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Asylum Rights Thrown into a Frozen Ditch on Poland-Belarus Border

European Commission Proposes Measures “To Apply the Fiction of Non-Entry”

As families huddle to keep warm in the forests along the Poland-Belarus border, some of them nursing wounds from violent ping-pong pushbacks, the European Commission has proposed a plan to make a horrible situation even worse. On December 1, the…
Blankets and sleeping bags strewn across a forest floor
News

EU: Sanction NSO Group Over Abusive Spyware

Civil Society Groups, Experts Urge Action Against Company

(Brussels) – The European Union should adopt targeted sanctions against NSO Group, the Israel-based company that produces spyware, 86 human rights groups and independent experts said today in a letter to the EU foreign policy chief and foreign…
NSO Group logo on building
News

Joint Letter Urging EU Targeted Sanctions Against NSO Group

Dear EU High Representative Borrell and Foreign Ministers of the EU member states, We are writing following credible revelations that Israeli NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware was used to hack the devices of six Palestinian human rights activists – the…
News

Tragedy in English Channel Should Be Turning Point in Border Standoff

French and British Governments Need New Approach to Irregular Migration

At least 27 people, including a young girl, died in the frigid waters off France this week while trying to cross to the United Kingdom in an inflatable dinghy. The tragedy has intensified a dispute between British and French officials over who bears…
Activists and members of associations defending migrants' rights light candles in front of a banner reading "309 dead on the France UK border since 1999", during a gathering outside the port of Calais, northern France, November 25, 2021.
News

EU Waste Shipment Proposal Takes Steps to Address Plastic Crisis

Need to Protect Communities’ Rights in Importing Countries

Last week, the European Commission proposed new rules governing waste shipments from EU countries. The regulation could be good news for communities around the world impacted by European plastic waste exports. Currently, many EU governments ship…
A pile of garbage and waste next to a road
News

Is EU serious about human rights in Kazakhstan?

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan is no stranger to making human rights and political reform pledges and his administration knows well that 'talking the talk' on human rights in high level meetings with Western diplomats is one…
Kazakh President President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev takes the oath during his inauguration ceremony in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
News

EU: Tackle Central Asia Rights Abuses

Afghanistan Crisis No Excuse to Ignore Rights Concerns

(Brussels) – The European Union should urge Central Asian governments at a gathering on November 22, 2021, to increase efforts to protect human rights, at a time when Afghanistan and regional issues are high on the agenda, Human Rights Watch said…
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the five Central Asian countries at the 15th EU-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on July 07, 2019.
News

Evicted from Their Office, Al Jazeera Works from a Front Yard in Tunisia

Authorities Arbitrarily Target Media and Critics

I first met Lotfi Hajji some 15 years ago, after Tunisian authorities under President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had refused a request by Al Jazeera, the Qatar-funded pan-Arab television station, to accredit the Tunisian journalist as their local…
Al Jazeera correspondent Lotfi Hajji reporting from Tunis after Tunisian authorities evicted the pan-Arab television network from its offices, November 5, 2021. 
News

EU: Artificial Intelligence Regulation Threatens Social Safety Net

Clear Red Lines, Stronger Safeguards Needed

(Brussels) – The European Union’s plan to regulate artificial intelligence is ill-equipped to protect people from flawed algorithms that deprive them of lifesaving benefits and discriminate against vulnerable populations, Human Rights Watch said in…
EU Media Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Report

Dismantling Detention

Summary As the harmful effects of immigration detention become more widely known and the appropriateness of detaining migrants is increasingly questioned, governments are looking at alternatives to detention as more humane and rights-respecting…
News

Tunisia: Attack on Director of LGBT Group

Police Officers Suspected; Investigation Needed

Two police officers apparently brutally attacked the director of a Tunis-based LGBT rights group on October 21, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack on Badr Baabou took place against a backdrop of mounting abuses targeting LGBT activists by…
Badr Baabou, director of Damj Association for Justice and Equality, following his assault by suspected police officers in Tunisia. © 2021 Badr Baabou
News

Europe’s Deadly Border Policies

A staggering number of people die at Europe's borders. Almost all of them are brown or Black. The majority drown or disappear at sea. Others suffocate in trucks, are run over by cars, or die of hypothermia. For many, the cause of death is unknown, as…
Migrants and refugees on an overcrowded rubber boat during a rescue by the Spanish NGO Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea, Feb. 12, 2021
News

Germany: Put Rights at Center of Coalition Talks

Human Rights Watch Writes Letter to Parties

(Berlin – October 20, 2021) – The three German parties entering negotiations on the formation of the next government should put human rights at the heart of their agenda, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch has written to the parties –…
Session of the German lower house of Parliament, Bundestag, in Berlin, February 1, 2018.
News

Poland’s Compromised Court Threatens Rule of Law in Europe

Decision Shows Need for Decisive Action to Defend EU Founding Values

An October 8 decision by Poland’s politically compromised Constitutional Tribunal came as a shock in the country and across Europe. In its ruling, the court decided that two core articles of the European Union’s founding treaties are incompatible with…
Cover for Poland Report
News

Joint NGO Statement in Response to the GSP Draft Regulation

(Brussels) The GSP Platform and the undersigned organisations take note of the draft Generalised Scheme of preferences (GSP) regulation presented by the European Commission. We appreciate the inclusion of several new conventions, such as the UN…
Joint NGO Statement
News

HRW Letter to Members of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council

Regarding Resettlement and Complementary Pathways for Afghans

October 1, 2021 Members of the European Union Justice and Home Affairs Council Re: Resettlement and Complementary Pathways for Afghans   Dear Minister, We write to urge your government to make concrete and meaningful pledges to assist…
News

Sri Lanka: Rights Abuses Jeopardize EU Trade Benefits

European Union Should Be Clear That Systemic Violations, Impunity Have Consequences

(Brussels) –  The European Union should publicly set out a clear framework with short timelines for Sri Lanka to comply with its human rights commitments and retain tariff-free access to the EU market, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the…
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