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One Year on Since Arrest of Opposition Leader in Chad
One year after Chadian authorities arrested and later sentenced Succès Masra, the prominent opposition leader and former prime minister, his continued imprisonment on politically motivated charges underscores the government’s intolerance of dissent.
Masra, leader of the opposition party Les Transformateurs (The Transformers), was arrested at his residence in N’Djamena early on May 16, 2025. He was accused of inciting hatred and violence through social media posts following May 14 intercommunal clashes in Logone Occidental province that killed dozens. Directly following the killings, he took to social media where he expressed condolences to the victims and stated that “no Chadian’s life should be taken for granted.”
A Chadian court convicted Masra in August 2025 on charges of inciting violence and complicity in murder, sentencing him to 20 years in prison. Masra, who pleaded not guilty, was tried alongside dozens of co-defendants, most of whom also received 20-year sentences. The court also imposed a substantial fine on the defendants.
Immediately following the conviction, Masra’s lawyers filed an appeal, which is still pending.
While clashes between herder and farmer communities are recurrent in southern Chad, Masra’s arrest fits a broader pattern of shrinking political space. Prior to the May 2024 presidential elections, in which Masra ran against then-transitional President Mahamat Idriss Déby, Masra and his supporters faced threats and arbitrary arrests. A prominent opposition figure was killed in the run-up to the vote with no accountability.
After the election, Masra alleged the vote was rigged.
Security forces have also used excessive force against protesters, including during demonstrations in 2021 and 2022 that left scores dead and injured. Hundreds were arbitrarily detained, with some subjected to ill-treatment. On May 8, eight opposition leaders were tried and sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of rebellion and insurrection after they attempted to organize a banned pro-democracy protest.
Now it has been a year since Masra was detained, and the Supreme Court should hear his appeal.
Regional actors including the Economic Community of Central African States, who have thus far failed to protect democratic principles in Chad, also have a role to play. They should press Chad to restore political rights and comply with prior agreements such as the Kinshasa Accord, which aimed to guarantee safe political activity for opposition parties, including Masra’s.
Ukraine’s Proposed Legislation Threatens Rights
Ukraine’s parliament on April 28 advanced a bill to make sweeping reform of the national civil code, which raises significant human rights concerns.
The draft, which was adopted in the first reading, does not include same-sex partnerships in the definition of “marriage.” A recent landmark ruling from Ukraine’s Supreme Court recognized that a same-sex partnership constituted “family,” yet the legislators, instead of endorsing that shift towards equality, are choosing to further entrench discrimination in law. Without formal legal recognition, same-sex partners in Ukraine are not considered family, blocking access to a range of rights.
While public support for family equality in Ukraine has soared to over 70 percent since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, this bill appears frozen in the past, failing to reflect a society that has fundamentally progressed.
Other provisions are equally problematic. The bill repeatedly refers to an ambiguous concept of “good morals” in relation to regulating private relations, opening the door to arbitrary interpretation. Archaically, the draft allows a former husband to compel his ex-wife to revert to her maiden name based on his assessment of her “immoral” conduct while married. A mandatory “reconciliation process” for divorcing couples with children could trap people in harmful or abusive situations.
The bill also undermines the best interests of the child and weakens protections for people with disabilities. It permits retroactively changing an adopted child’s date and place of birth and keeping secret from the child the fact of their adoption. The bill also effectively legalizes the abandonment of children with disabilities by allowing parents to leave them at healthcare facilities. Additionally, the draft retains a rigid guardianship system, stripping people with disabilities of legal capacity and denying them autonomy over decisions regarding their medical care and family life.
Some legislators have defended the bill, noting it reflects “years of work” by legal experts. However, leading human rights groups raised alarm that the draft puts Ukraine afoul of its international obligations—including the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The bill also departs from the European Union non-discrimination principles, potentially complicating Ukraine’s accession path.
During the next stages of the legislative process parliament should bring the draft in line with Ukraine’s international obligations. Legal reform should be designed to protect, not undermine, Ukrainians’ human rights and to promote equality and the rule of law.
New York Considers Measures to Rein in ICE
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a proposed budget deal that includes reforms aimed at blunting the abusive impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the state. The White House “border czar” Tom Homan has threatened to retaliate against such reforms, stating that ICE would “flood the zone” in New York or other states that pass similar legislation. New York leaders should stand up to the federal government’s abuse and do even more to protect immigrant rights.
Human Rights Watch was in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minnesota over the last year documenting widespread abuse by federal immigration agents including unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, excessive force, discrimination, and disruptions in access to health care, education, food, and work.
Hochul’s proposed reforms would bar 287(g) agreements that deputize local authorities for immigration enforcement. These agreements can lead to increased abuses and threaten public safety by, for example, deterring domestic violence survivors and other victims of crime from calling the police. But leading immigrant rights groups note that Hochul’s proposals still enable local coordination with ICE and are calling for lawmakers to impose more comprehensive restrictions.
Proposed reforms would also ban the use of face coverings by law enforcement. The widespread practice of immigration agents hiding their identities exacerbates community fear and impedes accountability, and the federal government is not utilizing this concealment in furtherance of any legitimate purpose. ICE agents’ names and badge numbers should also be visible.
Another proposed reform would enable residents to sue local or federal officials under state law for violating the US Constitution, which could open an important pathway for accountability. Local advocates have also called for state lawmakers to eliminate qualified immunity, which shields officers from liability.
New York should take additional steps, including considering increasing funding to immigration legal services. Many advocates are also calling for lawmakers to pass the Dignity Not Detention Act to prohibit state, local, or private actors from contracting with ICE to carry out immigration detention, and the New York for All Act to restrict local coordination and resourcing of immigration enforcement actions.
State leaders should urgently enact measures to protect New Yorkers, including by broadly prohibiting collaboration with ICE abuse, restricting law enforcement’s use of masks, and helping to ensure accessible pathways to justice and accountability.
US Foreign Aid Cuts Harm Human Rights Globally
(Washington, DC) – The United States government’s abrupt cuts to nearly all US foreign aid in 2025 harmed the global human rights movement and countless people at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a 42-page paper issued today.
“Every Autocrat’s Dream: A Global Snapshot of the Human Rights Harms of US Foreign Aid Cuts” examines the immediate consequences of the aid cuts to the work of human rights defenders around the world. Investigations into abuses were halted, support for victims cut off, and organizations that helped deter violations were forced to scale back or close.
“The US government’s withdrawal of support from the global human rights movement was music to the ears of autocrats,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “The foreign aid cuts have made it harder to document human rights violations, protect communities at risk, and hold human rights abusers to account.”
The US government had been the largest donor to human rights work around the world for decades, until the Trump administration gutted US foreign aid between January and March 2025. Valid criticisms of foreign aid programs notwithstanding, the sudden and massive US funding cuts had immediate detrimental effects worldwide.
Human Rights Watch examined the impact of aid cuts on media freedom, access to information, and digital security; combating discrimination and targeted violence; and justice, accountability, and the rule of law. The snapshot includes cases from 16 countries: Afghanistan, North Korea, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Haiti, Myanmar, Thailand, Tanzania, El Salvador, Georgia, Nicaragua, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.
Every Autocrat’s Dream: A Global Snapshot of the Human Rights Harms of US Foreign Aid CutsThe cases are snapshots of the weeks and months immediately following the aid cuts to illustrate the human rights implications of the Trump administration’s decisions in various contexts.
While no government is obligated to provide foreign aid, the way the United States terminated assistance caused foreseeable harm and demands accountability, Human Rights Watch said. The US Congress should mandate an independent review to assess the human rights consequences of the 2025 aid reductions and program terminations and restore funding for human rights in future appropriations. Policymakers, donor governments, and private philanthropy should act urgently to rebuild support for the global human rights movement in a sustainable and rights-respecting way.
“By cutting funding so quickly and comprehensively, the US government pulled away the lifeline for many people facing abuse,” Yager said. “The resilience of human rights groups amid rising authoritarianism and global crises has been extraordinary, but their determination is not a substitute for sustained support.
DR Congo: M23 Rebels Commit Atrocities in Eastern City
(Kinshasa) – The M23 armed group and Rwandan military forces carried out an abusive month-long occupation of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Uvira beginning in December 2025, Human Right Watch said in a report released today.
The 23-page report,“‘We Are Civilians!’: Killings, Sexual Violence, and Abductions by the M23 and Rwandan Forces in Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo,” documents the M23 and Rwandan forces’ occupation of Uvira, the second largest city in South Kivu province from December 10, 2025, days after the signing of the United States-brokered Washington Accords, until their withdrawal on January 17, 2026. During this time, these forces shot fleeing civilians, summarily executed more than 50 people during door-to-door searches, raped at least 8 women, and forcibly disappeared at least 12 people.
May 14, 2026 “We Are Civilians!”“After taking control of Uvira, M23 fighters and Rwandan forces went door-to-door to summarily kill men and boys and committed rape and abductions,” said Philippe Bolopion, executive director at Human Rights Watch. “Human Rights Watch documented numerous horrific abuses but may have only scratched the surface. Criminal investigations are needed, including by the International Criminal Court, to ensure these crimes do not go unpunished.”
