Human Rights

Belarus police launch new crackdown on journalists, rights activists

Rights groups say at least five people were detained and 25 homes and offices searched in the third successive day of raids.

Several killed in Syria regime’s renewed strikes on last rebel enclave

Violence has been rising in recent weeks in Idlib, the last-rebel enclave between the regime and its allied forces and insurgents on the edge of a territory that is home to nearly 4 million people, despite a truce brokered in March 2020.

UN rights body calls for accountability over mass disappearances in Syria

UN Human Rights Council's resolution, adopted with 26 of the council's 47 members in favour, voiced particular concern about the fate of tens of thousands of people who have vanished in the war-ravaged country.

Israel razes home of Palestinian-American shooting suspect's estranged wife

Israeli forces levelled a home in occupied West Bank, where suspect Muntasser Shalabi’s wife Sanaa lived with three of their children, as part of a controversial policy of punitive demolitions.

Israel demolishes Palestinian village in West Bank for seventh time

Demolition of Bedouin village Khirbet Humsa in Jordan Valley "military firing zone" leaves dozens homeless.

No ceasefire in Ethiopia’s Tigray for civilian suffering

The region’s civilian population faces a serious humanitarian crisis as Ethiopian forces, Tigrayan forces and Eritrean forces are all accused of violent excesses.

Palestinians call for change of government at Abbas critic's funeral

Thousands of people accompanied Nizar Banat’s coffin through the streets of occupied West Bank, many of them chanting “the people want the fall of the regime” and “leave, leave Abbas”.

Afghan govt gathers local militias to halt advancing Taliban

Key politicians with background of anti-Taliban or anti-Soviet resistance are converging in their areas of influence to mobilise forces for a likely face-off with the marching Taliban. But rights groups fear such militias could become abusive force.

Kafala cannot be reformed, it must be abolished

Countless Asian and African workers are forced to suffer through a form of modern-day slavery that continues to thrive across the Middle East.

Thomson Reuters faces questions on rights abuses for aiding deportations

In what appears to be a conflict of interest, the media company is facing criticism for facilitating the deportation of migrants and asylum seekers in the US.

Myanmar’s Kayah State at risk of ‘mass deaths’ from starvation

Myanmar military is fighting ill-armed volunteers, aligned with anti-coup lawmakers, in Kayah State near the Thai border, with locals accusing the army of firing artillery shells that landed near villages.

HRW is contributing to a ‘human rights apocalypse’ in Kashmir

By parroting the Indian state’s narrative on the disputed territory, the rights organisation puts itself at odds with international law and misses the pattern of deliberate demographic change - or ethnic cleansing - against Kashmiri Muslims.