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Zimbabwe: Crackdown on Student Protesters Intensifies
(Johannesburg) – Zimbabwean authorities have harassed, abducted, and arbitrarily detained student leaders protesting a proposed constitutional amendment to extend presidential terms, Human Rights Watch said today.
Constitutional Amendment No 3 would extend the terms of office for the president and members of parliament from five to seven years, effectively postponing the 2028 elections until 2030. Student leaders affiliated with the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) mobilized young people to attend public consultations on the proposed amendment held across Zimbabwe.
“Students who speak out to safeguard their country’s democracy should not face abduction, arrest, and ill-treatment,” said Idriss Ali Nassah, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities in Zimbabwe should reverse course and allow people to express their views freely without facing retaliation.”
Human Rights Watch documented seven attacks against the student leaders.
Munashe Dongonda, 25, ZINASU’s secretary general, and Denford Sithole, 22, attended a public consultation in Nketa suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, on March 30. After Sithole spoke against the amendment, men in civilian clothes accosted him and Dongonda, accusing the students of “wanting to cause chaos.” Dongonda told Human Rights Watch that the men dragged him and two other students outside, beat them, and then forced Sithole into their vehicle, a white Toyota double-cabin, and drove off.
Sithole said he suspected that the four men in the vehicle were members of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). He said the men threatened to kill him and drove to an office building where six other men, also in civilian clothes, joined in interrogating and assaulting him. He said one of them repeatedly hit him on the head with an empty wine bottle while others beat him. They accused him of working to overthrow the government and demanded to know who was funding the students opposing the amendment. They forced him to allow them to inspect his bank account records and demanded his parents’ home address.
After about six hours, they took him to Bulawayo Central Police Station and told the police to “find something to charge him with.” Police charged Sithole with “disorderly conduct.” He paid a US$30 fine and was released after signing an “admission of guilt,” which Human Rights Watch has seen. Sithole, a final-year engineering student, is recovering from injuries from his abduction and torture. He has suspended his studies, left Bulawayo, and is in hiding after noticing he was under constant surveillance from suspected state security agents and fearing for his life.
Tafara Magodora, 23, a student leader at the Bindura University of Science Education, was abducted on March 30 in Bindura, in Mashonaland Central province, about 90 kilometers northeast of Harare, the capital. He said that at around 9 a.m., he was on his way to organize transportation for students to attend a public consultation on the amendment when a white Toyota vehicle without number plates appeared, and three people in civilian clothes got out and surrounded him. They accused him of being on “a police wanted list since last year.” He said that when he demanded identification, they forced him into the car and beat him.
After about an hour of driving around with him, they took him to Bindura Central Police Station, where officers accused him of “causing chaos at the university.” The police held him for two days, then charged him with assault and released him on bail. His next court appearance is on April 28. When he was released, Magodora said two suspected state security agents ordered him to leave Bindura for his own good, warning him that something would happen if he did not stop his activism. Magodora is also in hiding and has not attended class since.
On April 14, police arrested Emmanuel Sitima, former president of ZINASU, and Takunda Mhuka, a ZINASU provincial leader, both 24. Based on their charge sheet seen by Human Rights Watch, they are accused of “malicious damage to property” for allegedly breaking a window in the home of the chairperson of the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and for distributing fliers reading “Save Zimbabwe Campaign, No to 2030.” “No to 2030” is a slogan opponents to the amendment have adopted. The value of the damaged property was set at $10. A court denied bail to Sitima and Mhuka and they remain in custody, with their next court appearance scheduled for April 24.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights on April 15 reported that student leaders were “under siege” after police raided ZINASU’s offices in Harare. ZINASU National Coordinator Ashlegh Pfunye, 28, told Human Rights Watch that he viewed the raid as an attack on the broader student movement. “All we are doing is to exercise our democratic right to speak out against the proposed constitutional amendment, but we are being hunted down like criminals,” he said. “Some student leaders are in hiding and others have been suspended from university because of their activism opposing the amendment.”
David Coltart, the mayor of Bulawayo and a former minister of education in the 2009-2013 Government of National Unity, told Human Rights Watch that targeting student leaders is meant to have a “chilling effect” on those opposing the amendment. “We have had students abducted and detained,” he said. “We have had to find safe houses for three student leaders who were being threatened after speaking out against the amendment.”
Targeting the student leaders is part of a broader crackdown on perceived opponents to the amendment. In August 2025, police arrested three Midlands State University students, who are facing charges of subverting a constitutional government after allegedly distributing 12 fliers opposing the amendment. The three spent fourteen days in detention before being granted bail, while awaiting trial.
In November 2025, two students, Marlvin Madanda, 23, and Lindon Zanga, 21, were reportedly abducted while campaigning on campus at the Chinhoyi University of Technology in the city of Chinhoyi, in central-northern Zimbabwe. They were found the next day after being allegedly assaulted and tortured. Police arrested them and charged them with “disorderly conduct.” They were scheduled to appear in court on April 23, 2026.
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly expressed concern at the slow pace of human rights reform in Zimbabwe, including only minimal changes to repressive laws, a lack of security sector reform, and repression of civic and political activity.
The actions by the Zimbabwean authorities violate a range of fundamental human rights protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Zimbabwe is a party, including prohibitions against arbitrary arrest and detention and inhuman or degrading treatment.
“Zimbabwe should restore integrity to the constitutional amendment process by ending this crackdown against student leaders and activists and holding their abusers accountable,” Nassah said. “A constitution should not be amended on the back of violence, intimidation, abductions, and unjust arrests.”
Uganda: Sovereignty Bill Threatens Speech, Assembly
(Nairobi) – A bill before Uganda’s parliament that proposes sweeping controls over “foreign funding” and political activity threatens fundamental rights and could be used to shut down civil society, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill emulates laws adopted in recent years by other rights-abusing governments, which have been deemed to violate international law.
On April 15, 2026, Internal Affairs State Minister David Muhoozi introduced the Protection of Sovereignty Bill of 2026 before parliament for its first reading. The bill proposes criminalizing vaguely defined activities that promote the “interests of a foreigner against the interests of Uganda.” The bill is part of a broader campaign by the Ugandan government to clamp down on free expression and peaceful assembly, that has included arresting and bringing criminal charges against political opponents and their supporters, as well as other critics of government officials.
“The Protection of Sovereignty Bill is the latest example of the government’s efforts to stifle dissent and inhibit political or social organizing and participation,” said Oryem Nyeko, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The proposed bill copies a repressive tool used by other abusive governments to crush exercise of rights and stigmatize human rights defenders, independent media and other dissenting voices.”
The public has been given until April 24 to submit comments while two parliamentary committees consider and make recommendations before the full parliament will vote on it.
The bill contains several broad provisions that prohibit a foreign agent from promoting “the interests of foreigners.” Foreigners are defined to include Ugandan citizens living outside the country. “Promoting” is vaguely defined to include carrying out activities “related to the implementation of Government policy,” and receiving money to organize or organizing meetings about foreign policy. Violators can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, a fine, or both.
Foreign agents accused of influencing “the will and consent” of Ugandans participating in elections, or receiving money from a foreigner without written approval from the government may face up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
The bill proposes burdensome requirements to act as a foreign agent and would require as yet undefined reporting. It would also allow the Internal Affairs Ministry to arbitrarily inspect an agent’s “premises” without a court order.
The law also would also prohibit engaging or participating in “unlawful” demonstrations or assembly, an overly broad interference in the right to freedom of assembly that would violate Uganda’s obligations under international law.
The provisions of the bill would compound several legislative and policy measures that already undermine and restrict the work of civil society, human rights defenders, and other independent institutions, Human Rights Watch said.
The 2016 Non-Governmental Organisations Act gives the government broad powers to suspend, blacklist, or revoke organizations’ licenses, and provides for excessive punitive measures for staff. On January 12, days before Uganda’s national elections, the government ordered at least 10 nongovernmental organizations to cease their operations indefinitely. In March, the government froze their bank accounts as it “conducts investigations.” Directors of some of the groups told the media that they were not informed of the reasons.
Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter) both of which Uganda has ratified, laws may only limit the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association when necessary to achieve a narrow range of legitimate goals, such as to protect national security or the rights of others. Any restrictions must be proportionate to the interest to be protected and they must be the least intrusive measures capable of achieving the desired aim. The provisions in Sovereignty Bill blatantly fail this test, Human Rights Watch said.
The bill draws on similar laws passed in Russia and allied countries that are used to try to shut down civil society, and which the UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees compliance with the ICCPR, and the European Court of Human Rights have declared violate international human rights law. These bodies have made clear that these laws are no more than a fig leaf to mask efforts to prevent exercise of fundamental rights and protect those in power from scrutiny or being held accountable.
“Civil society groups have a key role in the effective protection of human rights, rule of law and democratic institutions in any country,” Nyeko said, “Uganda’s parliament members should outright reject this effort to further stifle Ugandans’ rights and focus their efforts on promoting and protecting the right to free association, alongside other fundamental civil and political rights.”
Vietnam: New Retaliatory Decree Targets Lawyers
(Berlin) – A new governmental decree undermines the independence of lawyers in Vietnam and will impede efforts to hold officials accountable, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should repeal the decree.
Decree 109/2026, which takes effect May 18, 2026, empowers the police and government officials at the local (commune) level to revoke lawyers’ licenses and impose severe fines for vaguely worded offenses such as “insulting” officials or “obstructing” the functioning of state agencies. The regulation poses new threats in an already hostile environment for the legal profession in Vietnam.
“Decree 109 represents a serious new threat to Vietnam’s already politicized legal system,” said Patricia Gossman, senior associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately repeal the decree and ensure that lawyers can carry out their professional duties without fear of government retaliation.”