The report, the result of the first field research into abuses in Uvira during the M23 and Rwandan occupation, is based on over 120 interviews conducted in March and April 2026. Human Rights Watch wrote to the government of Rwanda and to Bertrand Bisimwa, the head of the M23, to provide the report’s preliminary findings, but received no responses.
On March 2, the US government imposed sanctions on the Rwandan army and its commanders for their role in the capture and occupation of Uvira.
The M23, first formed in 2012 as a rebellion against the Congolese government, reemerged in late 2021 with support from Rwanda. Since then, fighting between the M23 and Rwandan forces, on one side, and Congolese armed forces along with allies including the abusive militias known as the Wazalendo, on the other, have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in North and South Kivu, in eastern Congo. The warring parties have committed unlawful killings, rape, forced recruitment, and forced labor.
While taking control of Uvira, the M23 and Rwandan forces repeatedly fired their weapons at civilians, killing and wounding them, including those attempting to flee to safety. One man who tried to flee with family members saw four of them shot as they tried to flee the city on December 10. “It was chaos,” he said. “We had small bags that we threw off and we ran. I wasn't hit so I just ran to the lake. I saw my brother, his wife, and two of his children fall.”
Once M23 and Rwandan forces had control of Uvira, they began seeking out men and boys in door-to-door operations, accusing them of ties to the Wazalendo and executing many on the spot. Human Rights Watch documented the summary execution of 53 civilians by the M23 and Rwandan forces, most on December 10.
Human Rights Watch also documented eight cases of rape by M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers against women in and around Uvira. Survivors spoke of the near-total lack of accessible healthcare services during the occupation, particularly the absence of timely post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) treatment to prevent contracting HIV, and of adequate care for injuries and infections resulting from sexual violence.
The M23 also abducted civilians into their forces during the Uvira occupation. In at least 12 documented cases, their whereabouts remain unknown.
Congolese and Rwandan authorities, with international support, should commit to a full accounting of the abuses by the M23 and Rwanda military forces that occurred during the occupation of Uvira.
Rwanda should cease its support for the abusive M23, Human Rights Watch said. The Congolese government, in collaboration with international bodies, should conduct prompt, transparent, and impartial investigations into serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the parties to the conflict, and ensure that those responsible are held accountable in fair and transparent trials.
Communal graves remain across the city. The Congolese government should facilitate investigations by independent human rights monitors and instruct military and administrative authorities to facilitate their access, protect witnesses, and preserve any evidence. Congolese authorities should ensure the protection of Uvira civilians, including by ending support to and removing abusive Wazalendo militias from the city.
International partners of both Congo and Rwanda should support the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Human Rights Situation in the South and North Kivu Provinces, mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2025, so that it is able to fulfill its mandate. These governments should also sanction M23 and Rwandan commanders and others implicated in serious violations and review military and security assistance and cooperation with Rwanda to ensure such support is not fueling further violations.
“The occupation of Uvira shows the abusive methods used by the M23 and Rwandan forces,” Bolopion said. “Victims and their families in Uvira seek justice and an end to the impunity that drives these crimes. Congo’s supporters need to step up to support these efforts.”
Indonesia Inches Towards Protections for Domestic Workers
Two female domestic workers, ages 15 and 18, jumped from the fourth floor of a Jakarta boarding house on April 22 in a desperate attempt to escape their employer. One died; the other was severely injured.
The tragedy came just a day after Indonesia’s parliament finally approved the long‑awaited Domestic Workers Protection Law, granting domestic workers long denied legal safeguards. But passing the law is only the first step: the government now has one year to draft implementing regulations and set protection standards, slowing the rollout of critical safeguards.
The two domestic workers were fleeing an allegedly exploitative environment—and they are far from alone. Indonesia has about 4.2 million domestic workers, 90 percent of whom are women. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated in 2012 that around 700,000 were children under age 18.
Human Rights Watch has documented that domestic workers are often isolated in private homes, cut off from support networks, and trapped in conditions that heighten their vulnerability to abuse. Survivors of sexual violence reported feeling unable to escape, pressured to keep working for financial reasons, or threatened with further harm if they spoke out.
According to Jala PRT, Indonesia’s National Network for Domestic Workers, there were 3,300 reported cases of violence and abuse against domestic workers between 2017 and 2024, including sexual, physical, and economic abuse, as well as forced labor, trafficking, and torture.
For over two decades, civil society groups and unions have pushed for stronger protections. The new law, 22 years in the making, finally recognizes domestic workers as formal workers, regulates their conditions, and provides access to vocational training, health insurance, unemployment benefits, time off, and pensions. It also sets 18 as the minimum age for domestic work, banning the hiring of children who face greater risk of exploitation.
“The most important thing now is recognition of working hours, religious holiday allowances, wages, days off, accommodation and food, as well as social security and social assistance—all of which have been missing and have kept domestic workers in poverty,” said Lita Anggraini, Jala PRT’s national coordinator.
For the law to deliver real change, the government needs to implement it quickly, establish clear enforcement mechanisms, and ensure that domestic workers can safely report abuse. Indonesia should move to ratify ILO Convention No. 189 on domestic workers and 190 on violence and harassment, aligning national protections with international labor standards.
ICC: Landmark First Hearing in Libya Atrocity Case
(The Hague) – The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) upcoming landmark hearing in the case of Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes, is a long-awaited breakthrough for victims of serious crimes in Libya, Human Rights Watch said today.
From May 19 to 21, 2026, ICC judges will hear evidence against El Hishri in a “confirmation of charges” hearing to determine whether the case against him should proceed to trial. He is the first person to face justice before the ICC concerning atrocities in Libya since the United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the ICC prosecutor in 2011, to investigate serious crimes committed following the country’s uprising. Human Rights Watch has published a question-and-answer document about the upcoming proceedings.
“Finally seeing a suspect on the docket at the ICC, 15 years after the end of Libya’s 2011 revolution, sends a powerful message to thousands of victims of serious crimes in Libya that their struggle for justice has not been forgotten,” said Alice Autin, international justice researcher at Human Rights Watch. “As atrocities persist across Libya, progress in this case should spur action from Libyan authorities and the international community to end the pervasive impunity that continues to fuel violence.”
El Hishri is a former senior member of the Deterrence Apparatus for Countering Terrorism and Organized Crime (al-Radaa), a Tripoli-based militia affiliated with the Presidential Council and formerly known as the Special Deterrence Force.
The ICC Office of the Prosecutor alleges that El Hishri is responsible for 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including torture, rape, sexual violence, murder, enslavement, and persecution. The charges relate to crimes allegedly committed at Libya’s notorious Mitiga Prison in Tripoli, between 2014 and 2020, against both Libyan and non-Libyan detainees. El Hishri is alleged to have directly committed, ordered, and facilitated these crimes through the authority he wielded over the prison.
German authorities arrested El Hishri in July 2025 on an ICC warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Mitiga Prison. They surrendered him to the court, in The Hague, in December 2025.
Human Rights Watch, other human rights and humanitarian organizations as well as the UN have documented inhumane conditions in detention centers and prisons across Libya, many run by abusive and unaccountable armed groups nominally affiliated with the authorities. Successive Libyan governments and interim authorities have failed to end this practice or to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for serious abuses committed in the detention centers.
The ICC has issued public arrest warrants against 14 individuals in relation to the Libya investigation, including El Hishri. Four have since died or were killed, and eight others remain at large. ICC judges declared the case against Abdullah al-Senussi, the intelligence chief under former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, inadmissible before the court.
German authorities’ successful arrest and surrender of El Hishri to the ICC is especially important because it demonstrates how ICC member countries can contribute to the court’s delivery of justice when they fulfill their obligation to cooperate with the ICC, Human Rights Watch said.
In January 2025, Italy, also an ICC member, failed to surrender El Hishri’s alleged co-perpetrator at Mitiga Prison, Osama Elmasry Njeem, to the court after arresting him. Instead, Italian authorities sent him back to Libya. In October 2025, ICC judges found that Italy breached its obligation to cooperate with the court and, in January 2026, referred it to the court’s member countries for further action.
Under the Security Council resolution that referred the situation in Libya to the ICC prosecutor and Libyan authorities’ 2025 decision to accept the court’s jurisdiction from 2011 to 2027, Libya—though not an ICC member—has a clear obligation to cooperate with the court. This includes the arrest and transfer to the ICC of individuals wanted by the court who are on its territory. However, Libya’s cooperation with the court to date has remained largely inadequate. Some Libyan authorities have opposed the trial of Libyans outside of Libya as a matter of principle and questioned the need for the ICC’s involvement in some investigations in the country.
Libyan authorities have reportedly arrested at least two suspects also wanted by the ICC in relations to serious crimes in Tarhuna, based on domestic investigations. They also reportedly arrested Njeem in Tripoli in November 2025 and placed him in pretrial detention.
