Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has devastated schools and kindergartens throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said in a report and video released today. Since February 2022, over 3,790 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, according to Ukrainian government figures, severely interrupting access to education for millions of children. The 63-page report, “Tanks on the Playground,” documents the damage and destruction of schools and kindergartens in four Ukrainian regions during the first months of the fighting. Most of the damage to educational facilities resulted from aerial attacks, artillery shelling, rocket strikes, and, in some cases, attacks using cluster munitions – causing significant damage to roofs, the collapse of walls, and major debris in classrooms. Russian forces frequently looted and pillaged schools they occupied, a war crime.

The acts of violence and vandalism that took place in Brazil on January 8, 2023, constitute an abhorrent attack on Brazil’s democratic institutions. HRW’s César Muñoz leads a conversation with Maria Laura Canineu and Brian Winter to discuss the human rights implications.

Each year tens of thousands of adolescent girls across Africa drop out of school or experience discrimination because they are pregnant, married, or are mothers. In this Twitter Space, we discuss HRW's latest report on education access and barriers across Africa.

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.

Power of the Streets Episode 7: Student leader Ruth Yitbarek wants more Ethiopian women to understand their rights and speak up for themselves. She speaks about the Yellow Movement that continues to grow in Ethiopia’s universities and how it challenges abusive societal norms. Read about the Yellow Movement here: http://www

Schoolgirls, Female Civil Servants Suffer Under Abusive Regulations

Investigations, Justice, Reparations Needed