By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Displaced families from El-Fasher at a displacement camp in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, October 31, 2025. © 2025 Norwegian Refugee Council via AP (Nairobi) – Civilians in Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia are bearing the brunt of abusive armed conflicts in which the warring parties frequently and often deliberately target them, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. Governments across the region have clamped down on already restricted civic and political space around protests and ahead of elections.“Brutal attacks against civilians…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré (R) arrives at an airport in Moscow, Russia on May 8, 2025. © 2025 Grigory Sysoev / RIA Novosti/Anadolu via Getty Images (Nairobi) – Leaders in several West African countries increased crackdowns on freedoms as they strengthened their hold on power in 2025, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.In Nigeria and the Sahel, Islamist armed groups and government forces and their allies repeatedly attacked civilians and civilian infrastructure at a time when the Sahel juntas have expelled regional and international bodies…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Journalists Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov, Antonina Favorskaya and Artem Kriger, accused of taking part in the activities of an "extremist" organization founded by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny, attend a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, April 15, 2025. © 2025 REUTERS/Yulia Morozova (Brussels, February 4, 2026) – In the fourth year of its full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kremlin further escalated the crackdown on Russian civil society, targeting critics both inside the country and in exile, Human Rights Watch said today in its World…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A protester holds up an EU flag with "help" written on it, during a demonstration in Budapest on May 18, 2025 against a bill empowering the government to sanction civil society organizations and media it deems threats to the country's sovereignty. © 2025 FERENC ISZA/AFP via Getty Images (Brussels, February 4, 2026) – European Union institutions and member states’ failure to prioritize human rights undermines the rule of law, democratic space, and rights protection at home and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.A focus on…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image People gather outside the Istanbul municipality building in Istanbul, Türkiye, to protest the arrest of mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, March 22, 2025. © 2025 Human Rights Watch (Istanbul, February 4, 2025) – The Turkish government deepened its assault on the main opposition party during 2025, while at the same time pursuing an end to the four-decade conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.“The Erdoğan government has spent the past year attempting to remove political opponents and rivals and pursuing a barrage…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image People opposing the housing of asylum seekers (front) confront anti-racism group members (back) with police officers forming a line between them in London, UK, on September 13, 2025. © 2025 Kyodo via AP Images (London, February 4, 2026) – The Labour government in the UK, during its first full year in authority has carried out punitive immigration policies that have emboldened the far right, an authoritarian crackdown on protest rights, and a failure to adequately address an ongoing and worsening cost of living crisis, Human Rights Watch said today in its World…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image An M23 fighter guards detained Congolese soldiers at the Stade de l'Unité in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, January 30, 2025. © 2025 Daniel Buuma/AFP via Getty Images (Nairobi) – Abuses against civilians by government forces and armed groups have become rampant in the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. The Central African governments of Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and the Central African Republic have further restricted civil and political rights.“People in Central African countries have faced…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A girl on a swing looks at an apartment building in the Industrialnyi district of Kharkiv, Ukraine, damaged by a Russian drone attack that killed 7 people (including children) and injured 23, on August 18, 2025. © 2025 Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images (Kyiv, February 4, 2026) – Civilians in Ukraine experienced serious conflict-related violations over the past year, with more targeted and indiscriminate Russian attacks driving up civilian deaths, injuries, and destruction, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. Millions of Ukrainians remain…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A Venezuelan migrant allegedly linked to criminal organizations sits inside a cell at CECOT on March 16, 2025, in Tecoluca, El Salvador. © 2025 Salvadoran Government via Getty Images (Mexico City) – Some Latin American and Caribbean governments are violating rights of noncitizens at the Trump administration’s behest, while others are using Trump’s policies and rhetoric as cover for abuses against their own citizens, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Angola's Rapid Intervention Force faces demonstrators during a protest against the rise in fuel prices and transport costs in Luanda on July 12, 2025. © 2025 JULIO PACHECO NTELA/AFP via Getty Images (Johannesburg) – Southern African countries committed serious human rights violations throughout 2025, creating vicious cycles of abuse and impunity, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. Security forces in Angola, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe used excessive and at times lethal force, and arbitrarily arrested and detained…
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