The ICC is a court of last resort and national courts have the primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute serious crimes committed on their territory. However, when ICC investigations have already led to arrest warrants, domestic authorities have to demonstrate to the court that they are trying the ICC suspects for the same crimes being tried by the court. Njeem’s defense counsel has filed a challenge with ICC judges, claiming that there are ongoing criminal proceedings against Njeem in Libya that cover substantially the same conduct for which he is wanted by the ICC. The issue is currently pending before the ICC judges. Libyan authorities should swiftly transfer all ICC suspects in their custody to the court in The Hague, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch has found that Libya’s fragmented justice sector remains marred by serious due process violations and laws that breach international norms, and that the judiciary is unwilling and unable to meaningfully investigate serious crimes.
“The El Hishri confirmation of charges hearing highlights how important it is for countries to cooperate with the ICC,” Autin said. “Further progress on justice for serious crimes in Libya hinges on Libyan authorities fulfilling their legal duty to surrender suspects sought by the ICC.”
ILO Labor Treaty Should Protect All Gig Workers
(New York) – Gig workers around the world experience long hours, unpredictable and declining pay, and serious safety risks, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Governments negotiating a landmark treaty under the International Labour Organization (ILO) on platform work in June 2026 should adopt strong, binding standards to ensure fair pay, safe working conditions, and access to social security for gig workers worldwide.
The multimedia report, “Algorithms of Exploitation: Rights Abuses in the Gig Economy and the Global Fight for Change,” documents the experiences of platform workers across nine countries, including India, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the United Kingdom. Human Rights Watch found that workers across all countries studied face low and unstable earnings, unsafe working conditions, and little or no protection when they are injured or unable to work.
Algorithms of Exploitation Rights Abuses in the Gig Economy and the Global Fight For Change“Platform companies have built a business model that sidesteps labor protections and shifts risks and costs onto the workers,” said Lena Simet, senior economic justice advisor at Human Rights Watch. “The ILO negotiations are the first global effort to get governments to course correct and ensure that using this model does not come at the expense of workers’ rights.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed drivers and delivery workers in India, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK as well as migrant returnees from Bangladesh and Nepal who previously worked for companies in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait to show examples of the human impact of unregulated work in the platform economy.
The ILO estimates that platform work nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021, while the World Bank estimates that up to 435 million people worldwide earn income through these labor platforms. Yet labor protections have not kept pace.
The convention under negotiation should address existing gaps in protection by including key guarantees for all platform workers, regardless of employment status, Human Rights Watch said. Because platform companies routinely classify workers as independent contractors or self-employed, this in many countries excludes them from minimum wage, social security, and occupational safety guarantees.
Workers described long hours, unpredictable and declining pay, and serious safety risks, often without social security or support if an injury or illness left them unable to work.
Apraham Orfalian, a driver in Beirut, said his earnings have declined steadily since 2015, leaving him unable to cover everyday expenses or contribute to social security. After his car and phone were stolen in a violent robbery while he was working for Uber, he was left without income and said he received no support from the company.
Agnes Mwongera, a driver in Nairobi, said she had been assaulted by a passenger and received no response when she reported the attack to her company.
Graeme Franes, a courier who used a bicycle to deliver food in Scotland, UK, said he was unable to work for six months after an attack left him with a broken arm. “I had to rely on friends and family,” he said. “That was a really tough time.”
By classifying gig workers as independent contractors, companies in many countries are able to avoid obligations for minimum wages, occupational safety, and social security. At the same time, they exercise significant control over workers through algorithmic systems that determine pay, assign tasks, and can suspend workers often without transparency or effective recourse.
Human Rights Watch previously found that after expenses, many platform workers in the United States earn well below a living wage and the statutory minimum wage. Workers in other countries reported similar dynamics, with earnings often insufficient to meet everyday expenses. This exploitative model allows companies to capture a growing share of revenue while shifting costs onto workers, contributing to widening inequality in labor markets.
Human Rights Watch urges governments to adopt strong standards that:
Establish a presumption of employment for workers when companies exercise control over them, to prevent misclassification; Require fair pay, including compensation for all working time, and earnings that meet at least minimum wage or living wage standards; Guarantee access to social security for all workers, including in cases of injury, illness, unemployment, and older age; Mandate algorithmic transparency from platform companies, including information for workers on how their pay is calculated, how tasks and jobs are priced and assigned, and how incentive programs work; Ensure accountability for platform companies, including accessible ways for workers to challenge automated decisions, including decisions to deactivate their accounts;Extend occupational health and safety protections to all platform workers and require the companies to adopt safeguards against extreme heat and other dangerous working conditions; andGuarantee workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively without retaliation.
Human Rights Watch has contributed to the ILO process through submissions outlining rights-aligned approaches to regulating platform work, including proposals developed jointly with civil society organizations.
“The decisions governments make now will shape the future of work for millions of people,” Simet said. “They should ensure that platform work is governed by fair pay, safety, and social security, not exploitation.”
Venezuela: Exclusions, Procedures Mar Amnesty Law
(Washington, DC) – Venezuela’s new amnesty law has serious shortcomings that exclude many people who have been arbitrarily detained and is being applied in ways that may deny release to people who should be eligible, Human Rights Watch said today.
The law is ostensibly an effort to help Venezuela move forward from years of political repression under former President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan authorities say that more than 8,600 people, including over 300 who had been imprisoned, have benefited from the law, though without providing a list. However, many opposition members, journalists, and human rights defenders who had been arbitrarily detained have been excluded. At least 457 political prisoners remain behind bars, according to the human rights group Foro Penal
“Venezuela’s new amnesty law falls notably short of ensuring the release of anyone arbitrarily detained for political reasons,” said Juanita Goebertus Estrada, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “What’s worse, its unfair and opaque implementation has further undermined whatever limited promise it held.”
Venezuela’s National Assembly approved the amnesty law on February 19, 2026, with the stated purpose of “promoting social peace and democratic coexistence” by granting a “full and general amnesty” for certain offenses committed between 1999 and 2026. Venezuelan authorities should ensure that the law is applied transparently and to its fullest extent, and should explore additional legal avenues to drop criminal charges against everyone who has faced arbitrary prosecution, Human Rights Watch said.
Under the law, Venezuelan courts, which lack independence from the executive branch, are responsible for reviewing individual amnesty requests.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 people whom Foro Penal and other human rights groups have identified as political prisoners, and whose amnesty requests were denied or pending at the time of the interviews. Researchers also interviewed two lawyers representing potential beneficiaries as well as members of several Venezuelan human rights organizations monitoring its implementation. Human Rights Watch additionally reviewed ten court decisions denying amnesty requests and three appeals.
President Delcy Rodríguez suggestedon April 23 that the amnesty law had fulfilled its purpose and was coming to an end. Congressman Jorge Arreaza, who leads a National Assembly commission tasked with monitoring compliance with the law, later clarified that it remained in place. Yet he estimated that the law had already covered most eligible cases. The two lawyers interviewed, as well as Foro Penal, said that some courts had apparently refused to accept new amnesty petitions since Rodríguez’s announcement.
Authorities have denied amnesty to opposition leaders such as Perkins Rocha and Henry Alviarez, members of the opposition party Vente Venezuela; human rights defender Javier Tarazona, director of the human rights organization Fundaredes; a group of union leaders; and journalist and activist Carlos Julio Rojas.
The law contains limitations that seriously undermine its stated purpose. Although the law claims to cover acts committed since 1999, it limits eligibility to those prosecuted “in the context” of specific events occurring in certain years. It also includes vaguely defined provisions that allow judges to deny amnesty to people who have been prosecuted for acts protected under international human rights law.
Even beyond its inherent limitations, the law’s implementation has been marked by significant shortcomings. Some people seeking amnesty, including some who have been imprisoned for years, have not been adequately informed about the accusations or evidence presented against them, making it harder for them to argue that they meet the already narrow eligibility criteria in the law.
In some cases, judges have also failed to explain the legal basis for their decisions to deny amnesty. They have also restricted access to case files and to private legal representation.
Venezuelan authorities should ensure the unconditional release of anyone arbitrarily detained or prosecuted, including for political reasons, Human Rights Watch said.
The new Peace and Democratic Coexistence Program created by President Rodríguez should assess cases in which amnesty has been denied or remains pending, and it should urgently call on the government to proceed without delay in granting people pardons if they were arbitrarily or otherwise wrongfully detained and to release them unconditionally. The program should also review the cases of people who were excluded from the law because they have been accused of violent crimes without basis.
The newly appointed ombudsperson, Eglée González, should closely monitor the law’s implementation and press the authorities to apply it in a transparent, even-handed way that respects due process. The newly appointed attorney general, Larry Devoe, should support amnesty requests by people arbitrarily detained and explore additional legal avenues under Venezuelan law to close arbitrary investigations against critics.
Venezuelan authorities should also take broader steps to restore the independence and integrity of the judiciary, including by ensuring transparent, merit-based appointments to vacant seats in the Supreme Court, Human Rights Watch said. They should also reform or repeal laws that have enabled the arbitrary prosecution of critics, such as the 2017 Law Against Hatred and the 2012 Law Against Organized Crime and Terrorism Financing.
“Foreign governments should monitor the release of political prisoners and the broader efforts to reform the judiciary as key benchmarks to assess whether there is progress in respecting human rights in Venezuela,” Goebertus said.
Loopholes, Other Problems in the Law
The amnesty law claims to cover “all actions or omissions constituting crimes or misdemeanors” committed since 1999. However, it includes three sets of provisions that exclude many people who have been arbitrarily detained.