Decree 109 applies to civil and criminal proceedings, including land disputes, and includes sanctions for “administrative violations” such as “insulting the honor, dignity, or reputation of persons authorized to conduct legal proceedings.” Other alleged violations include conduct aimed at “delaying, prolonging, or creating difficulties for, or obstructing, the operations of procedural bodies” and acts that “cause harm to the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations, or individuals.” The latter evokes the nearly identical language of article 331 of the Penal Code, which the authorities have used to prosecute citizens who have criticized the government or exposed wrongdoing by officials.
The decree grants local authorities and the police extraordinary authority over lawyers, making any statement by a lawyer deemed “criticism” punishable as an “insult.” If a lawyer were to advise a client to remain silent during police interrogation, that could be interpreted as “creating difficulties for, or obstructing” police operations. Because these provisions would most often be invoked in cases in which local officials and the police are themselves the defendants, they create a direct conflict of interest, putting the authority to punish lawyers in the hands of the very officials those lawyers are trying to hold accountable.
Decree 109 has already resulted in harassment and intimidation of lawyers by local officials. On April 13, soon after Decree 109 was issued but before it takes effect, the People’s Committee of Long Thanh commune in Dong Nai province wrote to the Bar Association of Dong Nai province, urging them “to admonish … organizations and individuals who exploit people’s trust by guiding them to repeatedly submit numerous complaints and denunciations to leaders and authoritative agencies—actions that undermine credibility and pose a risk to local security and public order.”
The decree specifies that advising clients to file “unlawful complaints or denunciations” is also grounds for punishment, but it does not specify what constitutes an “unlawful” complaint. The violations set out in this decree are likely to deter lawyers from taking cases involving land rights activists or whistleblowers as clients.
Local officials under Decree 109 can punish Vietnamese lawyers by revoking their licenses for up to nine months, and those of international lawyers for up to three months and impose fines of up to 40 million VND (US$1,520). Previously, Decree 121/2025 of June 2025 allowed provincial chairpersons to grant and revoke law licenses: a move lawyers then criticized because it bypassed the Ministry of Justice and bodies such as the bar association, which normally grant and revoke licenses.
Decree 109 also states that advising clients to join a protest (“to gather in large numbers to disrupt public order”) may temporarily cost a lawyer their license to practice.
Along with the decree, the government has taken other measures to intimidate lawyers. In April, the Ministry of Public Security published a draft proposal to amend the criminal code to hold lawyers criminally liable for “failing to report a client who is preparing to commit a crime.”
“The Vietnamese government boasts about an era of rising prosperity under the country’s new leadership,” Gossman said. “But by curbing the independence of lawyers and increasing the unchecked power of the police, Vietnam is strengthening its single party authoritarian rule.”
Who Benefits from Thai Foreign Minister’s Visit to Myanmar?
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow visited Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Wednesday. Thailand has been acutely affected by the situation in neighboring Myanmar, and is seeking solutions to the influx of refugees, mushrooming transnational crime, and worsening pollution. But it is hard to know what the visit accomplished.
Sihasak, a veteran diplomat, has been a point man for successive Thai governments to engage with Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military coup in Myanmar in 2021 and has headed the ruling junta since. After 15 years as commander-in-chief, overseeing the security forces responsible for widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity, Hlaing installed himself as president earlier this month, following sham elections in December and January.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Thailand is a member, declined to certify the election results.
The junta organized the elections to ensure the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party’s victory and obtain a stamp of legitimacy for the military-controlled state. The junta had banned dozens of political parties and locked up civilian leaders, including former state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Prior to the elections, the junta did nothing to win over skeptical foreign governments. Thousands of dissidents and junta critics remained in brutal detention. Repression and unlawful attacks in conflict zones, including air strikes on civilians, ramped up ahead of the vote.
Since then, little has changed. On April 17, junta-controlled media reported a Burmese New Year’s amnesty for over 4,000 prisoners, including ousted President Win Myint. However, Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar reported that only about 1,600 people were actually released; of those, only 292 were political prisoners of some 22,000 political prisoners total. The junta has long used prisoner amnesties to ease international pressure and buy credibility, creating a revolving door of releases and convictions.
So long as Myanmar’s junta is unwilling to seriously address human rights concerns, Sihasak’s efforts to develop a closer relationship seem misguided. Thailand and the rest of ASEAN should step up efforts to press the junta to unconditionally release all political prisoners, end the political repression, and cease its unlawful military attacks on civilians.
Bangladesh: 4 Arrested for ‘Insulting’ Government
(London) – The arrest of at least four people in Bangladesh for posting social media content supposedly critical of the new government is an alarming continuation of the previous government’s repressive practices, Human Rights Watch said today. Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government should live up to its promises on freedom of expression, end the misuse of existing laws to silence dissent, and amend or replace legislation to remove provisions that are open to abuse.
Prime Minister Rahman took office after a landslide election victory in February 2026, a year and a half after Sheikh Hasina was swept from office by a popular street movement. Hasina’s government had used draconian laws to silence journalists and social media users. The interim government took some steps but did not go far enough to amend laws that violated rights.
“After Bangladeshis risked their lives to demand freedom and respect for human rights, the new government needs the political will to bring reform,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It is deeply troubling that within months of taking office, the BNP government is arresting social media users for allegedly posting content it dislikes.”
The most recent arrest, on April 17, 2026, was of A.M. Hasan Nasim, for posting a cartoon that, media reports said, depicted a government lawmaker and quoted a jocular comment he had made in parliament. Nasim was detained from his home in the capital Dhaka on the evening of April 17 following a complaint to police by a ruling party activist. A case was later filed under a section of the 2025 Cyber Security Ordinance, relating to online blackmail. In an editorial expressing dismay at the case, the Daily Star newspaper asked, “How can a joke made in a public forum, printed in newspapers, and a cartoon based on that joke constitute ‘blackmail’?” Nasim was granted bail on April 21.
On April 5, Sawoda Sumi, a supporter of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, was arrested under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Bhola municipality, southern Bangladesh, for allegedly posting comments on Facebook that were deemed by police to be “anti-government.” The provision allows arrest without a warrant if authorities have “credible information” of a “cognizable offense,” and has been used in the past to enable arbitrary arrests. She was granted bail by a court two days later.
On March 31, Azizul Haque, another Jamaat party supporter, was arrested in Muktagachha, northern Bangladesh, after ruling party supporters complained about a controversial depiction of the prime minister that was shared on his Facebook page. The police arrested him under section 54 and later applied the Cyber Security Ordinance and the Anti-Terrorism Act, saying, “We can arrest him immediately. He has been spreading misinformation about the Prime Minister.” On April 1, a magistrate upheld his detention.
On April 2, members of the ruling party’s youth wing, Jubo Dal, abducted Shaon Mahmud and handed him over to the police in Sreenagar, near Dhaka, for allegedly “insulting” the prime minister on Facebook. Mahmud was then arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and the police said they are investigating multiple posts that could be “anti-state.”
After years of abuses against freedom of expression, the interim government had sought to reform legislation with the 2025 Cyber Security Ordinance. It includes some improvements, including a provision that only the person allegedly injured by online content or their representative can lodge a complaint. That provision seems to have been violated in some of these cases, Human Rights Watch said. It sets a chilling precedent under the new BNP government that Bangladeshi police continue to attempt to criminalize protected speech at the behest of ruling party supporters, Human Rights Watch said.
The Cyber Security Ordinance continues to include provisions that are open to abuse, including overly broad definitions of criminal conduct, and weak judicial oversight of investigatory powers and powers to block online content. The Cyber Security Ordinance and the Anti-Terrorism Act should be replaced with rights-respecting legislation following appropriate consultations, Human Rights Watch said. The Rahman government should also embark upon much needed police reform, including a robust and independent police commission, so that officers are not beholden to the government of the day.
Article 39 of the Bangladeshi Constitution, as well as article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a party, protects the right to freedom of expression, including political speech and criticism of public officials. The UN Human Rights Committee through General Comment No. 34, clarified that Article 19 applies to online expression and emphasized that restrictions must be clearly defined, accessible, and predictable. Vague terms that are broadly worded and fail to meet the proportionality and necessity standards under international human rights law enable abuse by authorities.
“These arrests show that security sector abuses have become entrenched, and the police have only switched loyalties to a new leadership,” Ganguly said. “The prime minister needs to send a strong message to his supporters and to the police that everyone is free to express their views, and he needs to urgently reform institutions and the law to protect freedom of expression.”
ICC: Court Sends Duterte Case to Trial
(The Hague) – The International Criminal Court (ICC)’s confirmation on April 23, 2026, of all crimes against humanity charges against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is a major step toward justice for the victims of the country’s “war on drugs,” Human Rights Watch said today.
Three pretrial judges unanimously found substantial grounds to believe that Duterte committed the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder when he was mayor of Davao City and then president in the context of the “war on drugs” campaign between November 2011 and March 2019. ICC judges will later announce the starting date of Duterte’s trial.
“The ICC decision to send Duterte to trial opens the door to long awaited justice for the families of ‘drug war’ victims and is an important acknowledgment of their suffering,” said Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch. “Duterte’s trial will send a powerful message to those responsible for grave crimes in the Philippines and elsewhere that no one is above the law, and that justice will eventually catch up with them.”
The decision to confirm the charges against Duterte follows a hearing on February 23-27 in which the pretrial judges heard from the Office of the Prosecutor, Duterte’s defense counsel, and victims’ representatives to determine whether to send the case to trial. At the time, the prosecutor’s office presented evidence to support three counts of murder and attempted murder allegedly committed in 49 specific incidents against 78 victims. However, the office also indicated that these were non-exhaustive lists, and that it may seek to present at trial evidence of additional incidents and victims within the framework of the confirmed charges.
The full decision on the confirmation of the charges against Duterte can be appealed with pretrial chamber authorization.
Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11, 2025, by Philippine authorities acting on an arrest warrant issued by ICC judges and sent to Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization. He has been in detention in The Hague ever since.
