On Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa informed the UN that the nation will withdraw its contribution to the Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) after nearly 27 years of involvement. In a phone conversation held January 12, President Ramaphosa said that “the need to consolidate and realign the resources of [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent an open letter to Libya’s prosecutor general requesting transparency over the recent arrest of Osama Elmasry Njeem and compliance with a pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Elmasry was initially arrested in Italy but extradited back to Libya upon request from Libyan authorities, contrary to Italy’s obligations under articles [...]

The UN’s top human rights official on Monday warned of increasing atrocities in Sudan and demanded the international community take quick action to de-escalate violence in the country. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk told member states at the Human Rights Council in Geneva that “we can only expect worse to come” unless international action [...]

The Hong Kong Court of First Instance sentenced media tycoon and Apple Daily newspaper founder Jimmy Lai to 20 years imprisonment on Monday following his conviction in December on “national security” charges. This marks the latest development in a years-long legal battle, and the heaviest sentence since the instatement of the 2020 National Security Law. Lai was [...]

Nicaragua ended visa-free travel for Cuban citizens on Sunday, cutting off a pathway for Cubans seeking to enter the US. The order requires Cuban citizens to now carry more than an ordinary passport to travel in Nicaragua. The move is a shift away from Nicaragua’s “visa-free” policy for Cuban citizens, implemented in 2021 to promote [...]

France’s former culture minister resigned from his leading role at a French cultural institute, Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), after the US Department of Justice’s recent “Epstein files” release revealed financial links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prompting a tax investigation. Jack Lang, who served as cultural minister in under president François Mitterrand, is accused [...]

Cuban authorities are escalating surveillance and harassment of families of political prisoners while denying adequate medical care to jailed dissidents, Amnesty International said Monday. The human rights organization reported that relatives of prisoners of conscience face police cordons around their homes, movement restrictions, and threats, and that these actions are occurring in the absence of [...]

A military drone strike in western Niger killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others when it hit a crowded market on January 6, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released Monday. The afternoon strike in Kokoloko village in the Tillabéri region killed three Islamic State [...]

Houthi authorities in Yemen have arbitrarily detained more than 20 Christians over the past three months in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) characterizes as a campaign of enforced disappearances targeting the religious minority. The detentions began in late November and early December 2025, with an expansion on December 24, Christmas Eve, according to HRW interviews [...]

UN torture prevention experts on Friday urged a significant strengthening of preventive measures in Mexico. The statement recognized progress, but expressing particular concern over unregulated drug rehabilitation centers. The assessment was delivered by the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) following a week-long visit to the country, its first in a decade. The experts [...]