Clara Long, researcher

Mismanagement and lack of coordination among EU governments contributed to a political and humanitarian crisis in 2015, when over one million asylum seekers, migrants, and refugees reached Europe by sea...

The Week in Numbers

State's Double Dealing a Threat to LGBT Rights in South Africa

Journalist Killed in Kiev Car Explosion

Pavel Sheremet was known for often raising human rights issues in his work, and for his biting criticism of authorities and anti-corruption investigations. Although at this stage, the full facts surrounding the explosion, including those potentially responsible and motives, are unknown, past unresolved attacks on journalists have had a chilling effect on media freedom in Ukraine.

Extrajudicial Police Killings in Brazil Undercut Security in the Lead-up to the Rio Olympics

Rio police have killed more than 8,000 people in the past decade, including at least 645 in 2015.

Foreigners Endangered in Libya

Newly documented abuses include torture, rape, and killings in squalid detention centers where migrants, including people intercepted at sea by the Libyan Coast Guards, are detained.

The EU isn’t sending people back to Libya, knowing that’s unlawful, so it wants to outsource the dirty work to Libyan forces,” said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The EU – soon perhaps with NATO’s help – is basically deputizing Libyan forces to help seal Europe’s border.”

Hamas Should Halt Executions

On May 26, the authorities in Gaza announced a plan to execute 13 people convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, because it is inherently cruel and irreversible, and has documented serious abuses in criminal justice in Gaza that make the May 31 executions particularly egregious.

Tell tobacco companies to STOP profiting off the backs of child workers in Indonesia

Thousands of children in Indonesia, some as young as 8 years old, are at the bottom of the supply chain for many tobacco companies—these children are getting exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides while tending tobacco that goes into products sold by multinational and Indonesian companies.

Please SIGN THE PETITION and tell tobacco companies to: - Ban having children under 18 work in direct contact with tobacco - Enforce those policies throughout their supply chains.

Indonesia Child Tobacco Workers Suffer as Firms Profit

Thousands of children in Indonesia, some just 8 years old, are working in hazardous conditions on tobacco farms. A new report, “‘The Harvest is in My Blood’: Hazardous Child Labor in Tobacco Farming in Indonesia,” documents how child tobacco workers are exposed to nicotine, handle toxic chemicals, use sharp tools, lift heavy loads, and work in extreme heat.