The Office of the Prosecutor opened an investigation into crimes in the Philippines within the jurisdiction of the court in September 2021. The investigation is ongoing and covers alleged crimes committed from November 2011 until March 16, 2019, a day before the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, took effect. On April 22, 2026, the ICC appeals chamber issued a decision confirming that the court retains jurisdiction in the situation in the Philippines for alleged crimes committed until the withdrawal from the Rome Statute entered into force.
The current Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has never repudiated the “war on drugs” as a government policy and has yet to rescind the orders, and other policy statements, issued by then-President Duterte. President Marcos should formally announce an end to the “drug war” and order investigations into the police and other officials implicated in unlawful killings. Marcos should also begin the process of the Philippines’ rejoining the Rome Statute to demonstrate a commitment to international justice and accountability for atrocity crimes, Human Rights Watch said.
The decision to send the case against Duterte to trial comes at a time when the ICC is facing extreme pressure and attacks on its independence. In December 2025, a Russian court convicted in absentia the ICC prosecutor and eight of the court’s judges and sentenced them to prison terms in retaliation for the court’s arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In February 2025, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order authorizing sanctions on ICC officials and others supporting the court’s work. The order makes clear that the Trump administration seeks to shield US and Israeli officials from facing charges before the ICC. Since then, the US government has imposed sanctions on the ICC prosecutor, the two deputy prosecutors, eight of the court’s judges, a UN expert, and three leading Palestinian human rights organizations.
“Moving the Duterte case to trial reaffirms the ICC’s critical role as a court of last resort to investigate and prosecute the most serious crimes,” Vignoli said. “ICC member countries should redouble their efforts to protect the court and those supporting its work, so it can deliver on its essential mandate in the Philippines and beyond.”
Rights Need to Guide Global Fossil Fuel Phaseout
People living near a coal plant in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria breathe air so toxic they describe themselves as prisoners in their own homes. In Louisiana, communities along the petrochemical corridor known as Cancer Alley face some of the highest cancer rates in the United States. In Uganda and Tanzania, activists opposing the East African Crude Oil Pipeline have faced arrest and criminal prosecution for speaking out against fossil fuel expansion. These are not abstract statistics, but the real-life human rights problems tied to fossil fuel production.
Yet as more than 50 governments meet this week for the First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, these rights issues are absent from the agenda.
The conference, co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, comes at a critical moment. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned our addiction to fossil fuels is destabilizing both the climate and global security, making a just transition urgent. The recent COP30 climate conference also ended without a decision on fossil fuels, despite calls from over 80 countries for a phaseout roadmap.
This week’s meeting should accelerate progress on the transition. What it should not do, however, is treat human rights as an afterthought.
Fossil fuel combustion is a major driver of air pollution, which the World Health Organization identifies as the biggest threat to human health globally, killing an estimated seven million people each year. Sidelining rights risks failing communities already harmed by fossil fuel extraction and its devastating impacts.
The International Court of Justice has made clear that states have legal obligations to protect the climate system. Santa Marta should translate those obligations into action. Failing to phase out fossil fuels implicates the rights to life, health, food, water, and housing of people all over the world.
Governments in Santa Marta need to ensure the transition away from fossil fuels is grounded in human rights law and include frontline communities’ input to help shape phaseout plans. For the conference to be successful, frontline communities should finally see their rights, and their health, protected.
South Korea Co-sponsors UN Rights Resolution on North Korea
(Seoul, April 22, 2026) – South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s decision to co-sponsor the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on North Korea reaffirms South Korea’s longstanding commitment to freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, said 25 human rights organizations in a joint statement today.
The resolution, adopted by consensus on March 30, 2026, at the council’s 61st session, maintains international scrutiny of grave abuses in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), including crimes against humanity documented by a UN commission of inquiry .
“South Korea’s decision to co-sponsor this year’s Human Rights Council resolution on North Korea sends a strong message of concern to the UN and its member countries,” said Lina Yoon, senior Koreas researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The South Korean government should now ensure that human rights remain a consistent part of its multilateral and diplomatic engagement, setting a standard that endures beyond any one political moment.”
Public debate continues in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) over whether raising North Korean human rights issues undermines diplomacy. Between 2019 and 2022, South Korea stopped co-sponsoring the resolution and pursued engagement at the expense of accountability. Some critics in South Korea contend that raising human rights concerns could complicate diplomacy or prospects for durable peace. But human rights groups said that framing prioritizes short-term stability at the expense of rights, and risks normalizing systematic repression.
“Trading human rights for ostensible peace reflects a false choice between security and accountability, and risks normalizing systematic repression,” said Eun-kyoung Kwon, director of NKNet. “Past efforts that sidelined human rights have not produced sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s international credibility and prospects for meaningful engagement are strengthened by a policy that seeks to align North Korea with universal human rights standards.”
The human rights organizations urged the South Korean government to maintain a principled approach across future UN resolutions, fill the vacant post of North Korea human rights ambassador, resume publication of the Ministry of Unification’s North Korea human rights report, and restore dedicated human rights and humanitarian offices within the ministry. The government should also explore the full range of available international accountability mechanisms and recent best practice to carry out the commission of inquiry’s recommendations, and pursue accountability in line with international law for grave abuses, including crimes against humanity.
“Appeasing the General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) won’t win a durable peace, let alone promote human rights,” said Nina Seungju Lee, profiler at Transitional Justice Working Group. “South Korea should take the lead in global measures to prevent and punish Kim Jong Un’s international crimes and transnational repression, and to press China and Russia to stop the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees and other acts of aiding and abetting.”
Israel, Iran: Unlawful March Attacks on Energy Infrastructure
(Beirut) – Israeli and Iranian attacks in mid-March 2026 on vital energy infrastructure were unlawfully indiscriminate and could trigger profound economic consequences for millions of people in the region and globally, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks on the facilities in Iran and Qatar may amount to war crimes.
On March 18, Israeli forces attacked Iran’s South Pars Gas Field, an important source of national gas for Iran’s domestic consumption. Hours later on March 18, and again on March 19, Iranian forces attacked oil and gas infrastructure at Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, which provides one-fifth of the world’s supply. The tit-for-tat attacks are among a series of unlawful attacks on energy infrastructure by Israel and Iran since the latest conflict in the Middle East began in February.
Click to expand Image The liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility in Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City, March 3, 2026. © 2026 Stringer/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images“Unlawful attacks on key oil and energy infrastructure have foreseeable knock-on economic impacts that could prove harmful to millions of people,” said Joey Shea, senior Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Israel’s attack on the South Pars Gas Field damaged infrastructure indispensable for the survival of Iranians, while Iran’s attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas infrastructure threatens food security for millions around the world.”
Human Rights Watch investigated both attacks, analyzing official government and company statements, satellite imagery, and videos of the aftermath. Human Rights Watch wrote to both governments on March 26 seeking clarification about the attacks. Israeli authorities responded on March 30, stating that their “targeting processes are governed by a structured and binding framework designed to ensure the accurate identification of lawful military targets.” Iranian authorities have not responded.
The attacks damaged both facilities, based on satellite imagery at different spatial resolutions Human Rights Watch analyzed. Extensive damage was identified in at least four sections of the South Pars Gas Field complex, while two sections of Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar sustained damage.
Under international humanitarian law applicable to the armed conflict in the Middle East, oil, gas, and other energy infrastructure are presumptively civilian objects but they can become military objectives if used to support the military. However, attacking them would be unlawfully disproportionate if the expected harm to civilians and civilian structures exceeded the anticipated military gain. Serious violations of the laws of war ordered or committed with criminal intent—that is, deliberately or recklessly—are war crimes.
At a March 19 news conference, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked whether he approved the strike and if US President Donald Trump was aware of the strike, he responded that “Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound.”
In a media interview also on March 19, the Israeli embassy spokesperson in London said that the South Pars Gas Field “is not only a civilian infrastructure, even though it is, it is also a dual use infrastructure and has been helping the Iranian IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] forces build their capacities specifically aiming at the ballistic missile program within Iran. They have been replenishing their missiles with the help of that gas structure. So, it is not only a civilian infrastructure.”
However, neither Israel nor Iran has demonstrated that the facilities they targeted were military objectives. Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the extent to which either facility was used for military purposes.
According to the International Energy Agency, 80 percent of Iran’s natural gas comes from South Pars, and natural gas is responsible for 79 percent of Iran’s electricity, including for heating, lighting, cooking, and industrial use. Before the conflict, the Ras Laffan Industrial City provided a fifth of the world’s supply of liquified natural gas. QatarEnergy, Qatar’s national oil and gas company, which administers Ras Laffan, is the world’s largest liquified natural gas producer, with countries in Asia heavily dependent on its supply.
This attack and the broader liquified natural gas supply disruption from the continued uncertainty about shipping in the Strait of Hormuz could have a broader global impact, particularly on access to food and other necessities. Natural gas is a key input in the production of nitrogen-based fertilizers, and it drives domestic energy prices affecting the cost of many other everyday consumption goods and services, such as transportation to work, schools, and hospitals.
Human Rights Watch analyzed low-resolution satellite imagery captured before and after the attack on South Pars and identified extensive damage in at least four sections of the complex.
Click to expand Image Graphic © 2026 Human Rights WatchAn image from March 29 shows fire damage to multiple structures within the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth refineries in South Pars. The same structures appeared intact in imagery captured in the early morning of March 18.
Part of this damage is also visible in videos posted to social media from the early afternoon of March 18, showing the aftermath of the attack. These videos initially geolocated by the volunteer platform GeoConfirmed, and further corroborated by Human Rights Watch, show active fires and smoke plumes rising from at least two of these refineries, the fourth and sixth.
Damage across several production lines included on refineries third and fourth are visible on very high-resolution satellite imagery from March 21, included in an article by the German media outlet WirtschaftsWoche.