First, the law limits eligibility to people prosecuted “in the context” of specific events, including the 2014 and 2017 protests and the 2024 and 2025 electoral processes, each confined to narrowly defined time frames.
In some cases, judges have denied amnesty to people who had been arbitrarily detained on the apparent basis that their cases did not fall within the specific events covered by the law, although some decisions fail to articulate a clear basis for denying amnesty.
For example, on March 5, 2026, a judge in Caracas denied amnesty to five union workers who had been detained in 2022 after participating in protests demanding wage increases and better working conditions for the public sector. Among other reasons, the judge cited the fact that their detention was not connected to the specific events covered by the law. In 2023, they were convicted of “conspiracy” and “criminal association.” They were released in December 2023 under the condition of reporting periodically to the courts. The conviction still stands.
Second, the law contains broadly defined provisions allowing judges to exclude people who may have been arbitrarily detained for acts that amount to protected speech. In particular, the law excludes anyone accused of “promoting, instigating, facilitating, financing, or participating in armed or forceful actions against the people, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Venezuela.”
Third, the law excludes people accused of “military rebellion,” certain violent crimes such as homicide, and human rights violations. Some of these exclusions are reasonable in principle and, to some extent, even required under international human rights law. However, some people in Venezuela have been arbitrarily prosecuted and convicted of such offenses and should be released unconditionally. Venezuelan authorities should explore additional avenues to ensure that such cases are properly reviewed, that those affected are released, and that the cases against them are dropped, based on a broader analysis of the evidence that does not rely solely on the crimes with which they were charged or convicted.
Among others, authorities should analyze the cases of over 180 members of the military whom Foro Penal considers to be political prisoners, along with those involving allegations of attempted murder against Nicolás Maduro.
In one case, Carlos Julio Rojas, a journalist and activist, was detained in April 2024 and accused, among other crimes, of trying to kill Maduro, accusations that he said were fabricated. He was released in January 2026 under conditions requiring him to report periodically to a judge. He told Human Rights Watch he was detained because of his criticism of Maduro’s government and his work as a journalist and human rights defender. In April, a judge denied his request for amnesty.
The law also requires beneficiaries to “cease” their allegedly criminal conduct, although many have been prosecuted for legitimate and lawful exercises of their rights to freedom of expression and association. This underscores the urgent need to reform or repeal laws, such as the 2017 Law Against Hatred, that have enabled such prosecutions in the first place.
It also requires authorities to remove from their records any information related to individuals benefiting from amnesty. While this measure may eliminate the formal consequences of prosecution for beneficiaries, it does not provide for the preservation or use of such records for future accountability or truth-seeking efforts. Authorities should expunge the records from individuals’ personal files while ensuring that they are otherwise preserved, Human Rights Watch said.
Failures in Implementation
Human Rights Watch identified shortcomings that have undermined the ability of people to argue that they meet the criteria established under the law.
Courts have also often exceeded the 15-day legal deadline for issuing decisions on amnesty requests. Human Rights Watch spoke with several people who had waited for more than two months for a decision in their cases or were still waiting. Lawyers and some applicants said that court officials have justified these delays because of a lack of “instructions from above,” pointing to possible political or other undue interference.
Many people interviewed said they were not adequately informed of the accusations or evidence against them, making it difficult if not impossible for them to argue that their cases meet the requirements of the amnesty law. In some cases, the authorities have limited access to case files, which lawyers need to prepare adequate amnesty requests and effectively represent their clients.
For years, courts have also refused to accept documents where the accused critics, political opponents, and others designate a private counsel, effectively forcing defendants to be represented by a public defender. Several people who requested amnesty said that courts continue this practice, which makes it more difficult for individuals to prepare and submit requests.
“I tried to appoint my lawyer,” an opposition figure said. “They put up many obstacles, telling me not to worry because the public defender could proceed with the request.” However, four people whose amnesty requests were denied and two of their lawyers said that public defenders fail to request amnesty or appeal negative decisions. “We are in a total state of defenselessness,” one of them said.
Courts have often failed to articulate a clear basis for their decisions to deny amnesty. Some rulings Human Rights Watch reviewed simply cite several articles in the law, without specifying which requirements had not been met in the judge’s view.
This practice has enabled decisions that are, or appear to be, inconsistent. In one case documented by Human Rights Watch, a judge granted amnesty to six of eight defendants but denied it to the remaining two, including Perkins Rocha (the only one still under house arrest), although all of them had faced the same charges stemming from seemingly similar events and time periods included in the law. In another case, the judge told the detainee that his amnesty request was rejected because he had been charged with “terrorism,” even though other people charged with the same crime have obtained amnesty.
In at least 10 documented cases, judges failed or delayed providing written copies of decisions denying amnesty. “I asked them for a copy of the decision, but they won’t give it to me,” one person said. Without a formal written ruling, affected individuals are severely hampered in their ability to appeal.
DR Congo: Increasing Repression of Critical Expression
(Kinshasa) – The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are increasingly harassing and arbitrarily detaining journalists, activists, and political opposition members, Human Rights Watch said today.
The clampdown on critical voices has occurred amid the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group’s occupation in eastern Congo and political tensions surrounding a potential constitutional amendment through which President Félix Tshisekedi may seek to extend his presidency beyond the two-term limit. Tshisekedi most recently raised the constitutional revision during a nationally televised news conference on May 6, 2026.
“Congolese citizens have the right to express their opinions and concerns without fear of repression, but doing so is becoming increasingly difficult,” said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Congolese authorities should end their restrictions on the rights to free speech and protest and ensure that everyone in Congo can express their peaceful views without facing harassment, arbitrary arrest, or detention.”
Between January and May 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed six civil society representatives, eight opposition activists, and two journalists in Congo about growing restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
On March 24, police in the capital, Kinshasa, fired tear gas and used violence against protesters peacefully demonstrating against proposed constitutional changes, according to media reports and representatives of the opposition party Commitment for Citizenship and Development Party (Engagement pour la Citoyenneté et le Développement, or ECiDé), who were at the protest.
Two ECiDé representatives said that police arrested 15 opposition members and protesters and took them to the Matete district police station, where they released 5 and transferred the others to the prosecutor's office. The 10 were released the following evening.
Two journalists said that they had to go into hiding after intelligence agents came to their apartments looking for them following the journalists’ statements critical of government policy, including the possibility of a constitutional amendment to extend the presidential term limit.
Congo is engaged in an armed conflict in the east with Rwandan government forces and the abusive M23 armed group, which captured major cities in 2025. As the hostilities have escalated, Congolese authorities have increasingly targeted individuals who they claimed were in collusion with the M23 and other opposition armed groups.
On January 9, National Intelligence Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements) agents arrested Jordan Saidi Atibu, the coordinator of the Kisangani branch of the Observatory of Parliamentary and Government Action (Observatoire d’Actions Parlementaire et Gouvernementale).The group was created in Bukavu, South Kivu province, several years before the M23 took control of the city in February 2025. A credible source said the intelligence agency questioned Atibu because of his appointment as head of the movement. He spent 40 days in a cell with no access to light before his release.
On March 3, three intelligence agents arrested Serge Sindani, a journalist and director of Kis24.info, and questioned him about having ties to the M23 and the Alliance Fleuve Congo, the political-military coalition that includes the M23. He was held for 10 days without charge.
A Human Rights Watch report previously documented 17 cases of enforced disappearances of political figures and human rights activists, with many found, sometimes months later, in the custody of the National Cyber Defense Council (Conseil national de cyberdéfense, or CNC). The CNC, alongside the Congolese National Police and the president’s Republican Guard, has arbitrarily arrested and detained people.
Of those 17 cases, 9 were released and 8 remain in detention. Two of them, Aubin Minaku, former president of the National Assembly as a People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (Parti du peuple pour la reconstruction et la démocratie, or PPRD) representative under former President Joseph Kabila, and Emmanuel Shadary, the PPRD’s permanent secretary, have been in CNC custody since January 18, 2026, and December 16, 2025, respectively. Six were transferred from the CNC but remain in detention, with five awaiting trials for charges of insulting the state or complicity with the M23.
On March 9, the Kinshasa/Ngaliema Peace Tribunal convicted Parole Kamizelo, another PPRD member whom CNC agents arrested on December 6, 2025, on the charge of insulting the head of state. Kamizelo’s lawyer said that they consider the charges to be politically motivated and have filed an appeal.
Members of the opposition parties Action for Democracy and Development in Congo (Action pour la démocratie et le développement au Congo) and Together for the Republic (Ensemble pour la République) reported attacks on their headquarters, although it was often difficult to establish direct responsibility.
The Kinshasa provincial coordinator of Together for the Republic said that on the night of February 21, in Kimbanseke, a Kinshasa municipality, young people identifying themselves as supporters of the leading government party Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union Pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social) vandalized the opposition party’s headquarters. Human Rights Watch has verified a video in which young people were singing lyrics indicating they belonged to the government party while they removed a banner for the opposition party’s leader.
