’ Videos Highlight Long Struggle for Equality

(Tokyo) – The Japanese government’s failure to pass a national nondiscrimination law to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics was a lost opportunity to advance the rights of…
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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

Japan: Stop Real Estate Project in Myanmar

Commercial Dealings with Abusive Military Undermines Rights

(Tokyo) – Japanese business entities should stop their participation in a commercial real estate project involving Myanmar’s abusive military, Human Rights Now, Human Rights Watch, Japan International Volunteer Center, Justice For Myanmar, and Mekong…
Activists demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo to cut off funding for Myanmar's national army on June 18, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. 
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.