In a statement published by Tasnim news agency on March 18, Iran’s National Iranian Gas Company said the attack damaged “part of the refining units” and added that a fire at the South Pars facility was extinguished, with equipment cooling operations under way. Eskandar Pasalar, the governor of Assaluyeh, said that several phases were taken out of operation “in order to control and prevent the speed of fire,” Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
Ahmed Moussa, a spokesperson for Iraq’s Electricity Ministry, told the Iraqi News Agency that, “as a result of the repercussions of developments in the region, Iranian gas flows to Iraq stopped completely.”
Human Rights Watch also investigated Iran’s attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City on March 18 and 19 and reviewed high-resolution satellite imagery.
WirtschaftsWoche published a damage assessment over two sections in Ras Laffan industrial complex based on very high-resolution satellite imagery from March 22. The imagery shows severe damage over two sections labeled as LNG Liquefaction Plant and Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Click to expand Image Graphic © 2026 Human Rights WatchAnalysis from WirtschaftsWoche shows damage within the LNG Liquefaction Plant to parts of production lines 4 and 6 including a heat exchange tower in line 6 that appears collapsed.
The adjacent building shows visible burn scars. An additional tower appears severely damaged, with the upper sections missing. In the Pearl GTL Plant severe damage in production line 2, including to a chemical plant, is also visible on satellite imagery from March 22. Human Rights Watch compared it with a high-resolution imagery from February 10 and 16 that shows no damage within the LNG Liquefaction Plant and the Pearl GTL Plant.
At the LNG Liquefication Plant, the damaged production lines 4 and 6 total 12.8 million tons a year, approximately 17 percent of Qatar’s exports, based on a March 19 statement by QatarEnergy. Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister and the CEO of QatarEnergy, said the damage is expected “to take up to five years to repair, impacting supply to markets in Europe and Asia.”
On March 19, Shell, which jointly owns Pearl GTL with QatarEnergy, said that “a fire that broke out within the Pearl GTL facility as a result of the incident was rapidly extinguished.” Shell said an initial assessment confirmed “around one year for full repair of train two at the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility.”
LNG terminals are massive and complex infrastructure. Pearl Gas-to-Liquids is the world’s largest GTL plant and “one of the world’s largest, most complex and challenging energy projects ever commissioned,” according to Shell.
After Israel’s attack on South Pars, Iran threatened to retaliate against energy infrastructure in the Gulf, specifically identifying Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail petrochemical complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gas field and Qatar’s Mesaieed petrochemical complex and holding company, and the Ras Laffan refinery as targets. The Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the facilities had “become direct and legitimate targets and would be struck within the next hours.”
Fars News, a media outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said on March 18 that “the war pendulum has effectively swung from the state of limited and base-bound battles toward a ‘full-scale economic war.’” The outlet said, “We consider the targeting of the source country's fuel, energy, and gas infrastructure to be a legitimate cause for us, and at the first opportunity, we will retaliate with utmost severity.”
The attacks by both Israel and Iran raise critical issues of long-term disproportionate impact. Guidance from the International Committee of the Red Cross provides that proportionality assessments need to consider “reasonably foreseeable” indirect environmental impacts. These include long-term or “reverberating” effects on the water, food systems, and the health of civilians. Attacks against military objectives are also unlawful if they are expected to cause “widespread, long-term and severe” damage to the natural environment, measured in months or years.
International humanitarian law also prohibits warring parties from attacking, destroying, removing, or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, which can include energy infrastructure. The importance of South Pars Gas Field for domestic electricity production in Iran may make it indispensable to survival of Iran’s population. Electricity is fundamental to nearly every aspect of living and participating in present-day societies and access to electricity is a human right, Human Rights Watch said.
The obligations of warring parties under international humanitarian law are not contingent on the other party’s compliance. Violations by one side may not be justified on the basis of another party’s failure to meet their obligations.
“Threats by senior Israeli and Iranian officials to deliberately attack critical oil and gas infrastructure have transformed into the grim reality of attacking critical energy infrastructure that could affect millions of people in the Middle East and across the globe,” Shea said.
EU’s Relations with Ethiopia Ignore Grim Human Rights Reality
European Union Partnership Commissioner Jozef Sikela announced on April 21 the resumption of EU’s direct budget support to the Ethiopian government: the final step towards normalizing relations with the country.
The move comes as Ethiopia’s dire human rights situation has deteriorated ahead of June 1 national elections.
The EU initially suspended its direct budget support to Ethiopia in 2020 amid the war in northern Ethiopia, which was marked by ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, large-scale massacres, and widespread sexual violence.
The November 2022 truce never completely ended grave abuses in the Tigray region: violations continued during the conflicts in Amhara and parts of Oromia. EU member states made clear that complete cessation of hostilities and accountability for past violations were key conditions for the resumption of full economic support to Ethiopia.
Now, rising tensions between Tigray’s main political party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and the federal government raise serious concerns of renewed atrocities.
In addition, the government has made no meaningful progress towards accountability for conflict-related abuses. After the EU refrained from renewing an international investigation into abuses in Ethiopia, the government’s transitional justice process effectively stalled.
At the same time, the authorities have imposed heightened restrictions on independent media, harassed and detained journalists, threatened civil society groups, and severely curtailed peaceful assembly and free speech. A number of youths were reportedly arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa, in April simply for listening to a popular Ethiopian musician’s latest recordings, some critical of the government. The government has offered no clarity on investigations into the apparent abduction of the managing editor of the Addis Standard, a leading independent media outlet. Just weeks before the elections, these developments are especially troubling.
Ethiopia’s increasingly dire human rights context suggests that the European Commission likely overlooked whether its own human rights benchmarks were met before resuming direct budget support.
If the Commission’s goal is to advance economic and social benefits for Ethiopians, it should prioritize other recipients and other forms of aid and at least reaffirm the EU’s commitment to accountability and the protection of civilians. Absent such a message, Sikela’s announcement seems to reward a repressive pre-electoral phase, crushed civic space, and renewed risk of atrocities with fresh cash and public praise, betraying the European bloc’s previous calls for justice and respect for human rights.
Hungary: Top EU Court Rules Anti-LGBT Law Unlawful
(Budapest, April 22, 2026) – The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling on April 21, 2026, against Hungary’s 2021 anti-LGBT law is an important rejection of efforts to stigmatize lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, Human Rights Watch said today. The court found that the 2021 law, which attempts to stigmatize LGBT people under the guise of “child protection,” breaches EU law and underscored that such discrimination has no place in the EU.
“This is a landmark ruling making clear that Hungary’s anti-LGBT law has no place in the European Union and should be repealed,” said Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Hungarian authorities have used this legislation to censor information, stigmatize LGBT people, and restrict fundamental rights, and the court has now confirmed that these actions violate EU law.”
The court found that Hungary’s legislation, which prohibits or restricts the “portrayal or promotion” of sexual orientation and gender identity to children and adolescents in education, media, and advertising, breaches EU law, including fundamental rights protections and values enshrined in the EU founding treaty. The ruling confirms long-standing concerns raised by Human Rights Watch and other organizations that the law is discriminatory and incompatible with fundamental EU values.
Hungary’s new government should act without delay to repeal the discriminatory anti-LGBT law and ensure that all legislation respects equality, freedom of expression, and access to information. The authorities should also drop charges against Pride organizers, Human Rights Watch said.
Hungary adopted the law in June 2021 under the Fidesz government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, leading to a ban or limit on content addressing sexual orientation or gender identity in materials accessible to children and adolescents. The changes affected school curricula, advertising, and media content, and stifled comprehensive sexuality education. Human Rights Watch warned at the time that the law would fuel discrimination and silence discussion of diversity and equality.
The European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Hungary shortly after the law’s adoption, saying that it violated EU internal market rules, fundamental rights, and the EU’s founding values. The EU court’s judgment is one of the most significant rulings to date addressing breaches of EU founding values by a member state in adopting legislation that violates LGBT rights.
The law has had a far-reaching impact beyond formal legal restrictions in Hungary. It has contributed to a chilling effect on educators, journalists, and civil society organizations, discouraging open discussion of LGBT rights, and creating an increasingly hostile environment for LGBT people and those working to support them.
The authorities have also relied on similar “child protection” arguments to justify broader restrictions on freedom of assembly, including bans on Pride-related events, and bringing criminal charges against Pride organizers, including the mayor of Budapest.
The court’s ruling requires Hungary to bring its legislation into compliance with EU law. Failure to do so could lead to further legal action and financial penalties. The judgment comes at a critical moment, following Hungary’s recent elections and the formation of a new government with a two-thirds parliamentary majority. The ruling provides a clear legal and political mandate to reverse years of rights abuses targeting LGBT people and presents a clear opportunity for the authorities to show their commitment to restoring respect for the rule of law and human rights.
The European Commission should closely monitor Hungary’s compliance with the judgment and take further enforcement action if it is not implemented, such as maintaining the existing freeze on EU funds based on rule of law concerns and considering further financial and other penalties. EU member states in the Council of the European Union should continue scrutiny through article 7 proceedings as long as breaches of EU fundamental treaty values persist in the country.
“This decision sends an important message across the European Union that there are consequences for member states that undermine fundamental rights,” Gall said. “Equality and human dignity are core EU values that need to be upheld in practice and not dismissed using vague and discriminatory pretexts.”
Ethiopia: Persecution of Tigrayans Unrelenting
(Nairobi) – Authorities and security forces in Ethiopia’s contested Western Tigray Zone are arbitrarily detaining ethnic Tigrayans and imposing a discriminatory system that severely restricts their movements, employment, and access to services, Human Rights Watch said today.
The authorities’ unrelenting abuses have forced Tigrayans to flee the area nearly four years after a truce for the 2020-2022 conflict in northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans forcibly expelled from the Zone during the conflict remain in dire conditions in displaced persons camps in central Tigray. Their inability to return, and the unresolved status of the territory to which both Amhara and Tigrayan regional authorities lay claim, have also escalated tensions between the federal government and Tigrayan authorities.
