By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Crowds gather during a No Kings protest on October 18, 2025, in Washington, DC. © 2025 AP Photo/Allison Robbert (Washington, DC) – US President Donald Trump’s second term has been marked by widespread human rights violations and sustained attacks on core pillars of accountable, democratic governance in the country, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. The country has quickly fallen into a dangerous slide toward authoritarianism that impunity for serious abuses will only hasten.In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights Watch…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Refugee Action Campaign protest outside Australia’s Parliament House marking the 12-year anniversary of the Australian government reestablishing offshore detention and processing, Canberra, July 19, 2025. © 2025 Refugee Action Campaign Canberra The Australian government expanded its abusive refugee and migrant policies in 2025, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.Despite 2025 election pledges to uphold international refugee law, the government initiated a plan to deport refugees and migrants it labels “noncitizens” to the Pacific…
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By Human Rights Watch
Penha favela residents protest in front of the Guanabara Palace against a deadly police operation that resulted in 122 killings, in Rio de Janeiro, October 29, 2025. © 2025 Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo (São Paulo) – Brazilian authorities should adopt new public security strategies that dismantle criminal organizations and their alleged links with state agents, enhance independent criminal investigations, and spur reforms to make police more effective at upholding the law, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.In the 529-page World Report 2026, its 36th edition, Human Rights…
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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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