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Education Ministry Should Remove Barriers; Extend Registration Deadline

(Beirut) – Lebanon’s Education Ministry should extend the December 4, 2021, school registration deadline for Syrian children and end policies that are blocking Syrian refugee children’s access to education, Human Rights Watch said today. Thousands of…
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International Olympic Committee Should Help Secure Peng Shuai’s Safety

“We have taken a very human and person-centred approach to her situation,” the International Olympics Committee (IOC) said in a December 2 statement, revealing it had held a second closed call with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Meanwhile, Peng has…
Two men speak to each other while seated
News

Sport & Rights Alliance Calls on the IOC To Put People Before Partnerships

(Nyon, Switzerland) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should immediately stop supporting China’s strategy of suppression and start prioritizing protecting athletes and upholding its human rights obligations, the Sport & Rights…
A woman in athletic wear holding a tennis racket
News

How a Public Good Became a Tool of Personal Power

(New York) – The Chinese Communist Party does not usually air its dirty laundry in public. So it was an ominous sign last month when official Chinese media reported startling allegations against a disgraced senior police official: Sun Lijun, a former…
Macao Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, left, reads his oath of office in front of Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the inauguration ceremony in Macao, December 20, 2019.
News

Israel, Like China, Has Weaponized Surveillance Technology to Suppress Peaceful Dissent

Tech-enabled control of a persecuted population. Abusive facial recognition. Severe restrictions on movement. Branding peaceful dissent as “terrorism”. For many readers, the scenario brings to mind China’s mass human rights violations against…
A display shows surveillance technology capable of analyzing body motion for specific actions like fighting, theft or fall during Security China 2018 in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018.
News

A New York Times exposé on a previously undisclosed attack on dozens of noncombatants in Syria is indicative of DOD’s impunity.

Pentagon leadership cannot – or will not – fix its civilian casualties problem. It’s long past time for Congress to step in. On November 17, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “we are committed to protecting civilians and getting this right...We have…
A view of the Capitol Building in Washington October 15, 2013.
News

Olympic Committee’s Call with Chinese Tennis Star Disregards Safety Concerns

(New York) – The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) collaboration with Chinese authorities on tennis star Peng Shuai’s reappearance undermines its expressed commitment to human rights, including the rights and safety of athletes, Human Rights…
Peng Shuai waves at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia on January 15, 2019. 
News

Peng Shuai Hasn’t Been Seen in Public Since November 2

Three-time Olympian Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai is missing. The hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai is trending globally, and world tennis champions Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Novak Djokovic voiced fears about the 35-year-old star’s whereabouts.…
A woman in athletic wear holding a tennis racket
News

Administration Should Lay Out Plan to Hold Chinese Officials Accountable

Tonight, United States President Joseph R. Biden will “meet virtually” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet the agenda for their discussion remains unclear.   The Biden administration deserves credit for calling out Chinese government crimes…
This combination image shows US President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping 
News

Address Rights Risks, Press IOC to Adopt Rights Policy

(New York) – The International Olympic Committee’s major corporate sponsors should explain publicly how they are using their leverage to address human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch said today.…
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Verdict Shows National Security Law Used to Undermine Rights

(New York) – The trial and harsh sentence imposed on a peaceful protester in Hong Kong shows that the authorities are using the National Security Law to curtail free expression, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 11, 2021, a Hong Kong court…
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November 3, 2021 President Joseph R. Biden 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 RE: US Policy Toward the Middle East Dear President Biden, When you were elected last year, we urged your incoming administration to strive to be a…
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Urgently Provide Zhang Zhan Access to Adequate Medical Care, Family

(New York) – Chinese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Zhan, an activist wrongfully imprisoned for reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic in the city of Wuhan in early 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. Her family says she…
A photo shared by the brother of Zhang Zhan, an activist who criticized the Chinese government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis and is being held in a Shanghai prison.
News
Shortly after Denmark began telling Syrian refugees that parts of Syria are "safe" and stripped them of their temporary protected status, I talked to a 31-year-old refugee who voluntarily returned to Syria from Jordan in December 2020. He told me…
A streetview of destroyed buildings in a city
News

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

Demand — for lumber, meat, soybeans, and other goods — is driving deforestation around the world. And China is a major customer.

“We need to have deep reverence for nature,” China’s President Xi Jinping told a crucial summit on biodiversity earlier this month. Yet he failed to mention that the Chinese government allows the import of millions of tons of beef, soy, and…
Fires near Novo Progresso, Brazil on August 23, 2020, burned land deforested by cattle farmers.
News

43 Countries Join Unprecedented UN Declaration

A broad group of 43 countries at the United Nations has strongly condemned the Chinese government’s widespread human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. The declaration also calls on the UN high commissioner for…
Chinese security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region, November 4, 2017.
Report
Summary Syria is a death country, a kidnapping country. Anyone coming back will lose their money or their life. — Salam, 26, from al-Jeza in Daraa Syrian refugees who voluntarily returned to Syria between 2017 and 2021 from Lebanon and Jordan…
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(Beirut) – Syrian refugees who returned to Syria between 2017 and 2021 from Lebanon and Jordan faced grave human rights abuses and persecution at the hands of the Syrian government and affiliated militias, Human Rights Watch…
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A ChinaFile Conversation

In what many observers have termed a “regulatory crackdown,” a wave of new legal restrictions and bans on business, technology, and entertainment has broken across China over the past several months, with what appears to be escalating velocity…
Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen on a phone screen remotely addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 22, 2020.