“Tigrayans in Western Tigray Zone are facing severe and dehumanizing restrictions on all aspects of their lives,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The Ethiopian authorities and their partners seem determined to ignore the treatment of Tigrayans as effectively second-class citizens.”
Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 40 people between January and February 2026, including current residents of Western Tigray and 17 who fled there since December 2025. Human Rights Watch also spoke with eight aid agency staff, diplomats, and other experts. On March 20, Human Rights Watch provided the Ethiopian government a summary of its preliminary findings but received no response.
Many Tigrayan interviewees in the Zone, who lost their homes, businesses, and land during the 2020-2022 conflict, said they were experiencing ongoing harassment, restrictions, and abuse from local residents and authorities.
“We are denied IDs,” said a Tigrayan man. “This means we can’t access our bank accounts, we can’t access our land. Tigrayans are only allowed to work as day laborers. Even then, we are insulted, beaten, and treated badly.”
A 20-year-old resident added: “Most of the time we feel uncomfortable moving, there is constant worry to do so. If the [security forces] find you, they beat you so badly.... We don’t move freely, we move only if there’s no choice.”
The authorities require Tigrayans to obtain a temporary permit from the ward office to leave their towns. Residents said the permits are difficult to obtain, with local officials typically only granting them for medical reasons or to assist older family members. Those who obtained permits and were able to flee now join over 740,000 internally displaced people from the area. The International Office of Migration reported in 2025 that most of the displaced living in precarious conditions in central Tigray originate from Western Tigray.
In an April 2022 report, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International found that new authorities in Western Tigray and Amhara security forces, with the complicity of Ethiopian federal forces, committed an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Tigrayan civilian population amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. To the extent that grave abuses continue against Tigrayans, including unlawful imprisonment, forcible transfer, and persecution, these would amount to crimes against humanity.
Forcible transfer or displacement can be a war crime or crime against humanity if the displacement is due to threats, violence, coercion, or duress that leaves victims with no choice but to leave. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines the crime of persecution as the “intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity.”
The Ethiopian government and regional Amhara and Tigrayan authorities are taking advantage of the unresolved status of the West Tigray Zone to advance their own interests at the expense of hundreds of thousands of displaced people whose lives are left in limbo, Human Rights Watch said.
The Ethiopian government asserts that the displaced should return to Western Tigray and a referendum should be held to determine the territory’s governance, but has taken no steps to end the persecution of Tigrayans or improve return conditions.
Authorities in Western Tigray say they support the return of displaced people so long as they return under a recognized Amhara administration, and that individuals accused of the 2020 massacre in Mai Kadra town and other serious crimes are excluded from the process. Tigrayan authorities have insisted the territory return to Tigray’s administration, and that all displaced people be allowed to return home before a referendum.
A 37-year-old man, forcibly displaced from the area three years earlier said: “People are still arriving here from Western Tigray.… They expected a solution after all this time, but they couldn’t cope anymore. The same people doing this, that forced me to leave my home, are still abusing others there. So, we don’t feel safe and won’t go back if those individuals are still administering the area.”
The Ethiopian government should act in accordance with the African Union Convention on Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), to which its party, and demonstrate its commitment to lawful returns by suspending, investigating, and holding accountable interim authorities implicated in serious abuses, including Col. Demeke Zewde, head of security and deputy administrator of the Zone, who was previously identified in Human Rights Watch reports.
The Ethiopian government should also urgently end the discriminatory system in Western Tigray and allow access to independent rights monitors to the region, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, who has made numerous visit requests. The government should also work with displaced communities and relevant UN agencies and human rights monitors to ensure that returns are safe, voluntary, well-informed, and dignified.
Ethiopia’s partners should make clear that conditions for safe returns to Western Tigray currently do not exist amid ongoing abuses in the Zone and without progress toward accountability. They should support a robust African union and UN monitoring presence in the Zone that can report on the rights situation and press the government to address protection risks prior to initiating returns. They should impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for serious abuses during the conflict in northern Ethiopia and since the truce, including Colonel Demeke.
The multiple AU, UN, EU, and other envoys to the Horn region should ensure that human rights concerns, including accountability for abuses, are central to their talks with the parties. The AU Peace and Security Council should also request regular briefings on the situation.
“Ethiopian authorities and their international and regional partners should stop ignoring the Western Tigray crisis, central to ongoing tensions in the region,” Bader said. “They should emphasize that the individuals who orchestrated mass displacements shouldn’t define the terms of their return, but instead be removed from positions of power and finally held to account.”
For additional details and accounts, please see below.
The 2020-2022 Conflict
During the 2020-2022 conflict in northern Ethiopia between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, Amhara regional forces and Fano militias allied with the Ethiopian government and seized control of Western Tigray. As Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported, newly installed authorities and Amhara forces supported by the Ethiopian military forcibly expelled hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans from Western Tigray in an ethnic cleansing campaign using unlawful killings, sexual violence, mass detentions, widespread pillage of livestock and farmland, and the discriminatory withholding of aid and services. These abuses amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The November 2022 African Union-brokered truce between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan authorities ended active fighting in Tigray and established an ultimately insufficient AU monitoring mechanism to oversee its implementation.
Ethnic cleansing has continued against Tigrayans in the Western Tigray Zone, whose governance remained contested. Since late 2020, the Zone’s governance has administratively fallen under the Amhara region and has been unofficially renamed the “Welkait Tegede Setit Humera Zone,” after its four subdistricts.
Since 2024, tensions haveescalated between the federal government and interim Tigrayan authorities, notably around the contested territories and the return of internally displaced people. On January 29, 2026, the Ethiopian army and Tigrayan forces clashed in Tigray, triggering fresh displacements. The fighting was reportedly driven by Tigrayan authorities’ efforts to break the impasse over the contested territories and return of displaced people.
The fighting sparked demonstrations in Western Tigray towns, with interim authorities putting their militias on alert. Since 2024, authorities in the Zone, including Colonel Demeke, have been organizing and training militias known as “Tekeze Zeb,” to defend the territory.
The Zone’s unresolved status has also become a flashpoint ahead of Ethiopia’s June national elections.
Institutionalized Discrimination
During the 2020-2022 conflict, new authorities in the Zone have imposed discriminatory rules that selectively distributed identification cards to Tigrayan residents and prevented them from harvesting their crops and cultivating their land.
In early 2026, Tigrayans interviewed said the authorities continued to impose severe restrictions, including denying Tigrayans documentation and restricting their movement and employment. Ethnic Amhara and Welkait (Tigrinya and Amharic-speaking people historically inhabiting the highland areas of Western Tigray) living in the Zone who were interviewed said they did not face such restrictions.
Denial of Identification
Tigrayans said local administrators were depriving them of vital documentation, with officials and local Amhara and Welkait residents working together to determine who should be issued identification cards. “The officials gather information from the community on who is Tigrayan,” said a man displaced from Humera. “So, if you try to get an ID card in the tabia (ward), they already have a list of who is and who isn’t.”
Tigrayan residents said the approval process served as a barrier. “The [ID] is distributed from the tabia (ward), but to get it, you need three signatures from local officials,” said another man. “If you don’t get the three signatures, they won’t give it to you. Those three people know who is Tigrayan, who is Amhara.… You don’t get [an ID] if you are Tigrayan.”
Without an ID, Tigrayans are prevented from exercising basic rights. A 50-year-old man said: “These restrictions are from the higher officials all the way down to the tabia level. The ID card controls everything, if you don’t have it, you can’t participate in any activities. When we went to the office and asked for ID cards, they refused. We went to the bank, we asked for services, they asked to see our ID card, when we told them we don’t have it, they said Tigrayans bank accounts are closed, and if we want to have an account, we need an ID. So, this treatment and these restrictions are open and visible.”
One man who fled in late January 2026 said: “The officials are not trying to administer or help Tigrayans, they are just administering and providing services to Amhara and Welkait [people].”
Welkait and Amhara interviewees said they did not face difficulties getting an ID. “I got a reference from the police, and I was able to get an ID from the ward office,” said a Welkait man in Humera. He believed that Tigrayans who had moved to the Zone more recently were the ones denied cards.
The lack of identification exposes Tigrayans to further abuses. In January, local police and a militiaman stopped a young woman as she returned from school with her sister and a friend:
They stopped and asked for ID. When we told them we didn’t have them, they ordered us to lie on the ground. They insulted our Tigrayan identity and cocked their guns; they wanted to kill us. They beat my sister and friend with the butt of their guns. My sister became unconscious. I started crying because I thought she was killed. We had to take her to the hospital. She is ok now, but still has pain.
Unjustified Restrictions on Movement
Tigrayans seeking work, health care, or to visit relatives outside of their towns have needed to first obtain official authorization from their tabia (ward) office. The temporary pass, interviewees said, allowed them to move within their wereda (district) and was typically valid for a few days.
A woman from Adebai explained how difficult it was to get the pass: “We would have to visit the office several times a day to ask for the permit. The officials would say, ‘We can’t give it to you.’ It’s not because they are busy.” She believed that the administrators “just wanted [Tigrayans] to suffer.”
The temporary pass, several people said, was usually granted to older people or younger Tigrayans for medical reasons. “There’s a small medical center in town and pharmacist, so we used this if we needed medicine,” said a 60-year-old woman who fled in February. “If [a Tigrayan] needed further treatment, you could get a referral, but you would first need to get a temporary pass that was valid for two days just to move.”
Travel documents that Human Rights Watch obtained show permit holders are only allowed to move within their own district and to Humera town. They state that those found outside these areas would be subject to prosecution.
Police and militia conduct random stops and searches in the Zone. Ethiopian soldiers and federal or local police are typically posted at official checkpoints at the entrances of towns. “Most of my days, I would stay in the same place,” one man said. “In Humera there are spontaneous checkpoints where [security officers] stop and check you for ID or pass, if you don’t have one, they will put you in jail.” Fearful of arrest and harassment, several other people interviewed said they also self-restricted their movements.
