(London) – The UK government's rigid insistence on automating Universal Credit threatens the rights of people most at risk of poverty, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. A comprehensive redesign of how the government calculates the social security benefit is urgently needed to restore people’s rights to a decent standard of living, particularly as they face severe income loss and other economic shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The 70-page report, “Automated Hardship: How the Tech-Driven Overhaul of the UK’s Benefits System Worsens Poverty,” details how a poorly designed algorithm is causing people to go hungry, fall into debt and experience psychological distress. Human Rights Watch has also found that the government is failing to address the socio-economic inequalities which prevent people from being able to apply for and manage their benefit online.

Lessons From 4 State Primaries Should Guide General Election Reforms

International Inquiry, UN Human Rights Council Action Needed

The Houthi armed group and other authorities are severely restricting the delivery of desperately needed aid in Yemen. The situation is exacerbating the country’s dire humanitarian situation and weakening its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Charges Against Evo Morales, Others Appear Politically Motivated

End Solitary Confinement; Improve Access to Support, Services

Implement National Action Plan; Hold Attackers Responsible

(Beirut, August 28, 2020) – Local authorities in northern Syria have failed to advance efforts to find people kidnapped by ISIS more than a year after its territorial defeat in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should promptly dedicate resources to uncover what happened to the thousands of missing people.

Fires resulting from unchecked deforestation are poisoning the air millions of people breathe, affecting health throughout the Brazilian Amazon, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), the Institute for Health Policy Studies(IEPS), and Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Fires and deforestation in the Amazon increased dramatically during 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro’s first year in office, and 2020 is already proving to be worse, the groups found.