Human Rights Watch said Monday that the Israel’s repeated attacks on reconstruction-related equipment and other civilian facilities in southern Lebanon throughout 2025 constitute war crimes. The extensive report documented four specific strikes between August and October that killed three civilians and destroyed over 360 pieces of heavy machinery and a major cement factory. The attacks [...]

Australian authorities announced on Monday plans to heighten firearms restrictions after two gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, a mass shooting national authorities have called “an act of pure evil, an act of terror, an act of antisemitism.”  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement following a National Security [...]

Human Rights Watch said on Monday that the M23 armed group and allied Rwandan forces that captured the city of Uvira in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on December 10 have put civilians at grave risk of abuse. The warning followed the fall of Uvira, South Kivu province, in a joint offensive that [...]

UN experts expressed concern on Monday about legislative and administrative measures taken by the Estonian state against the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church (EOCC), stating that these actions may amount to impermissible restrictions on minority rights and freedom of religion or belief. The warning was issued by a group of UN Special Rapporteurs, who highlighted a series of [...]

South Korea’s former acting prime minister and president Choi Sang-mok was indicted on Thursday on charges related to the brief imposition of martial law in December 2024 by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, becoming the latest high-profile figure embroiled in legal troubles over the case. The indictment was formally announced by Special Prosecutor Park Ji-young in [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Thursday charging that Russia has inflicted a widespread and deliberate pattern of physical and psychological abuse on Ukrainian POWs throughout their detention. The report, based on in-depth interviews with 12 former prisoners, documents severe beatings, mock executions, electric shocks, and attacks by dogs, describing a system intended [...]

The social media platform Reddit on Friday challenged Australia’s social media ban for youth under the age of 16  in the country’s High Court. The move came two days after Reddit implemented age restrictions on its website. The legal action seeks a judicial review of Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age (SMMA) law, which took effect [...]

Amnesty International said Wednesday that the new Australian law prohibiting children and young people under 16 from using social media is an “ineffective quick fix” that will not prevent online harms. The criticism was issued by Amnesty International’s technology division in response to a Australian law, effective December 10, which mandates that social media platforms [...]

The Bahá’í International Community (BIC) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Wednesday that Iranian authorities are dramatically escalating their state-sponsored repression of Baha’is, marked by a recent series of harsh prison sentences and asset confiscations. The report documents over 750 incidents, including arrests, home raids and imprisonments, targeting members of Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday that governments negotiating a new global treaty on gig work should strengthen the draft text to ensure fair wages and social security for these workers and protect them from exploitative management. The call to action was issued alongside a formal briefing submitted to the International Labour Organization (ILO), which [...]