An Amhara resident said he didn’t experience difficulties at checkpoints, even if found without an ID: “I move around a lot. If I leave without my ID, the [security officers] ask me my name, where I’m from. They call the admin, who have a list, and check if they know me, and once they confirm, they let me go.”
Exploitation and Restrictions on Employment
Many Tigrayans used to be farmers in Western Tigray, a fertile area known for growing sesame. But since the 2020-2022 conflict, few have access to their lands. During the ethnic cleansing campaign, security forces, militias, and non-Tigrayan residents pillaged livestock and food stores and forcibly prevented Tigrayans from harvesting crops. In 2021, administrators in the Zone and Amhara regional authorities began redistributing this land to investors and new arrivals from the Amhara region. A 40-year-old Welkait farmer said: “The Amhara regional government gave us the land. That is where I am working. The plot was measured; I got a certificate for the land. I don’t know who owned it before.”
Tigrayans said they have been limited to working as day laborers on farms for little or no pay. “They took our lands and prevented us from working on our lands,” said a 68-year-old man from Adebai. “We can’t practice agriculture on our own but are made to work under them as daily laborers.” Several people said Tigrayans, typically women, also worked in artisanal goldmining.
Another day laborer believed that Welkait or Amhara residents had IDs “so they can go to towns and cities and do other activities and professions.”
Tigrayans said that if they were not paid for their labor, they had no real recourse. A 28-year-old woman struggled to support her mother and child:
I’m at a loss for words to explain what it’s like to live there.… The [Welkait farmers] beat us, insulted us.… My family is poor. I was responsible for feeding them. For the last three months I worked for someone who refused to pay me.…The Amhara and Welkait working for him were paid. I didn’t complain to anyone. I didn’t want to bring more suffering to myself.
Arbitrary Detention
During the 2020-2022 conflict, local authorities carried out mass arbitrary arrests and detention of Tigrayans in official and unofficial sites where they experienced frequent beatings, physical and psychological torture, sexual violence, and deprivation of food and water.
Those interviewed said that security forces, including local police and the militias known as Tekeze Zeb, have continued to arbitrarily detain Tigrayans in local police stations and the Bet Hintset prison in Humera.
One resident said local police arrested her in June 2025 and held her for a week with several other Tigrayans: “They told us not to communicate with Tigrayans in central Tigray. To stop sharing information about what is happening [here].”
A man who fled Mai Humer village in January 2026 witnessed local militias detain two Tigrayans. He said: “The militias took [name withheld] from his house.… [T]hey took [second name withheld] away on a motorbike.… After this they started to say, ‘We are left with one more.’ A kind Welkait administrator tried to protect me. He warned me to leave and hide.”
Militias in Humera held one Tigrayan man in September 2025 for four days in the Setit police station. He said: “I was selling sand when the militias stopped me and asked for an ID.” When he showed them an ID that he had obtained to help a sick relative travel and get treatment, they told him: “You are Tigrayan, you are not allowed to participate in such activities.” His Welkait spouse pleaded with administrators for his eventual release.
After the January 2026 clashes in Tselemti, another contested district in Tigray’s Northwestern Zone, security forces and local authorities in Western Tigray increased their arbitrary arrests of Tigrayans. “The security forces are arresting people now, especially men,” said one resident in mid-February. “They are also detaining the people coming back from visiting relatives in [central] Tigray. We are so, so worried.”
The roundups of Tigrayans during heightened moments of insecurity follows previous patterns of abuses that Human Rights Watch documented during the armed conflict and highlights the exceptional vulnerability of the remaining Tigrayan population to renewed fighting.
In late March, security forces in Humera detained a journalist from the Reporter magazine for three days for entering the Zone without a permit and taking photos. His report described a cramped detention center, with detainees typically held for “illegal border crossings” (to and from Sudan and Eritrea) or “being identified as a ‘stranger,’” a label, the article stated, “frequently applied to those arriving from Tigray region and, to some extent those from Amhara region.”
Dire Humanitarian Conditions in Displaced Persons Camps
Tigrayans displaced to central Tigray have been living in precarious conditions, including overcrowded displaced persons camps or schools or among host communities.
The United States government’s dismantling of its foreign assistance program in 2025, as well as UN funding shortfalls, have reduced access to critical aid and created further pressures for a displaced population reliant on aid programs for food and essential services.
A 45-year-old man living in Adi Mehameday camp for five years said: “There are shortages of food, lack of basic needs, water services, medications. There’s been starvation. We are suffering. There is some aid coming from different organizations. But it is not enough.” Others in Adi Mehameday said the camps were insecure, with kidnappings of displaced people for ransom by unidentified groups.
In late December, media reports announced deaths in Hitsats camp due to shortages in assistance. “We are barely alive,” said one 65-year-old man. “We lost people in the last few years.… We’ve documented this, their names, and buried them ourselves.” Human Rights Watch could not confirm the number of those who died in Hitsats, but a February food insecurity report from FEWS NET confirmed severe constraints on food access in Tigray, especially in internally displaced persons camps.
The federal government agency charged with disaster relief denied reports of the lack of assistance.
Prospects for Return
In a February 3, 2026 parliamentary address, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged the dispute between the Amhara and Tigray regions over Western Tigray and affirmed the federal government’s position on returns of displaced people and a referendum: “[N]o one should be displaced while [the dispute] is in place; those who were displaced should return to their homes, administer themselves, and resolve their own questions.”
The UN said it initiated a plan with the Ethiopian government in 2025 on possible returns to Western Tigray. On January 15, 2026, the US ambassador to Ethiopia visited Humera town and highlighted US concerns over the unresolved status of the area, but stated that returns should take place this year in a gradual way.
Returns in 2024 to Raya and Tselemti, other contested areas in addition to the Amhara region, were beset with problems, including a lack of humanitarian assistance, prevailing insecurity, and violence by armed groups, resulting in new displacement.
Many people displaced from Western Tigray expressed a desire to return home, but raised concerns. One man said: “A mistake was done when they returned people to Tselemti and Raya. They fled again because of a lack of security. I don’t want to repeat this.”
Another man, who fled Adebai in December 2025, said: “How can I go back to Western Tigray? Those forces are still abusing and treating people badly now.… I won’t feel safe to return while they are still around.”
A Welkait farmer in Humera said Tigrayans who return should not face problems if they accept the new administration and don’t try to reclaim their land: “As long as they don’t have any other motive, are peaceful, and accept the land as Amhara, they can come back. But if those returning want to claim their farmland, I don’t think there will be peace. There will be more displacement and another conflict.”
Tigrayans said the issue of the return of displaced people triggered protest and mistreatment from other residents and security forces. In mid-February, one resident said: “Every time this issue is raised, they start to arrest Tigrayans. People in the community say, no it is not allowed, Tigrayans are not allowed to return to here. There was even a protest this week in Humera against returning Tigrayans. We are mistreated every time this issue comes up.”
Restore Earth Day’s Legacy
This Earth Day arrives at a sobering moment as the EPA continues to erase the safeguards it was created to uphold.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970, following the first Earth Day, expressly to protect human health and the environment. But, since President Donald Trump’s second term began, rapid-fire policy shifts have pivoted the agency away from public health.
Since January of 2025, the agency has lost thousands of scientists and experts, cemented by budget cuts that cripple research and enforcement. The EPA effectively shuttered its environmental justice programs, abandoning the marginalized communities the programs were designed to protect.
Human Rights Watch has documented how extreme pollution from fossil fuel operations is linked to elevated health harms. In a Louisiana region known as Cancer Alley, residents face higher rates of cancer, respiratory ailments, and severe maternal, reproductive, and newborn health complications. These harms are disproportionately borne by the area’s Black residents.
In a dramatic shift, the EPA announced on January 12 that it will no longer factor the economic value of human health into the cost of curbing harmful pollutants, even though it acknowledges that they contribute to serious illnesses and early deaths. By doing so, the agency has cleared the way for weaker emissions standards that directly imperil fenceline communities, often communities of color who face the first and worst impacts of environmental hazards and climate change. If the EPA only considers costs to businesses in regulating pollutants, it is effectively assigning a zero-dollar value to human life.
In February, the agency took the drastic step of rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a vital legal tool for regulating climate-warming pollutants. This move effectively strips away the legal foundation for the EPA’s regulations of greenhouse gases, an unprecedented retreat even within the current administration’s aggressive anti-climate agenda.
A February 2026 report by former EPA scientists identified 12 high-risk pollutants now lacking federal safeguards. These pollutants have been linked to respiratory diseases, reproductive health harms, and early deaths. The report was blunt: the EPA has abandoned vital protections, leaving communities of color to bear the brunt.
However, states and advocates are challenging the legality of these changes, and our collective voices remain a powerful tool to reclaim a future where government policy protects every life and every community.
Pakistan: Surge in Forced Returns of Afghan Refugees
(New York) – Pakistani authorities have sharply escalated abusive raids, arbitrary detentions, and forced returns of Afghan refugees following renewed border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said today. Police operations have left thousands of already vulnerable Afghan refugees, including children, facing serious barriers to health care, education, and other essential services.
“Pakistani authorities are spreading fear among Afghan refugees instead of treating them as people in need of protection,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Abusive police practices are forcing people to forgo food and health care while mass deportations are returning refugees to possible persecution and worse in Afghanistan.”
As fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has intensified since February 2026, police have expanded operations against Afghan communities in several Pakistani cities, carrying out door-to-door raids, late-night home searches, and arrests without warrants. Police have detained Afghans with valid visas along with those without documentation, which many Afghans lack since the Pakistani government stopped renewing Proof of Registration cards and other residency documents for Afghan refugees in 2023.
Police generally transfer detained refugees to holding centers, then expel them. In 2026 alone, more than 146,000 Afghans have been deported from Pakistan, with the numbers increasing since April 1.
