Human Rights Watch on Sunday demanded that Houthi authorities who have systematically detained more than 70 United Nations employees in Yemen over the course of two years release them immediately, noting that they were captured under baseless accusations of spying for Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia. Emphasizing the seriousness of the crisis, Yemen researcher [...]

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged acting Rio de Janeiro state governor Ricardo Couto to pass a bill that would establish fully independent forensic services and mandate additional measures to strengthen forensic analysis, citing repeated failures by the civil police, whose current control over forensic work has undermined justice and fueled impunity. Brazil researcher at [...]

Human Rights Watch welcomed Lebanon’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty on Wednesday. The group described it as a positive development in addressing the severe humanitarian and social crises caused by the existence of anti-personnel landmines, especially during armed conflict. Lebanon’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty, which was formally ratified in 1999, forbids the [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday condemned the forced repatriations of refugees and asylum-seekers to Afghanistan by countries in the name of concerns over national security or economic strains, deeming it a clear violation of international human rights law.  In emphasizing the urgency of the humanitarian crisis affecting this marginalized group, [...]

A UN expert on Friday praised a ruling by Colombia’s Supreme Court upholding a 20-year prison sentence for a man found guilty of offering money to young children in exchange for sexual acts. The ruling officially recognises commercial sexual exploitation as part of the country’s wider system of violence against minors. In commenting on the [...]

The International Independent Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement on Thursday found that racism against individuals of African descent in Colombia is still deeply embedded in the country’s institutions, creating a sense of fear among youth in the community. The findings, which come in a report issued after an eleven-day visit [...]

The UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Thursday announced that it had dismissed the request from convicted Bosnian war criminal Ratko Mladić, who is currently serving a life sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, for early provisional release due to an advanced deterioration of his health that [...]

Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged the European Commission to revise the text of its anti-deforestation regulation, scheduled for implementation by the end of 2026, after critics condemned the legislation for its potentially devastating exclusion of leather, a key driver of forest destruction. Commenting on the unforeseeable consequences that may arise due to the exclusion [...]

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday urged Tunisian authorities to halt their persecution of civil society organizations, journalists, human rights activists and members of the judiciary, who have been subjected to criminal proceedings in retaliation for their criticisms of government policies and the president’s consolidation of executive power. Türk criticized the growing trend [...]

UN experts on Friday condemned the dismissal of Peruvian Judge Oswaldo Ordóñez Alcántara, formerly the president of the First Constitutional Chamber of Lima, from his post. The move was described as a reprisal for his defense of judicial independence and his public criticism of legislative reforms that could weaken the rule of law in the [...]