Civil society groups across the country have faced growing repression for criticizing the government’s provision of public services, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities have harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and detained demonstrators during several protests organized by the citizens’ movement Struggle for Change (Lutte pour le Changement, or Lucha). On May 9, a military court convicted three Lucha members of threatening state security and sentenced them to two months in prison, releasing them for time served after they organized a peaceful protest to ask for safe drinking water in Bunia, Ituri province, in March. On January 20, the police arrested and detained four Lucha activists for organizing a peaceful demonstration about growing insecurity in Kalemie, Tanganyika province. They were released the same day.
In Matadi, Kongo Central province, the authorities detained 10 demonstrators for several hours after they participated in a March 23 protest demanding access to electricity, said a protester who was there.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which Congo has ratified, prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and protect everyone’s rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and a fair trial.
“The increasing repression in Congo should be considered an urgent warning sign as the political environment heats up,” Bolopion said. “The authorities should stop harassing and intimidating journalists, opposition members, and civil society activists, release those wrongfully detained, and create a climate in which everyone can freely, openly, and safely challenge the government’s views.”
European Union: Surveillance Technology Sold to Rights Violators
(Brussels, May 12, 2026) – The European Union has failed to prevent member states from exporting surveillance technology to governments with well-documented histories of using technology to spy on activists, journalists, and other critical voices, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The European Commission should strengthen its implementation of EU regulations on the export of cybersurveillance technology to ensure that European technology is not facilitating rights abuses around the world.
The 54-page report, “Looking the Other Way: EU Failure to Prevent Surveillance Exports to Rights Violators,” assesses how the EU’s landmark Dual-Use Regulation, adopted in 2021, is functioning in practice. The regulation was intended, in part, to prevent the export of dual-use technologies—those that may be used for both civilian and military purposes, including commercial surveillance technology—to places where they are likely to be used to violate international humanitarian or human rights law. But that goal is not being achieved because it is not being implemented effectively.
May 12, 2026 Looking the Other Way“The EU is currently doing too little to prevent the export of surveillance technology from its member states to governments who are likely to use it to crack down on dissent,” said Zach Campbell, senior surveillance researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The European Commission should take urgent action to change this and provide much needed transparency for surveillance exports.”
Human Rights Watch sought information about the licensing and exports of such technology through freedom of information requests in each of the 27 EU member states and received data from nearly half of the EU countries that have sent data to the commission. Human Rights Watch analysis of that data, along with its analysis of European Commission public reports and data also obtained via transparency requests, show serious defects in the EU’s current approach.
The EU is home to many of the world’s major developers and exporters of surveillance technology. The EU regulates exports of the most intrusive types of surveillance technology, while individual licensing decisions are taken by national authorities of EU member states.
The EU Dual-Use Regulation, commonly known as the “Dual-Use Recast,” requires member states to report export licensing decisions of certain types of surveillance technology to the European Commission and for the commission to make it public. In 2024, the European Commission issued a recommendation containing implementation guidelines that establish how member states should report their export data.
In those guidelines, the commission has reinterpreted the Dual-Use Recast’s transparency obligations in a manner that has undermined the purpose of the regulation. As a result, the commission’s reports do not provide sufficient detail to facilitate the scrutiny necessary to assess whether the regulation is having its intended effect, Human Rights Watch found.
The data collected by Human Rights Watch nevertheless shows clear evidence of EU member states licensing exports of surveillance technology to authorities in a number of countries with well-documented histories of using such tools to violate rights. The data includes, as examples, evidence of the export of intrusion software, telecommunication interception systems, or both from Bulgaria to Azerbaijan in 2022; the export of telecommunication interception systems from Poland to Rwanda in 2023; as well as other examples of exports of these tools to other countries that have used surveillance technology to crack down on dissent.
Human Rights Watch also found that the European Commission is failing to provide legally required transparency on these exports. In order to promote transparency and further research, Human Rights Watch is publishing the received data online.
In response to questions, the European Commission stated that EU member states are “solely responsible for licensing decisions on dual-use exports.” They explained that their decision, set out in the recommendation, to collect data in a way that obfuscates what technology was sent where was due to a concern “that only a limited number of companies were active in exporting such items at the time of the adoption of the Recommendation, thus potentially violating commercial confidentiality or revealing their identity.”
The European Commission is required by the Dual-Use Recast to begin an evaluation of the regulation later in 2026. It should use this opportunity to strengthen due diligence and transparency requirements to ensure that the EU curbs its export of surveillance technology to abusive governments around the world. It should also ensure that this process provides for meaningful participation of all relevant stakeholders, including human rights and other civil society organizations.
The European Commission should issue new guidelines for implementing the Dual-Use Regulation closer to the letter of the law, which requires EU member states to consider the risk of surveillance technology being used for internal repression or to violate international humanitarian or human rights law. These new guidelines should also mandate real transparency over the exports of surveillance technology from EU member states and require companies exporting surveillance technology to undertake meaningful due diligence into whether their products are likely to be used to violate rights.
States’ human rights obligations include an obligation to regulate the sale and export of surveillance technology. This is due to the inherent threat to the right to privacy the existence of such technology poses, and the potential violation of other rights , –from freedom of expression and assembly, to the right to life and freedom from torture– that can flow from its use, particularly when used to target individuals and communities on a discriminatory basis. To meet this obligation, it is not enough for states to put in place such regulation, but they need to implement and monitor it to ensure that it is achieving its preventative purpose, Human Rights Watch said.
Companies also have their own separate responsibility to respect human rights, which means they should undertake credible human rights due diligence and mitigate human rights risks so that their operations do not facilitate or exacerbate human rights problems.
“It appears as if EU countries and EU-based surveillance companies are putting profits above people despite adopting one of the most progressive regulations to curtail the sale of this harmful technology,” Campbell said. “Real transparency is needed to ensure that the dual-use regulation is working as intended.”
Tunisia Suspends Rights Groups That Shaped Its Democracy
Tunisian authorities on April 24 suspended operations of the Tunisian League for Human Rights, a longstanding refuge for human rights defenders.
Suspensions are a drastic measure that should only be taken as a last resort with clear justification.
Founded in 1976 under a one-party state, the league has been repeatedly targeted since its inception. Many of its leaders were arbitrarily arrested under the governments of both Habib Bourguiba and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Yet the organization withstood the attacks, ultimately outlasting both dictatorships. In the aftermath of the 2011 revolution, it played a crucial role in Tunisia’s democratic transition as part of the Civil Society Quartet, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.
In September 2025, the government notified the league of alleged irregularities relating to its declaration of foreign funding, holding of registers, and general assembly. The organization said it remedied them within the prescribed timeframe and received no further requests on the matter. At the government’s request, a Tunis court ordered the league on April 24 to cease all activities for one month for allegedly violating Decree-Law 88 of 2011 on associations.
The authorities had previously arbitrarily restricted the league’s activities in prisons. The Ministry of Justice stopped honoring the memorandum of understanding that governed its monitoring visits to prisons and detention centers, de facto barring the only independent nongovernmental organization (NGO) in the country such access.
The Tunisian League for Human Rights joins a long list of at least 20 civil society organizations the authorities have arbitrarily suspended since July 2025, in an unprecedented crackdown and a clear weaponization of the country’s administrative and legal processes alongside arrests and abusive prosecutions.
On May 5, Avocats Sans Frontières (Lawyers Without Borders), a prominent NGO based in Tunis, received a similar court-ordered suspension notice. The consequences of this are particularly devastating for the hundreds of people relying on its legal aid services, the only operation of its kind in the country.
These recent suspensions appear to be part of the Tunisian authorities’ campaign to dismantle civil society one suspension order at a time, immobilizing organizations that have for decades defended human rights and access to justice—ensuring that, when human rights are threatened, civil society is not there to respond.
Angola: Flood Survivors Living in Precarious Conditions
(Johannesburg) – Angolan authorities should carry out an independent and credible investigation into the Cavaco River dike collapse and ensure that internally displaced communities receive immediate, adequate, and transparent assistance, Human Rights Watch said today.
Official figures indicate that heavy rainfall and the collapse of the Cavaco River dike on April 12, 2026, triggered devastating floods in Angola’s western Benguela province, killing at least 19 people, leaving 31 missing, and affecting more than 8,000 families. At least 3,624 people were rescued, 1,540 homes were destroyed, 3,871 were damaged, and 2,586 remained flooded in the weeks following the disaster.
“The scale of destruction of the Cavaco River dike collapse in Angola raises serious concerns about the authorities’ ability to prevent and respond to foreseeable risks,” said Sheila Nhancale, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Families affected need immediate humanitarian aid and answers to how the dike collapsed.”
In May 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed eight people in Benguela province, including residents of affected communities, a journalist, two lawyers assisting displaced families, a volunteer supporting flood victims, and a local activist. Human Rights Watch also reviewed official government statements, media reports, and satellite imagery documenting the aftermath of the floods.
The floods affected several urban and semi-urban neighborhoods in Benguela province, including Calomanga, Massangarala, Seta Antiga, Santa Teresa, Cotel, Calomburaco, and Tchipiandalo, as well as areas in Lobito and Catumbela municipalities, residents said.
