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Covid-19 Hampers Workplace Safety in Georgia’s Mines

Labor Inspectorate Needs More Resources to Put Reforms into Effect

Two people died in a mining accident in the country of Georgia’s western coal mining town of Tkibuli last week. The accident in itself was tragic, but even more heartbreaking when you consider the context. The dangers of working in Georgia’s mines…
Miners going to work
News

Lebanon: Syrian Refugee Children Blocked from School

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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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.
Report

“Die Here or Go to Poland”

Summary Thousands of people are stuck in a desperate limbo at the border of Belarus and Poland in circumstances that violate their rights, in some cases egregiously, and put their lives at risk. Encouraged by local travel agents in the Middle East to…
News

Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child Concerning Cambodia

89th Session, 2021

This update submission relates to articles 2, 9, 23, 28, and 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and focuses on access to education during the Covid-19 pandemic and shackling and discrimination against children with disabilities. Access…
News

US: Texas Targeting Migrants

Justice Department Should Move Against Abusive, Discriminatory ‘Operation Lone Star’

(Washington, DC) – Texas has arrested more than 1,500 migrants since March 2021 under a discriminatory and abusive operation that targets suspected migrants for arrest, prosecution, and incarceration on state misdemeanor offenses, Human Rights Watch…
Texas Governor Greg Abbott talks about Operation Lone Star during a press conference at the Texas Department of Public Safety Weslaco Regional Office on April 1, 2021, in Weslaco, Texas.
News

Letter from Human Rights Watch to Institutional Shareholders

Re: Energy Companies in Myanmar and Abuses by the Military Junta

October 20, 2021 We are writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch concerning ownership by your firm (or funds or entities under its control) of energy companies, including Total Energies, PTT (and its subsidiary PTTEP), Chevron, and POSCO, which are…
News

Myanmar: Investors Should Act to Halt Funds to Junta

Revenues from Foreign Companies Keep Military in Power

(New York) – Payments by energy and extractive companies to entities under the control of the Myanmar military are providing key funds to sustain the junta and pose serious legal, financial, and reputational risks to investors in those companies.…
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News

Border Agents Can't Police Themselves

After images of Border Patrol agents on horseback aggressively swinging lariats at and chasing Black migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border shocked the public in September, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was quick to promise a…
A man stands with his hands on the back of a van marked "Border Patrol"
News

Cameroon: Lethal Force Against Protesters

Ensure Justice for Police Killing of Schoolgirl that Sparked Protests

(Nairobi) – Cameroon’s armed forces used excessive and lethal force against protesters in Bamenda, North-West region on November 12, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. The protesters were calling for justice for the police killing that day of…
Screenshot from a video of a crowd protesting the death of a schoolgirl caused by a police officer in front the governor’s office in Bamenda, North-West region, on November 12, 2021
News

African Leaders Meet in Niger to Support Girls’ Rights

Address Discrimination Against Pregnant Students, Widespread Teenage Pregnancy

(Nairobi) – African leaders should prioritize education for pregnant girls and married adolescents at the Third African Girls’ Summit in Niamey, Niger, from November 16-18, 2021. Governments attending the summit should commit to stronger human rights…
A 17-year-old girl from western Kenya who dropped out of lower secondary school when she got pregnant. She received no information that would have allowed her to continue going to school while she was pregnant, but she wants to continue studying so she can find a job and care for her child.
News

Greece: Life-Saving on Trial

Stop Criminalizing Humanitarian Rescuers

(Athens) – Two humanitarian activists who provided life-saving aid to migrants and asylum seekers trying to reach Greece will face charges in a trial scheduled for November 18, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial at the Mytilene Misdemeanor…
Humanitarian activists Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder
Video

Meet an Activist: Ridhima Pandey

The climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. All over the world, children face death, illness, hunger, and displacement due to the climate crisis. Children’s lives, and those of future generations, are at stake. But young people are now speaking up…
News

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

Youth Activism on Climate: “I Am More Determined Than Ever”

Activists, disappointed about UN rebuff, take the fight to COP26

When the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child decided in October it could not move forward with a climate crisis petition, I received a message from Raina Ivanova, one of the 16 youth who had brought the case. “We are all very disappointed,” she…
child petitioners who filed a complaint before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
News

Young Activists Denounce Climate Plans as 'Betrayal'

Call for Visionary Leadership at COP26 to Face Climate Emergency

Brianna Fruean, a 23-year-old Samoan activist, put it simply when addressing world leaders at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP26): “We are not drowning; we are fighting.” The youth climate movement is present and vocal in Glasgow, both…
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, center, demonstrates with others in front of the Standard and Chartered Bank during a climate protest in London, England, October 29, 2021
News

France Should End Abusive Policies Toward Migrants

Government Should Not Dismiss, But Act on Reports of Inhumane Treatment

Three weeks after French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin dismissed a Human Rights Watch report on police abuse against migrants in northern France as “lies,” national officials are beginning to change their tone. Didier Leschi, head of the French…
A woman and two children stand in front of two police officers
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…