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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

Civil Society Groups Seek Urgent UN Action on Yemen

More Than 60 Groups Urge General Assembly to Establish New Investigative Mechanism

(New York) – The United Nations General Assembly should act swiftly to establish an investigative mechanism to gather and preserve evidence of serious human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war in Yemen, a coalition of more than 60…
UN General Assembly Hall
News

Egypt: UNDP Report Whitewashes Human Rights Violations

Joint Letter by Human Rights Organizations Calls for Accountability

(New York) – The United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) September 2021 Egypt Human Development Report includes false and misleading claims, Amnesty International, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and Human Rights Watch said today.…
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on September 14, 2021.
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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Thailand: Cambodian Refugees Forcibly Returned

Thai Government Facilitates Hun Sen’s Persecution of Political Opposition

(Bangkok) – Thai immigration officials forcibly returned two Cambodian refugees on November 9, putting them at risk of unfair trials in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said today. Cambodian authorities should immediately drop the politically motivated…
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Afghanistan Facing Famine

UN, World Bank, US Should Adjust Sanctions, Economic Policies

(New York) – Donor countries, the United Nations, and international financial institutions should urgently address Afghanistan’s collapsed economy and broken banking system to prevent widespread famine, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN World…
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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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Ethiopia: International Action Needed to Prevent Atrocities

Inciting Rhetoric, Sweeping Emergency Regulations Fuel Abuses

(New York) – The African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council should move beyond discussions and act to avert further atrocities in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said.   On November 4, 2021, the Ethiopian…
Members of the House of People's Representatives attend a session to approve the state of emergency declared by the prime minister, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
News

UN Rights Body Should Reinstate Scrutiny on Sudan

HRW Statement at the 32nd Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council

Madam President, Recent events in Sudan have highlighted the fragile nature of the transition, and the extent to which it was premature for the Human Rights Council at its recent session to allow scrutiny of Sudan to lapse. Within weeks, on…
A crowd of protesters in the street
News

UN Should Create New Yemen War-Crimes Investigation

Saudi Arabia and UAE Fight for Impunity in Yemen Conflict

Last month, the Netherlands’ ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) had “failed the people of Yemen” by rejecting the renewal of an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and war crimes…
People stand in front of a damaged building
News

Time to Call Out Tajikistan’s Human Rights Crackdown

UN Review a Chance to Address Abysmal Rights Record

Tajikistan has made the news recently for its opposition toward the Taliban in Afghanistan, with which the mountainous Central Asian country shares more than 1300 kilometers of border. What’s been less in the spotlight, however, is the Tajik…
A man on two video screens in the UN general assembly hall
News

Support Special Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Sudan

Open letter to Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Dear Excellencies, dear colleagues, We are writing to urge you to support a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to address the human rights situation in Sudan, and to create a mechanism, such as a fact-finding mission, to monitor and report…
News

The International Court of Justice Should Have More Women Judges

Just Four Out of 109 Judges Have Been Female

What’s 76 years old, and 3.7 percent female? Sounds like a joke, right? But it’s not funny at all, especially when it refers to a global judicial body. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the main judicial arm of the United Nations, has…
Judges are pictured during the second day of hearings in the case brought by Gambia against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, December 11, 2019.
News

Still No Justice for Killing of South African Mining Activist

Investigate Fikile Ntshangase’s Murder and Hold Killers Responsible

One year ago Fikile Ntshangase, an environmental activist from South Africa, was gunned down in her home in Somkhele in KwaZulu-Natal province, after raising concerns about a coal mine in the area. No arrests have been made. Today, members of her…
Activists from mining communities protesting at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on August 24, 2018, KwaZulu-Natal © 2018 Rob Symons
News

Global Condemnation of Chinese Government Abuses in Xinjiang

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.
News

Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan remains vital

HRC48 - Item 10 Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on on technical assistance and capacity-building for South Sudan

The situation of human rights and impunity in South Sudan remains of deep concern. In July we documented how security forces in Warrap state under the orders of the state governor summarily executed at least eight suspected criminals, including two…
Southern Sudanese wave the national flag and cheer at South Sudan's first national soccer match after the country declared its independence, in the capital Juba on July 10, 2011