Many of these areas already faced structural vulnerabilities due to the authorities’ long-standing neglect of residents’ economic, social, and cultural rights, including poor housing conditions and inadequate drainage systems, Human Rights Watch found.
One resident said that ruptures began to appear in the Seta Antiga area on April 12, 2026, and during heavy rainfall the river would overflow into surrounding homes.
A number of people said that the Cavaco River dike had been deteriorating but had not undergone maintenance for many years.
A local journalist monitoring the impact of the floods said prolonged degradation of the infrastructure may have contributed to its collapse. “The dike protecting the city had not been maintained since 2002, that’s more than 20 years of deterioration,” said Dino Calei, the journalist. “In Tchipiandalo, a significant part of the neighborhood has practically ceased to exist due to the recent floods.”
A 35-year-old resident of Calomanga said that the dike had been damaged for a long time. He said that residents had warned authorities during public consultations with the local administrator, but that no action had been taken. Residents also said they made public complaints through the local radio station, but nothing was done.
“It was a tragedy,” said the resident. “Around 8 a.m., water from the Cavaco River entered the neighborhood without any warning. We tried to save children and older people, but many died.” He said that he saw 13 bodies and helped recover 8 of them.
When interviewed on May 3, the resident said that more than 300 people were still sleeping in the open in parts of Calomanga, with limited access to assistance. He said aid was largely limited to occasional distributions of items such as mattresses, while displacement centers remained overcrowded and lacked adequate sanitation, food, and privacy.
The Benguela provincial government said that temporary accommodation centers had been established in old Campismo, new Campismo, the Ombaka National Stadium, and in other public and religious facilities.
But residents and volunteers described inadequate conditions in these centers.
“Conditions in the centers are inhumane,” said Maria do Carmo, who provides support to victims at the old Campismo. “The bathrooms have no privacy or cleanliness, which puts people’s health at risk, especially women. People are forced to relieve themselves in the open out of fear of infections, On May 1, we even ran out of charcoal for cooking and had to organize ourselves using our own means, and the food was not enough for everyone.”
Estrela Francisco, a lawyer assisting affected families, said conditions in the camps were not suitable for prolonged stays. “Conditions in the centers are inadequate and incompatible with basic standards of dignity,” she said. “People in vulnerable situations, including pregnant women, remain in makeshift tents, while the distribution of aid lacks transparency.”
A local activist, Tiago Ngana, said assistance has not been distributed equitably. “Aid has come from various parts of the country, but it is not reaching those who need it,” he said. “Some people lost everything and received only a bag of cement, while others have access to more support.”
The floods also damaged critical infrastructure, including the destruction of one bridge and significant damage to another along National Road 260, limiting access to affected areas.
Satellite imagery from April 13, the day after the dike collapsed, and analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows entire neighborhoods in Benguela flooded. The Cavaco River dike has visibly collapsed in at least three locations in the town, and two bridges on the river, one for pedestrians and one a railway bridge, have been destroyed.
Click to expand Image Satellite imagery from April 13, 2026, shows entire neighborhoods in Benguela flooded. The Cavaco River dike visibly collapsed in at least three locations in the town, and two bridges on the river, one for pedestrians and one for the railway, were destroyed. Image 2026 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and graphics © 2026 Human Rights Watch.The floods in Benguela came weeks after heavy rains also caused significant flooding in Angola’s capital, Luanda, where at least a dozen people were reported killed and thousands of homes were affected. These successive incidents underscore the recurrent nature of flooding in Angola and the persistence of structural vulnerabilities, Human Rights Watch said. Disaster preparedness, prevention, and response have been inadequate, including drainage systems, and officials appear to have limited capacity to mitigate risks in densely populated urban areas.
Angola is party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), which builds on the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
These treaties obligate governments to ensure due diligence to prevent foreseeable risks, mitigate their impact, and protect the rights to life, physical integrity, adequate housing, health, and safety. These obligations include adopting reasonable preventive measures, establishing effective early warning and response systems, and ensuring adequate, sufficient, and nondiscriminatory assistance to affected populations.
The Kampala Convention, a regional treaty to prevent internal displacement, obligates governments to ensure adequate food, shelter, medical care, and education for internally displaced people; to provide effective remedies for displacement and damages; and to seek lasting or durable solutions for displacement.
“Governments have an obligation not only to respond in an emergency but also to uphold their populations’ human rights,” Nhancale said. “The Angolan authorities should ensure immediate assistance, as well as to provide transparency and accountability for what went wrong.”
Angola: Flood Survivors Living in Precarious Conditions
(Johannesburg) – Angolan authorities should carry out an independent and credible investigation into the Cavaco River dike collapse and ensure that internally displaced communities receive immediate, adequate, and transparent assistance, Human Rights Watch said today.
Official figures indicate that heavy rainfall and the collapse of the Cavaco River dike on April 12, 2026, triggered devastating floods in Angola’s western Benguela province, killing at least 19 people, leaving 31 missing, and affecting more than 8,000 families. At least 3,624 people were rescued, 1,540 homes were destroyed, 3,871 were damaged, and 2,586 remained flooded in the weeks following the disaster.
“The scale of destruction of the Cavaco River dike collapse in Angola raises serious concerns about the authorities’ ability to prevent and respond to foreseeable risks,” said Sheila Nhancale, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Families affected need immediate humanitarian aid and answers to how the dike collapsed.”
In May 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed eight people in Benguela province, including residents of affected communities, a journalist, two lawyers assisting displaced families, a volunteer supporting flood victims, and a local activist. Human Rights Watch also reviewed official government statements, media reports, and satellite imagery documenting the aftermath of the floods.
The floods affected several urban and semi-urban neighborhoods in Benguela province, including Calomanga, Massangarala, Seta Antiga, Santa Teresa, Cotel, Calomburaco, and Tchipiandalo, as well as areas in Lobito and Catumbela municipalities, residents said.
Many of these areas already faced structural vulnerabilities due to the authorities’ long-standing neglect of residents’ economic, social, and cultural rights, including poor housing conditions and inadequate drainage systems, Human Rights Watch found.
One resident said that ruptures began to appear in the Seta Antiga area on April 12, 2026, and during heavy rainfall the river would overflow into surrounding homes.
A number of people said that the Cavaco River dike had been deteriorating but had not undergone maintenance for many years.
A local journalist monitoring the impact of the floods said prolonged degradation of the infrastructure may have contributed to its collapse. “The dike protecting the city had not been maintained since 2002, that’s more than 20 years of deterioration,” said Dino Calei, the journalist. “In Tchipiandalo, a significant part of the neighborhood has practically ceased to exist due to the recent floods.”
A 35-year-old resident of Calomanga said that the dike had been damaged for a long time. He said that residents had warned authorities during public consultations with the local administrator, but that no action had been taken. Residents also said they made public complaints through the local radio station, but nothing was done.
“It was a tragedy,” said the resident. “Around 8 a.m., water from the Cavaco River entered the neighborhood without any warning. We tried to save children and older people, but many died.” He said that he saw 13 bodies and helped recover 8 of them.
When interviewed on May 3, the resident said that more than 300 people were still sleeping in the open in parts of Calomanga, with limited access to assistance. He said aid was largely limited to occasional distributions of items such as mattresses, while displacement centers remained overcrowded and lacked adequate sanitation, food, and privacy.
The Benguela provincial government said that temporary accommodation centers had been established in old Campismo, new Campismo, the Ombaka National Stadium, and in other public and religious facilities.
But residents and volunteers described inadequate conditions in these centers.
“Conditions in the centers are inhumane,” said Maria do Carmo, who provides support to victims at the old Campismo. “The bathrooms have no privacy or cleanliness, which puts people’s health at risk, especially women. People are forced to relieve themselves in the open out of fear of infections, On May 1, we even ran out of charcoal for cooking and had to organize ourselves using our own means, and the food was not enough for everyone.”
Estrela Francisco, a lawyer assisting affected families, said conditions in the camps were not suitable for prolonged stays. “Conditions in the centers are inadequate and incompatible with basic standards of dignity,” she said. “People in vulnerable situations, including pregnant women, remain in makeshift tents, while the distribution of aid lacks transparency.”
A local activist, Tiago Ngana, said assistance has not been distributed equitably. “Aid has come from various parts of the country, but it is not reaching those who need it,” he said. “Some people lost everything and received only a bag of cement, while others have access to more support.”
The floods also damaged critical infrastructure, including the destruction of one bridge and significant damage to another along National Road 260, limiting access to affected areas.
Satellite imagery from April 13, the day after the dike collapsed, and analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows entire neighborhoods in Benguela flooded. The Cavaco River dike has visibly collapsed in at least three locations in the town, and two bridges on the river, one for pedestrians and one a railway bridge, have been destroyed.
Click to expand Image Satellite imagery from April 13, 2026, shows entire neighborhoods in Benguela flooded. The Cavaco River dike visibly collapsed in at least three locations in the town, and two bridges on the river, one for pedestrians and one for the railway, were destroyed. Image 2026 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and graphics © 2026 Human Rights Watch.The floods in Benguela came weeks after heavy rains also caused significant flooding in Angola’s capital, Luanda, where at least a dozen people were reported killed and thousands of homes were affected. These successive incidents underscore the recurrent nature of flooding in Angola and the persistence of structural vulnerabilities, Human Rights Watch said. Disaster preparedness, prevention, and response have been inadequate, including drainage systems, and officials appear to have limited capacity to mitigate risks in densely populated urban areas.
