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Papua New Guinea: Address Abuses Raised at UN Review

Countries Criticize Failures on Women’s and LGBT Rights and the Death Penalty

(Geneva) – The Papua New Guinea government should seriously address the criticisms of its human rights record and scores of recommendations raised by United Nations member countries, Human Rights Watch said today. Papua New Guinea appeared…
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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

Australia: 8 Years of Abusive Offshore Asylum Processing

Governments Should Reject Costly, Harmful Policy for Refugees, Asylum Seekers

(Sydney) – Other governments should reject Australia’s abusive and costly offshore processing of refugees and asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch said today. July 19, 2021 is the eighth anniversary of the Australian government’s resumption of its…
Asylum seekers and human rights activists protest against the detention of refugees amid the Covid-19 crisis in Brisbane.
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

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

Papua New Guinea: Violence Against Women Accused of Sorcery

Protect Women Targeted; Hold Attackers to Account

(Melbourne) – The Papua New Guinea government should protect women accused of practicing “sorcery” from violence and hold the attackers to account, Human Rights Watch said today. At least five women have been attacked since March 2021, one of whom was…
Screenshot from the testimony of Dr. Fiona Hukula at the Special Parliamentary Inquiry into Gender-Based Violence in Port Moresby on May 24, 2021.  
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Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Papua New Guinea

March 2021

Introduction Human Rights Watch submits the following information regarding Papua New Guinea's implementation of recommendations it accepted through its 2015 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) as well as information about developments in the human rights…
A boy and a woman at a bus stop in Port Moresby.
News

Papua New Guinea’s Universal Periodic Review

Human Rights Review Should Address Broken Commitments, Women’s Rights

The Papua New Guinea government has failed to live up to commitments on women’s rights, children’s rights, and police accountability, Human Rights Watch said in a recent submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Papua New Guinea…
A boy and a woman at a bus stop in Port Moresby.
News

Papua New Guinea Unprepared for Covid-19 Surge

Government Should Bolster Healthcare System; International Donors Need to Step Up

  Update: On March 17, 2021 the Australian government announced it will provide 8,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to PNG. Papua New Guinea is facing a surge in Covid-19 cases, with more confirmed cases in the first two weeks of March…
The flag of Papua New Guinea
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Bring Highland Killers in Papua New Guinea to Justice

Provincial, National Authorities Have a Responsibility to Protect Public

New year, new massacre, same responses. In late January, a land dispute between two relatives in Papua New Guinea’s Hela province turned deadly. According to a journalist who investigated the incident, twenty-one were killed, including two teenage…
In this July 8, 2019 file photo, locals stand near the bodies of victims recovered following tribal violence in Karida, Papua New Guinea.
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

Asian Nations Reject UN Vote Against Death Penalty

11 Asia-Pacific Governments Oppose 120 States on Capital Punishment Moratorium

(Bangkok) – Eleven countries from the Asia-Pacific region were among the small minority that voted against a United Nations resolution opposing the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 17, 120 UN member states voted in favor of a…
A view of the United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters, October 1, 2018.
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.