Between February and April, Human Rights Watch interviewed eight Afghans in Pakistan and four who had recently arrived in Afghanistan, as well as representatives of aid organizations working with Afghan refugees. Those interviewed said that police have arrested Afghans while they were shopping, going to school, and seeking day labor, confiscating their phones and cash and demanding bribes in exchange for release. Those unable to pay have been detained and expelled.
Many are at serious risk if returned to Afghanistan, including journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and others because of their past involvement with the former Afghan government or perceived criticism of the Taliban. Among those detained and forcibly returned are journalists who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power in August 2021. Reporters Without Borders reported that Pakistani police have forcibly returned at least nine Afghan journalists—including some with valid visas—since the beginning of 2026.
An Afghan refugee who had been forcibly returned said that she and her family had been arrested at their house: “We begged them not to deport us, but they didn’t listen. In Haji camp in Islamabad only people who could afford to pay were released, and we were deported back to Afghanistan, where we live in hiding.”
Afghan refugees in Pakistan cannot access health facilities and services unless they can provide valid visas, even in medical emergencies involving children. Fear of arrest has prevented families from seeking medical care, worsening physical and mental health conditions.
“My daughter is ill, and I can’t take her to the hospital in fear of police arrest,” said an Afghan woman in Islamabad. “She hasn’t been eating well for the past six weeks and I am really worried.” Aid workers have said that they are aware of refugees with serious illnesses who cannot get care either because they do not have documentation or are too frightened to seek it.
Many Afghan families keep their children indoors to avoid apprehension. They described living in constant fear, unable to carry out ordinary daily activities because of the risk of arrest. One Afghan woman said that police detained her husband and nine-year-old daughter while they were shopping and expelled them shortly afterward, leaving the family separated.
The increased abuse began after the major escalation in fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan in mid-October 2025. More than 1,000 Afghans, including young children, were detained during a November operation in the Surkhab refugee camp in Balochistan province. The authorities bulldozed homes and businesses inside the camp after removing residents. Those detained were transferred to the Chaman border crossing and forcibly returned to Afghanistan, often without knowing where their family members were or whether they would be reunited.
In numerous cases over recent months, families have been forcibly separated. Children as young as 13 have been sent back to Afghanistan alone, while parents have been left behind without information about their children’s whereabouts.
Some deported families have ended up in camps in Afghanistan along the border with harsh living conditions and a lack of access to necessities such as food, health care, and shelter. Women and girls face especially severe restrictions on freedom of movement.
An October 2023 wave of deportations and expulsions drove over 5.4 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan to Afghanistan. After clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan broke out in October 2025, services for refugees held in border camps or transiting to Afghanistan have dwindled as aid organizations have reduced their activities due to funding shortages.
As of March 17, 2026, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan had documented at least 76 civilian deaths and 213 injuries in Afghanistan, most from cross-border shelling during the recent fighting.
Pakistan’s forced returns and expulsions of Afghans may amount to violations of Pakistan’s obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture and the customary international law prohibition against refoulement or forced return to a place where they would face a genuine risk of persecution, torture, or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life.
“Pakistan should take action against abusive police practices and immediately stop forcibly returning Afghan refugees,” Abbasi said. “Other governments should raise their concerns about these practices with the Pakistani government, as well as denouncing continuing human rights violations by Afghanistan.”
Peaceful Protesters Face Military Trial in DR Congo
This week, a military court in the town of Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province, will hand down a verdict in the case against three members of the citizens’ movement Lutte pour le Changement (Struggle for Change, or Lucha).
The activists were arrested on March 12, 2026, after organizing a peaceful demonstration calling for access to safe drinking water, an essential service that remains severely limited in many parts of eastern Congo. The activists had informed local authorities of the planned protest three days earlier.
Olivier Sefu Anjisina, Jackson Kambale Odo, and Joachim Kamate Paluku have been held in Bunia Central Prison on charges of “undermining state security,” a vague and overly broad offense frequently used to suppress dissent. Under martial law orders, imposed in conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri since 2021, civilians suspected of crimes are prosecuted before military, not civilian, courts. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has emphasized that military courts should not have jurisdiction over civilians under any circumstances.
President Felix Tshisekedi’s administration declared martial law to “swiftly end the insecurity which is killing our fellow citizens on a daily basis,” according to a government spokesman. But martial law has not ended the atrocities in eastern Congo, but instead has been used to suppress people’s rights to peaceful assembly, free speech, and fair justice. Military authorities have free rein to search people’s homes, ban publications and meetings deemed threatening to public order, and restrict people’s movements.
The arrests reflect a broader crackdown against civil society and other critical voices in eastern Congo. Human rights defenders and activists from groups like Lucha have long faced harassment, arbitrary detention, and judicial intimidation for their advocacy. In April 2022, a military court convicted 13 Lucha activists during a peaceful demonstration in Beni, North Kivu for “provocation and incitement to breaches of public authority.” Security forces have killed three Lucha activists in Beni since 2020.
Congo’s martial law permits vague and overbroad restrictions beyond those permitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, threatening basic rights to free expression, peaceful assembly, and association.
Congolese authorities should drop all charges against the activists and ensure their immediate release. President Tshisekedi should lift abusive restrictions on civic space under the pretext of the state of siege and revoke military court authority to try civilians in accordance with human rights standards.
Burkina Faso: Crackdown on Civil Society
(Nairobi) – Burkina Faso’s military government is intensifying its sweeping crackdown on civil society through restrictive legislation, administrative pressure, and punitive actions targeting domestic and international organizations, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organisation Against Torture within the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and Observatoire KISAL said today. The military authorities should immediately end their repression of independent voices and humanitarian and human rights groups and uphold fundamental rights and freedoms.
On April 15, 2026, the minister of territorial administration and mobility announced the dissolution of 118 civil society organizations, many engaged in human rights work. The authorities cited a July 2025 law on freedom of association but did not provide any justification beyond vague allusions of noncompliance.
“The mass dissolution of civil society groups is the Burkina Faso junta’s latest effort to silence dissent and avoid scrutiny of its grim human rights record,” said Binta Sidibé Gascon, President of Observatoire KISAL. “The decision reinforces a climate of fear that is crippling independent civic activity.”
The military government’s action reflects a broader pattern of repression that began after the military seized power in September 2022. Ever since the takeover, the authorities have targeted nongovernmental organizations, independent media, and peaceful dissent, steadily narrowing civic space. They have suspended, banned, or expelled dozens of Burkinabè and international organizations and media outlets on vague administrative and spurious grounds or in retaliation for criticism.
The authorities have also detained humanitarian workers and arbitrarily arrested, forcibly disappeared, or unlawfully conscripted human rights activists, journalists, and political opponents. This escalating repression is unfolding amid a worsening security crisis, as Burkina Faso has been battling Islamist armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for a decade.
While some of the groups targeted by the dissolution measure were inactive, others—including Action by Christians Against Torture (Action des Chrétiens contre la Torture, ACAT), Burkinabè Coalition for Women’s Rights (Coalition Burkinabè pour les droits des femmes, CBDF)—were operational and appeared to meet the legal requirements under the July 2025 law. The law grants organizations one year to comply with these requirements, a deadline that has not yet expired.
“The military government’s action, if based on alleged noncompliance with the 2025 law, appears legally questionable since the required time frame has not yet ended,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The scale of the shutdown is one of the most significant blows to civil society groups since the military took power and sends a chilling message to everyone else.”
The July 2025 law, introduced by the authorities as a measure to regulate the nonprofit sector and combat money laundering and terrorism financing, has significantly expanded government control over civil society. It imposes burdensome requirements that constrain humanitarian and development work. Foreign organizations, for example, must appoint Burkinabè nationals to key leadership and financial positions, exposing them to personal risks. This concern has been compounded by a September 2025 family code provision allowing authorities to strip Burkinabè citizenship from anyone deemed to act against state interests, thus creating a risk of statelessness for the targeted individuals.
In early April 2026 the military government, in a response to a Human Rights Watch report on war crimes and crimes against humanity by all parties to the conflict in Burkina Faso since 2023, had threatened “firm measures” against what it called “imperialist labs disguised as NGOs (nongovernmental organizations).”
Towards the end of 2025, the authorities introduced additional administrative barriers. Organizations must now obtain a “statistical visa” before conducting surveys or research, a costly and time-consuming process that a humanitarian worker told Human Rights Watch, “impedes independent data collection and analysis in a context which is already extremely closed.”
During the past year, several international aid groups have been suspended or expelled, often for unclear procedural reasons. Between June and July 2025, the authorities suspended or revoked the licenses of about 20 foreign organizations, including Comunità di Sant’Egidio, Diakonia, Geneva Call, and the Tony Blair Institute, citing failure to formalize agreements with the state.
The military government’s repression has also extended to individuals who are members of domestic civil society and international organizations. Since 2022, the authorities have detained more than 70 humanitarian workers, most of them Burkinabè, according to international media. In a prominent case, the military authorities in August 2025 expelled the top United Nations representative in Burkina Faso, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, declaring her persona non grata following a UN report on violations against children in the country.
In another case, in mid-2025, security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained eight staff members of the International Group Safety Organization, a Netherlands-based humanitarian group specializing in humanitarian safety, finally releasing them in December 2025. The authorities charged them with spying and treason, accusing them of collecting and providing sensitive security information to foreign powers.
Military authorities have used provisions of an April 2023 “general mobilization” decree—a sweeping emergency law—selectively and disproportionately to crack down on the political opposition, the media and dissent, and to silence and unlawfully conscript into military service dozens of critics, journalists, civil society activists, and judicial personnel. The authorities assert that conscription is authorized under the decree, which gives the president extensive powers to combat the Islamist insurgency, including by requisitioning people and goods and curtailing civil liberties.
Between July and October 2025, at least six journalists and three activists who had been previously conscripted were released, while others who had been conscripted are still missing, including the prominent investigative journalist Serge Oulon, and more are feared to have been unlawfully conscripted.
