Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted in a press release on Monday that Burundi is set to win re-election to the UN Human Rights Council in a vote on October 13, with no competition. Addressing the effects of the lack of competition on the council’s initiatives to improve human rights conditions worldwide, Louis Charbonneau, UN Director [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday condemned the Salvadoran courts, saying that since the beginning of 2026 they have been holding trials that have convicted hundreds of defendants at a time, relying on uncorroborated evidence and giving defendants no chance to prepare a defense. Commenting on the mass trials, Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday unsealed four arrest warrants against senior Taliban figures, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan, acts that the Court’s prosecutors say constitute crimes against humanity. The four warrants against Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education [...]

Amnesty International on Thursday reported that a whistleblower inside Morocco’s intelligence service helped reveal a vast surveillance apparatus targeting journalists, activists and dissidents. Commenting on the increasingly hostile environment for freedom of expression in the country, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, stated: Morocco has wholly embraced techno-authoritarian practices, acquiring a wide range of surveillance [...]

The Council of the European Union on Monday imposed restrictive measures against 10 Russian officials for their role in the exclusion of Yabloko, also known as the Russian United Democratic Party, from the 2026 Russian legislative elections, saying the move undermines both the rule of law and democracy in Russia. In an EU statement regarding [...]

United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said Thursday he was appalled by the increasing impact that the intensifying conflict in Yemen between the Ansar Allah (Houthi) armed group, the government of Yemen and various affiliated forces is having on civilians. Turk strongly condemned the civilians’ increased suffering and fear caused by the violence. “Civilians [...]

In a joint statement published Monday, 21 civil society organizations including Amnesty International, called for the renewal of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM).  Noting the FFM’s recent findings, the organizations stated: The FFM concluded that gross human rights violations and international crimes continue committed in Venezuela under a veil of persisting impunity. They [...]

Attacks against national human rights institutions (NHRIs) weaken their ability to fulfill their mandates to protect human rights and hinder access to justice and accountability for all, UN experts warned Monday, noting an increase in reported attacks. The experts said, “NHRIs in compliance with the Paris Principles play a critical role in the promotion and protection of [...]

Several UN rights experts raised serious concerns on Monday in a joint statement over the increasing use of intrusive surveillance technologies globally and their normalization in everyday life, calling for the urgent strengthening of human rights safeguards ahead of the RightsCon summit on human rights in the digital age, to be held in Zambia from [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday lambasted the arrest of at least four in Bangladesh for posting social media content that allegedly criticized the new government, calling it an alarming continuation of the previous regime’s repressive practices. “Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government should live up to its promises on freedom of expression, end [...]