By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Villagers wade through a flooded area in Thatta Mahla, Jhang district, Pakistan, September 1, 2025. © 2025 AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary (Bangkok) – In 2025, Pakistani authorities deployed vague and overbroad laws to intensify their crackdown on media freedom, political opposition, and civil society groups, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.“Pakistani authorities have increased suppression in violation of Pakistan’s international human rights obligations,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Prime Minister Shehbaz…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image People take part in a mass rally and demonstration to mark what North Korea calls “the day of struggle against US imperialism” in Sinchon County of South Hwanghae Province, North Korea, June 25, 2025. © 2025 AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin (Bangkok) –In 2025, the North Korean government increased surveillance, information controls, and restrictions on market activity despite deepening food insecurity and inequality, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian government, among the world’s most repressive,…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Activists carry posters and wave the Straw Hat Pirates' Jolly Roger flag from the anime One Piece during the 873rd Kamisan Action in front of the Merdeka Palace, the Presidential Palace of Indonesia, in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 14, 2025. The flag is widely flown across various regions of Indonesia as a symbol of creative resistance against injustice and political conditions, as well as a call for solidarity ahead of Indonesia's 80th Independence Day. © 2025 Claudio Pramana/NurPhoto via AP (Bangkok) – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto adopted policies…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Gen Z United activists demonstrate under the banner “Don't Forget the Blood of Martyrs,” demanding justice for those killed during past movements in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 9, 2025. © 2025 Safal Prakash Shrestha/NurPhoto via AP (Bangkok) – Nepal was rocked by disorder and arson after police killed 19 protesters during the September demonstrations that toppled the government, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. An interim government mandated to conduct fresh elections in March was sworn in under the leadership of former chief justice…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul during a press conference at Government House in Bangkok, December 12, 2025. © 2025 Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP via Getty Images (Bangkok) – The Thai government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has done little to improve respect for human rights in the country, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026.A new election was scheduled for February 8, 2026. Major concerns include judicial intervention in politics, repression of free expression, and a mixed record in regard to refugees and asylum seekers.“Prime…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Jimmy Lai is transported by prisoner transport vehicles outside the court in Hong Kong, December 15, 2025. © 2025 Photo by Keith Tsuji/Getty Images (Bangkok) – The Chinese government intensified its repression across the country in 2025, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2026. President Xi Jinping mobilized the government to impose strict ideological conformity and loyalty to him and the Chinese Communist Party. Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other communities with distinct identities, including members of unofficial churches, face the…
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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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