Child marriage has become a norm in Pakistan, especially in rural areas, with the highest rate of this scourge in rural areas being in Sindh province, and this practice disproportionately affects girls. According to a 2018 UNICEF report, about 18 percent of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18, which is the second highest rate of child ...

Jordan should ensure accountability for airstrikes in southeast Syria that killed 10 people on January 18 and compensate the victims and their families, Human Rights Watch said today. The strikes, which killed women and children, appear to amount to extrajudicial executions. The airstrikes were part of an intensified campaign by the Jordanian Armed Forces against drug and weapons traffickers following ...

Mali’s minister of territorial administration’s order to dissolve a student association is just the latest in a series of government actions to crack down on freedom of association. The minister said that the Association of Pupils and Students of Mali (L’Association des Elèves et Etudiants du Mali, AEEM) was responsible for “violence and clashes in schools and universities,” and that ...

The European Union is about to reward Egypt’s autocratic leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for preventing migrants’ departures towards Europe. Visiting Cairo on March 17, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with the Prime Ministers of Italy, Greece, and Belgium, will officially upgrade the EU-Egypt relations to a “comprehensive and strategic partnership”, paving the way for a package of ...

This week, India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government began implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which parliament had enacted in 2019. The law fast-tracks citizenship requests from non-Muslims fleeing religious persecution from India’s Muslim-majority neighbors – Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh – but excludes Muslim refugees from those countries. Before the government enacted the law, Home Minister Amit Shah explained the ...

The Brazilian government should comply with two new rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that found Brazil responsible for serious human rights violations by the police, Human Rights Watch said today. The decisions, published on March 14, 2024, in cases involving police killings in São Paulo and Paraná states, come as São Paulo police are in the midst ...

Earlier this month, in the landmark trial of Guinea’s former president and 10 others, including former ministers, who are accused of responsibility for a massacre and rapes in a stadium, the prosecution team requested the reclassification of charges to crimes against humanity. The trial is currently suspended until March 18, 2024, to allow for the defense’s response. The trial examines ...

Security Council Should Act on Access for Aid Deliveries United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to alert the Security Council in the coming days that Sudan has entered a downward spiral of extreme conflict-induced hunger, Human Rights Watch said today. The council should immediately take action, including by adopting targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for obstructing aid access in ...

“The situation is getting worse every day,” Ahmad, a former journalist in Herat, Afghanistan, told me. “I don’t think anyone can afford to buy enough food anymore.” Afghanistan has been in the throes of an economic crisis for more than two years, after donors cut foreign funding in response to the Taliban takeover in 2021 and suspended Afghanistan’s Central Bank ...

In late February, I joined youth from 14 countries for a four-day seminar on the rising civilian toll caused by bombing and shelling with explosive weapons in towns and cities during armed conflict. The event was hosted by Mines Action Canada, a co-founder—along with Human Rights Watch—of the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW). The Political Declaration on the Protection ...

Olga, a 45-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, seldom leaves her home to participate in gatherings with friends or other social activities. Besides going to the same school she’s attended since childhood, the only other outing she makes is to a summer camp. To take control over her life, Olga needs a support system that would enable her to study for ...

The escalation of violence and organized crime activity throughout Ecuador is having a dire impact on children’s rights. A temporary switch to online learning, as well as threats by criminal groups, have particularly impacted their right to learn in a safe environment. After President Daniel Noboa declared on January 9 an “armed conflict” against gangs, Ecuador’s education ministry temporarily suspended ...

A declaration by Cameroon’s territorial administration minister to make two opposition coalitions illegal is part of a government crackdown on opposition and dissent, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 12, 2024, the minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said in a statement that the Political Alliance for Change (Alliance politique pour le changement, APC), led by Jean-Michel Nintcheu, and the Political ...

All 10 of Canada’s provinces have now committed to ending their immigration detention agreements and arrangements with the Canada Border Services Agency, a major victory for migrant and refugee rights, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Canada said today. Newfoundland and Labrador, the last remaining province, has now confirmed that it will no longer allow the federal government to detain ...

On March 2, Andriy Sidak raced to his sister’s apartment building fearing the worst. Earlier, a Russian drone had struck the building in the north part of Odesa. What he found was rubble and dust, the mangled remains of what had been a nine-story residential building. Witnesses say the drone hit the building at the sixth-floor level, causing concrete slabs ...