Angola is party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), which builds on the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
These treaties obligate governments to ensure due diligence to prevent foreseeable risks, mitigate their impact, and protect the rights to life, physical integrity, adequate housing, health, and safety. These obligations include adopting reasonable preventive measures, establishing effective early warning and response systems, and ensuring adequate, sufficient, and nondiscriminatory assistance to affected populations.
The Kampala Convention, a regional treaty to prevent internal displacement, obligates governments to ensure adequate food, shelter, medical care, and education for internally displaced people; to provide effective remedies for displacement and damages; and to seek lasting or durable solutions for displacement.
“Governments have an obligation not only to respond in an emergency but also to uphold their populations’ human rights,” Nhancale said. “The Angolan authorities should ensure immediate assistance, as well as to provide transparency and accountability for what went wrong.”
UN Official Would Reject US Funds with Discriminatory Conditions
The senior United Nations humanitarian official said he would refuse US government financial contributions that would require recipients to comply with discriminatory US policies that undermine human rights.
“The question is, should we take money under those conditions, knowing that it will save millions of lives, or not?” said Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “I’m in the situation where I’m saying I cannot take that money under those conditions.”
Fletcher’s remarks, delivered in April, were first reported last week by Devex.
Fletcher was referring to conditions that could apply to future US funding due to recent expansion of the US’ Mexico City Policy, which restricts abortion care in foreign aid programs. Known as the “global gag rule,” the expanded policy also bars US funding recipients from recognizing diverse gender identities, providing services to trans people, or addressing some forms of racial and other discrimination.
This means that the policy will now cover more US funding recipients, including UN agencies. The United States has withheld most of its obligatory contributions to the UN’s regular budget and peacekeeping since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025. The United States has also eliminated most voluntary UN funding.
As the UN’s biggest contributor, the United States non-payment of dues and cancelation of most voluntary contributions is the main reason for a severe UN liquidity crisis. That and China’s late payments have led to layoffs and forced the UN to reduce many of its activities, including some humanitarian and human rights work. Other governments have also reduced foreign aid and voluntary UN contributions.
The United States announced in December 2025 a US$2 billion donation to OCHA, earmarked for only 17 countries. Fletcher called it a “landmark” US pledge, though it was a fraction of the roughly $14 billion the United States pledged in 2024. The expanded Mexico City Policy, announced in January, did not apply to those funds.
Fletcher took a principled approach to human rights by rejecting future donations requiring the UN to curtail work on reproductive rights, equality rights, and diversity initiatives. Other donor countries should step up and offer unconditional financial support to ensure the UN and its humanitarian partners can keep saving lives around the world.
Tunisia: End Abusive Prosecution of Refugee Aid Workers
(Beirut) – Five employees of the Tunisian Council for Refugees will stand trial on May 13, 2026, after appealing criminal sentences for their work assisting asylum seekers and refugees, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunisian authorities should end the abusive prosecution of the employees, compensate them for their unlawful detention, and stop the widespread crackdown on civil society groups.
Tunisian authorities shut down the Tunisian Council for Refugees in May 2024, arrested its founder and director, Mustapha Djemali, and program manager, Abderrazek Krimi, and prosecuted them alongside four other employees. On November 24, 2025, a Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Djemali and Krimi to two years in prison, suspending six months and releasing them the same day for time served. It acquitted three other defendants, while the fourth is in a separate judicial proceeding. Djemali and Krimi both appealed the decision, as did the prosecution.
“Tunisia has gone out of its way to shut down almost all available aid or protection available to refugees and asylum seekers,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should end this abusive prosecution, which sends a chilling message to groups carrying out humanitarian work.”
The Tunisian Council for Refugees, formed in 2016, assisted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with initial screenings of asylum seekers’ applications. It also provided emergency accommodation and medical assistance for refugees and asylum seekers. On May 2, 2024, the council published a public tender to Tunisian hotels for accommodation services, causing a backlash on social media amid an anti-migrant crackdown. The next day, the police raided the council’s headquarters in Tunis, shut down the group, and arrested Djemali. On May 4, they arrested Krimi.
On May 7, an investigative judge ordered Djemali and Krimi detained pending investigation under articles 38, 39, and 41 of Law No. 40 of 1975 on Passports and Travel Documents for having “provided information, planned, facilitated or assisted…the illegal entry or exit of a person from the Tunisian territory,” “harbored persons entering or leaving Tunisian territory illegally,” and “participation in an organization or entente” to commit these offenses. On April 30, 2025, the investigative judge formally charged the 6 employees under the 1975 law, and on June 3, 2025, the Indictment Chamber expanded the charges to include article 42, which alone carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Between May and June 2024, the authorities also froze the bank accounts of the council, Djemali, and Krimi, one of the defense lawyers told Human Rights Watch. The council has since ceased all activities and its frozen account meant it was unable to pay employees, service providers, rent, or electricity bills, leaving it in debt, a lawyer said. Djemali and Krimi’s accounts remain frozen, leaving them without access to their money and creating economic hardship. Djemali has been unable to access his retirement pension since 2024, his family told Human Rights Watch.
On November 25, 2025, the Court of First Instance convicted Djemali and Krimi under article 39 of Law No. 40 of 1975, which punishes “any person who harbors individuals entering or leaving Tunisian territory illegally” or “provides a place for their accommodation,” one of the defense lawyers told Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch reviewed the judge’s closing order and found the charges to be based solely on the legitimate work of the council, which operated legally in Tunisia and was almost exclusively funded by the UNHCR. The investigative judge found the organization’s activities to constitute supporting migrants without regular status “to ensure their settlement in the country,” even though the council’s beneficiaries were asylum seekers and refugees registered with the UNHCR. The closing order referred to activities such as providing accommodation and cash assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, which are standard UNHCR activities in many countries, often carried out via implementing partners.
The abusive prosecutions and unjust convictions of the Tunisian Council for Refugees’ workers are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Tunisia and a pattern of criminalizing aid to refugees and migrants. In 2024, security forces arrested at least six other nongovernmental group workers and prosecuted others in connection with their work combating discrimination or assisting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.
Since January 2026, at least nine civil society group workers have been sentenced to prison in connection with their legitimate work. A Tunis court sentencedSaadia Mosbah, a prominent human rights defender and president of the anti-racism association Mnemty (My Dream), to eight years in prison and a heavy fine on March 19 on financial criminal charges.
The authorities have virtually ended assistance and protection for refugees and asylum seekers in Tunisia. In addition to targeting and shutting down organizations providing support, in June 2024 they instructed UNHCR to suspend processing asylum applications. The country still lacks a national legal framework for asylum. As a result, asylum seekers have been left in legal limbo without access to international protection, exposing them to risks of arbitrary arrest and expulsion.
Tunisia is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which guarantee the rights to freedom of association, to not be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention, and to a fair trial. The African Charter also protects the right to seek and obtain asylum from persecution, and Tunisia’s 2022 Constitution guarantees the right to political asylum.
Tunisia is a party to both the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1969 Organization of African Union Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, which protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. They include prohibitions on penalizing people for irregular entry or stay if they promptly present themselves to authorities.
In a 2025 report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended that Tunisia review its legislative framework to ensure an open space for civil society organizations, including those working with ethnic minority groups, asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants.
“Aid workers should not have to live in fear of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and years in prison,” Khawaja said. “Tunisia’s shutdown of asylum processing and targeting of organizations providing support is having a devastating impact on refugees and asylum seekers in the country.”
Australia: 3 Alleged ISIS-Linked Women Face Serious Charges
(Sydney) – Australian authorities should ensure that criminal proceedings against three Australian women who were charged on May 7 and 8, 2026, with serious alleged crimes linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) fully respect due process rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The accused are among thirteen Australians—four women and nine children—who returned to Australia after more than seven years of detention without charge in camps in northeast Syria controlled by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The authorities have charged two of the three women with crimes against humanity for alleged enslavement in Syria of female Yazidis, a people ISIS sought to destroy through acts including killings, sexual slavery, enslavement, and torture. The third was charged with allegedly entering a declared conflict zone and joining ISIS. The media have reported that some of the victims of the alleged crimes are living in Australia.
“Crimes against humanity are grave international crimes and it’s important for Australian authorities to handle these cases appropriately right from the start,” said Daniela Gavshon, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments have an obligation to act on horrific acts like enslavement and to support the victims, but also a duty to uphold the due process rights of the accused and help reintegrate returning nationals.”
This is the first time Australian authorities have charged anyone with crimes against humanity, acting on legislation enacted in 2002 that allows for the prosecution of serious international crimes. However, judicial authorities have pursued atrocity crimes—including crimes against humanity—in ISIS-related cases in other countries.
Under Australian law, crimes against humanity are punishable by up to 25 years in prison. US-backed Kurdish authorities arbitrarily detained these women and their children for more than seven years in desert camps in dire conditions, without adequate food, water, or health care. Courts should consider applying this time toward any future custodial sentences imposed against the women.