International human rights law protects the rights to freedom of expression and association, allowing individuals and groups to operate without undue interference. Restrictions must be necessary, proportionate, and non-discriminatory, criteria that the recent sweeping dissolution of civil society groups and the July 2025 law do not meet, the three organizations said.
“A strong and independent civil society acts as a safeguard against abuses of power and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities,” said Drissa Traoré, FIDH Secretary General. “The Burkinabè authorities should enable civil society groups to work freely and uphold the fundamental rights and liberties of everyone in Burkina Faso.”
Beijing-Pyongyang Thaw Leaves North Koreans No Escape
Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi traveled to Pyongyang for his first visit since 2019. During the trip, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, with both sides pledging to deepen cooperation and coordination.
This visible and cordial diplomacy between Beijing and Pyongyang was deliberate. Transport links between China and North Korea have resumed, high-level visits are accelerating, and the relationship between the two governments is being actively rebuilt.
But along the China-North Korea border, a different reality persists—one defined not by visibility, but by enforced silence.
Border control is an essential part of North Korea’s system of repression. The government bars people from leaving without permission at the penalty of imprisonment, torture, forced labor, enforced disappearance, and death. Beijing has long helped North Korea seal escape routes and forcibly return those who flee, helping to reinforce North Korea’s control over its oppressed citizens. Every forced return sends a signal to those inside North Korea or hiding in China: there is no safe way out.
For the North Koreans who attempt to flee, the stakes are high. In March, Kim Geum Sung, a young North Korean now living in South Korea, told Human Rights Watch that his mother—who had sold herself into a forced marriage in China to finance his escape—had been detained by Chinese authorities over a year ago. This April, South Korean legislators sent a formal request to Beijing seeking information about her status. South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent similar communications. None have received a response. Her fate remains unknown, with no confirmation of release or return.
The Chinese government should immediately disclose the status of all detained North Koreans, halt all forced returns, and provide asylum or safe passage to a safe third country.
Governments engaging with Beijing, including ahead of the expected United States-China summit in May, should raise cases like that of Geum Sung’s mother and press Chinese authorities on their obligations under international law, which prohibits returning individuals to countries where they face persecution or other harm.
They should remember that behind every diplomatic handshake with Chinese officials are people like Geum Sung's mother: invisible, unaccounted for, and at risk.
Belarus Escalates Punitive Use of ‘Extremism’ Legislation
Belarusian authorities are systematically using vaguely defined “extremism” laws to target dissent, including Belarusians in exile.
Most recently, on April 14, the Belarusian Supreme Court designated the Lithuania-based European Humanities University an “extremist organization,” claiming it was “destabilizing the sociopolitical situation in the country.” This exposes thousands of current and former students and professors, the majority of them Belarusian, to criminal prosecution in absentia or in Belarus for teaching, attending classes, or having any interaction with the university, even prior to the designation.
Since the beginning of 2026, the authorities have declared another 23 organizations “extremist formations,” including a chat group for political prisoners’ family members, political opposition groups, and independent media.
On February 27, the Belarusian State Security Committee designated PEN Belarus and two of its alleged members as “an extremist formation.” PEN Belarus is one of the oldest Belarusian human rights organizations, defending freedom of speech and promoting cultural rights. The authorities added PEN’s social media pages to the official list of “extremist materials.”
On March 11, the State Security Committee issued a similar decision in relation to Human Constanta, a prominent rights group working to protect the rights of foreigners and stateless people and to advance digital rights and freedoms. The designation extended to four people allegedly affiliated with the organization, including Nasta Lojka, who was released and deported to Lithuania without documents a day later as a part of the political prisoners’ release negotiated by the US government.
On March 31, State Security added another leading rights group, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, to their list of “extremist formations” and banned their websites, social media channels, and email addresses.
Twelve Belarusian and international human rights organizations condemned the use of “extremism” laws against human rights groups.
Belarusian legislation on “extremism” is purposefully broad and vague. “Extremism” charges have been long used by the authorities to crack down on critics, including in exile. More than 1,000 political prisoners have been prosecuted on “extremism” charges over the past 5 years.
The recent victims of these punitive designations, seemingly done for politically motivated reasons, indicate that despite the prisoner releases, repression and abuse continue. The United States and the European Union should place the need to end the human rights crisis at the core of any negotiations with the Belarusian authorities.
France: Denial of Entry to Palestinian Activist Blocks Advocacy
(Paris, April 17, 2026) – France has refused to grant an entry visa to Shawan Jabarin, the director of Al-Haq, one of the leading and oldest Palestinian human rights organizations, based in the occupied West Bank. Jabarin was due to travel to France to appear before the European Parliament’s Human Rights Committee in Strasbourg, alongside representatives from other Palestinian organizations.
This is the second time Jabarin has been denied entry into France; in October 2025, French authorities rejected his application to renew his Schengen visa, reportedly citing “threats to public order or internal security” without providing any details.
The following quote can be attributed to Bénédicte Jeannerod, France director at Human Rights Watch:
“The French authorities’ shameful decision prevented one of the most prominent human rights defenders in Palestine from appearing in person before the European Parliament. It is particularly shocking at a time when Palestinian civil society organizations are facing the combined disastrous effects of the Israeli authorities’ attempts to marginalize and destroy them and US sanctions. The French authorities, who host European institutions that work to promote human rights, have a responsibility to facilitate that work, and should not be frustrating it by denying access to human rights defenders.”
India: Proposed Rules to Expand Online Censorship
(New York) – The Indian government should immediately withdraw rules that would allow greater executive control over online content and further undermine privacy in the country, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules, 2026, would allow the government to treat ordinary social media users who comment on news and current affairs on par with registered news publishers, threatening to chill free expression and cause self-censorship. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has invited public comments on the draft rules by April 29, 2026.
“The Indian government has repeatedly amended information technology rules since 2021, with each amendment giving the authorities increasing control over online content,” said Jayshree Bajoria, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government claims these rules have been aimed at ‘fake news’ and hate speech but instead they have been used to target dissent.”
The proposed rules emerge amid a significant increase in Indian government censorship in 2026. The authorities have directed social media platforms to block scores of online posts critical of the government, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without any transparent process.
India’s central government already has the authority to issue blocking orders under section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and it has frequently used such orders to target content that is critical rather than unlawful. The IT Act also allows several central ministries and state governments to issue blocking orders under section 79(3)(b).
The exact number of blocking requests is unknown because the government issues them in secret, leaving users in the dark about why their posts were blocked and without an opportunity to contest the decision. Since February, X has informed scores of users that their posts were blocked in India, many of them satire or posts from opposition politicians. X also suspended several accounts, mainly for posting content critical of or mocking the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government or Prime Minister Modi. Transparency reporting from Meta indicates an exponential increase in content restricted on Instagram and Facebook in India in response to government orders for each reporting period between January 2024 and December 2025.
In the landmark 2015 case Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, the Supreme Court laid down some procedural safeguards. The central government has to provide reasons for a blocking order in writing and only an officer at least at a joint secretary-level can issue orders. The authorities are required to inform the affected user, if identifiable, and to give them an opportunity to respond. A review committee has to review the orders. And intermediaries or internet companies need to comply with takedown notices only if they receive “actual knowledge” of unlawful content through a court order or government notification.
Instead of complying with the court ruling, the central government has introduced a steady stream of amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2011, creating a regulatory framework that systematically enables censorship, Human Rights Watch said. The intermediary guidelines lay out requirements that internet companies must meet for so-called safe harbor protections, providing them immunity from liability for third-party content on their platforms.
In 2021, the government amended the rules to significantly expand their scope to include digital news services and curated video streaming sites even though the IT Act did not include them. The amendments also introduced a traceability requirement, which would compromise end-to-end encryption, and lacked adequate procedural safeguards for user information or takedown requests made by law enforcement agencies.
In 2023, the government further amended the rules to establish a fact-checking body, which would decide whether content posted about the government was fake, false, or misleading, in effect empowering itself to be the arbiter of truth online. In March 2024, the Supreme Court put a stay on establishing such a unit. Courts also put stays on the compliance requirements for digital news media under the “Code of Ethics” framework and establishment of a three-tier grievance redress mechanism. The Madras High Court stated that the “oversight mechanism to control the media by the Government may rob the media of its independence and the fourth pillar of democracy may not at all be there.”
In October 2025, the central government further amended the rules, formalizing the union Home Ministry’s Sahyog portal, a centralized platform that allows a number of agencies and state governments to issue takedown notices with little transparency and even fewer safeguards. This parallel mechanism, distinct from those discussed above, would soon become “the primary censorship tool,” says the New Delhi-based digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation, because it is “procedurally simpler, faster, and routed through an online platform, while lacking hearings, independent committee review, or public disclosure.”
In February 2026, through yet another amendment, the government shortened the response time granted to platforms for removing “unlawful” content from 36 hours to 3 hours.
Now, under the proposed rules, instead of a court order or a government notification, the intermediaries would be required to comply with a range of executive-issued clarifications, advisories, directions, standard operating procedures, codes of practice, and guidelines, to retain their safe harbor protection under section 79 of the IT Act.
Under the proposed rules, ordinary social media users who comment on current affairs would be required to comply with the same “Code of Ethics” framework as formal publishers and establish a multitiered self-regulation mechanism. They also empower an executive body, an “Inter-Departmental Committee,” to effectively act as a censorship committee, to review content referred to it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and recommend actions ranging from an apology from the content’s creator to taking it down.
Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Yet the risk of losing market access or safe harbor protections, combined with shorter timelines and increasing number of requests to remove user-generated content means companies are likely to censor legitimate expression, Human Rights Watch said.
“People should be able to post a photo of a broken streetlight, share a joke, or seek basic accountability from government officials without fear of government action,” Bajoria said. “The proposed rules would increase government authority to stifle independent voices even as there are significant concerns over its growing crackdown on independent media, human rights groups, and peaceful critics.”