The nine children who returned survived horrific circumstances, did not choose to live under ISIS, and some have now been separated from their mothers who have been charged with crimes, contributing to an already stressful transition. The Australian authorities have not disclosed what provisions they have made for the children’s well-being.
Previously, 31 women and children have returned from ISIS-controlled territory in northeast Syria to Australia, 25 with assistance from the Australian government. There have been no reports that any of these women or their children have engaged in criminal acts since returning home. Global research by Human Rights Watch from 2022 has shown that children who have previously returned to their country of citizenship from the camps in northeast Syria have reintegrated well.
Policy choices by some repatriating governments have made it more difficult for children to reintegrate and in some cases have caused harm. In Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, for instance, the authorities immediately separated children from their mothers if the mother was being investigated or charged with ISIS-related offenses. That caused children significant emotional and psychological distress, family members and mental health professionals said.
In some countries, extended family members such as grandparents faced lengthy investigations before they were allowed to care for returned children or have contact with them, even if the family members had been in contact with the authorities for years. Facilitating support from family members as soon as possible can help provide stability and promote successful reintegration, particularly if the child’s parents are deceased or detained, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Australian government should provide the support needed to ensure that these children, who have suffered immensely, have a successful reintegration and receive comprehensive trauma care,” Gavshon said. “The Australian authorities should also focus on the needs of victims and survivors of these alleged crimes living in Australia to ensure they’re fully supported.”
Brazil Needs Independent Investigations into Police Abuse
This week was supposed to be a step forward for Brazil: Resolution 310—a crucial resolution requiring that prosecutors lead investigations into police killings and that those investigations comply with international standards—was scheduled to take effect.
Instead, the resolution is on ice.
After years of advocacy by Human Rights Watch and other organizations, the National Council of the Offices of the Prosecutors approved the resolution in 2025, the deadliest year on record for police violence, with 6,588 killings. Among them were 117 young men who died in a low-income neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro on October 28, 2025. Five police officers were also killed in that raid.
Prosecutors were supposed to comply with Resolution 310 from May 7, 2026. However, the council has postponed full implementation for a year to give Prosecutors’ Offices around the country more time to prepare. Officials will have to present implementation plans to the council’s commission on public security within the next two months.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Brazil’s Supreme Court have established that prosecutors should lead investigations into killings by police; Resolution 310 details how this should be done. It requires that prosecutors ensure that the chain of custody for evidence and the crime scene be preserved and that forensic analysis is conducted independently. It also grants victims’ families access to updated information about the investigations.
Associations of civil police officers in Brazil oppose prosecutors leading investigations into police abuse, claiming that it is their role. But their record is abysmal. Human Rights Watch has documented scores of investigations in Brazil with very serious shortcomings, such as lack of crime scene analysis and failure to question all police officers involved in a killing and to interview non-police eyewitnesses.
Brazil needs to end public security policies that lead to shootouts and adopt effective policing practices that dismantle criminal organizations and protect the public and the officers themselves. A key measure to accomplish that is to carry out independent investigations into police abuses.
Prosecutors around the country should implement Resolution 310 without delay. The public deserves to know the circumstance of every killing by police. Those who violate the law need to be held accountable, even if they are wearing a uniform.
Rwanda: Critic Dies in Prison on Release Day
(Nairobi) – Rwandan authorities should conduct an effective, independent, and transparent investigation into the death in custody of Aimable Karasira, a Rwandan academic and outspoken government critic, on the day he was set to be released from prison, Human Rights Watch said today.
Karasira’s prosecution and imprisonment are emblematic of Rwanda’s crackdown on dissent and free expression. His death adds to the list of disappearances and suspicious deaths of perceived critics and government opponents, and the authorities’ failure to deliver justice in these cases sends a deliberately chilling message.
“There are many reasons to question the circumstances surrounding Aimable Karasira’s death in custody, not least the years of harassment and persecution he experienced at the hands of the authorities,” said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government bears the burden of proving that Karasira was not unlawfully killed, and Rwanda’s partners should be watching closely.”
The Rwandan Correctional Services announced that Karasira had died of a medical overdose as he was set to be released on May 6, 2026. A spokesman for the agency told local media that “he took chunks of medicine which he had been prescribed for a pre-existing condition.” Media reports indicate he died at Nyarugenge District Hospital in Kigali, the capital.
Karasira began facing pressure and threats after he released a video on his YouTube channel in 2020 about losing relatives during the country’s 1994 genocide and to the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in its aftermath. In August 2020, expressing fear for his safety, he told Human Rights Watch: “I’ve received letters, threats. I get phone calls from phone numbers I don’t know. Someone from the government was sent to negotiate with me and told me to stop publishing my opinions.”
As the threats and harassment escalated, he said that intelligence officials had ordered him to publish false information about government opponents on his YouTube channel. Karasira was arrested in May 2021 and charged with genocide denial and justification as well as divisionism, which are crimes in Rwanda.
Throughout his detention, Karasira faced torture, mistreatment, and denial of medical care. During a hearing on May 30, 2022, Karasira told the court that Nyarugenge prison authorities tortured him—including by depriving him of sleep, with constant light and loud music, and with beatings—to punish him and get him to attend court hearings. Karasira and his lawyer told the court he was being denied medical treatment for his diabetes and mental health issues, and that he had been taken to court by force despite not being fit to participate in the proceedings. He also accused prison authorities of providing inadequate and insufficient food and denying him access to money sent by friends or relatives with which he could buy items in prison.
The prosecution appealed his acquittal on several charges, including genocide denial and justification, and demanded a 30-year sentence, which was pending at the time of his death. But as Karasira had already served four years of his five-year term awaiting trial, his sentence was nearing its end, and he was to be released on May 6.
The Rwandan government has a well-established track record of evading its obligation to ensure transparent and independent investigations into the deaths of detainees and high-profile political critics in state custody, Human Rights Watch said.
Karasira’s death is reminiscent of the 2020 death in custody of the singer and government critic Kizito Mihigo. On February 17, 2020, Rwandan authorities announced that Mihigo had died in a cell at Remera Police Station in Kigali, four days after he was rearrested as he sought to flee the country. Before his death, Mihigo told Human Rights Watch that he was being threatened and feared state agents might kill him.
As with Karasira, Mihigo’s willingness to question elements of the government’s official narrative around the genocide made him a target. The voices and moral authority of both men resonated with the public and caused consternation among officials. In both cases, Rwandan authorities quickly presented official explanations: a suicide in Mihigo’s case and a suspected medication overdose in Karasira’s.
As set out in the Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (the Minnesota Protocol), the state’s obligations to respect and protect the right to life mean that it is responsible for a death in custody unless proven otherwise, particularly in cases “where the deceased was, prior to his or her death, a political opponent of the government or a human rights defender; was known to be suffering from mental health issues; or committed suicide in unexplained circumstances.”
To establish responsibility for Karasira’s death, the Rwandan authorities should invite an independent body of experts to carry out an impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation, Human Rights Watch said. The experts should include the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Working Group on Death Penalty, Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Africa. The investigation should include an autopsy and the findings should be made public.
Rwanda’s regional and international partners, which have long remained silent in the face of growing repression, should publicly call for an independent investigation.
“Karasira is just the latest government critic to suffer a suspicious death,” de Montjoye said. “Rwanda’s partners need to speak up for those who risk their lives to express themselves and condemn the worsening pattern of repression against dissenting voices in the country.”
UN Guidance on Dismantling Gender Stereotypes
Gender stereotypes are such a pervasive part of everyday life that it can be hard to even recognize them—but they do extraordinary damage and are at the root of many forms of inequality and violence.
Under the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), governments are obligated to eradicate them. The committee tasked with upholding the treaty is currently developing new guidance on how states should fulfill this duty.
Stereotypes, rooted in the assumption that there are two distinct genders with inherent differences, seek to dictate issues like how women and girls should dress, look, and express their “femininity” and sexuality; what subjects, occupations, and aspirations are seen as suitable; and their roles within families and communities. These stereotypes constrain freedom and life choices available to women and girls, and to people who do not fit neatly into binary gender identities or roles.
Often education is different for boys and girls, based on stereotypes, which later limits women’s job opportunities. Girls are taught to be submissive and develop skills less profitable than for boys.
More problematic yet, stereotypes affect how society responds to, and often enables, violence against people positioned as inferior. Women do about 76 percent of all unpaid caregiving, also due to gender stereotypes.
Gender stereotypes also harm men and boys. They pressure men and boys to behave in stereotypically “masculine” ways, which can cause them harm, and punish those whose gender expression or life choices don’t conform with these rigid stereotypes.
The CEDAW committee, in a new draft recommendation, calls for every branch of all governments to “adopt appropriate measures to eliminate patterns, prejudices, and practices based on gender stereotypes.” The committee has sought input from civil society to further strengthen the draft.
Human Rights Watch has provided recommendations, including on how to deepen an intersectional approach considering how gender stereotypes are compounded by other forms of discrimination, including based on age, race, disability, immigration status, and sexual orientation and gender identity.
Gender stereotypes are deeply rooted in virtually all societies. The CEDAW committee’s work in this area is crucial and urgently important.