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Cluster Munitions: States Should Uphold Ban Treaty
(Geneva, September 15, 2025) – Governments should reinforce the global ban on cluster munitions and call upon those still using or producing these indiscriminate weapons to promptly join the treaty banning them, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing the “Cluster Munition Monitor 2025” by the Cluster Munition Coalition. In September 2025, Vanuatu became the 112th state to join the Convention, while in March 2025, Lithuania became the first state ever to withdraw from the convention, a major setback despite progress on humanitarian disarmament elsewhere.
The 109-page report assesses all countries’ adherence to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions and requires destruction of stockpiles, clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants, and victim assistance.
“Civilians around the world continue to lose their lives and limbs to cluster munitions, even from weapons used decades ago,” said Mark Hiznay, associate crisis, conflict, and arms director at Human Rights Watch, and an editor of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2025. “Members of the Convention on Cluster Munitions should abide by the treaty’s provisions and encourage other governments to immediately stop using cluster munitions.”
Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles, or mortars, or dropped by aircraft. They typically open in the air, dispersing multiple explosive submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Due to their wide area effect, they cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants, especially when used in populated areas. In addition, many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving unexploded duds that can indiscriminately injure and kill like landmines for years, until they are found and destroyed.
While governments continue to make progress, the global ban on cluster munitions is being tested. Lithuania’s withdrawal from the convention on March 6, 2025, triggered condemnation from at least 47 countries.
Countries that are not party to the convention, including Russia and Ukraine, continued to use cluster munitions in 2024 and 2025. Russia has used stocks of old cluster munitions and newly developed models in Ukraine since 2022. Between July 2023 and October 2024, the United States, which is not a treaty member, announced at least seven transfers of cluster munitions to Ukraine.
Click to expand Image The "Cluster Munition Monitor 2025" cover depicts a deminer preparing to destroy an unexploded submunition in Ras El Ein village in South Lebanon in April 2025. © © Rashad Siblini/DanChurchAidNew use of cluster munitions during the reporting period (mid-2024 to mid-2025) was also documented in Myanmar and Syria, although they do not appear to have been used in Syria since the overthrow of the Assad government in December 2024.
In July, the Thai military appeared to admit it had used cluster munitions in its border conflict with Cambodia. A month earlier, the Israeli military claimed that an Iranian ballistic missile attack on central Israel had involved cluster munitions.
Since the convention was adopted in 2008, none of the 112 ratifying countries have used cluster munitions, saving countless civilians from this indiscriminate weapon.
In compliance with the convention, countries have surveyed and cleared substantial amounts of affected land, including more than 100 square kilometers in 2024 alone. That led to the destruction of at least 83,452 unexploded submunitions and other cluster munition remnants, the highest number destroyed in any given year over the past five years.
All members of the convention had eliminated their stockpiles by the end of 2023, destroying 1.49 million cluster munitions and 179 million submunitions.
Although the number of annual casualties from cluster munitions has decreased substantially since the convention’s adoption, these weapons continue to harm civilians. In 2024, the latest full year covered by the report, all reported cluster munition casualties were civilians, of whom 42 percent were children.
The casualties demonstrate the need to clear more contaminated land and to provide more assistance to victims. While some counties increased their assistance to victims in 2024, many affected countries continued to struggle to provide adequate and accessible services to survivors, in part due to funding cuts by donor states.
“The Convention on Cluster Munitions has over many years made significant progress in reducing the human suffering caused by cluster munitions,” Hiznay said. “Governments should now act to reinforce the stigma against these indiscriminate weapons and condemn their continued use.”
The Cluster Munition Monitor 2025 is the 16th annual monitoring report by the Cluster Munition Coalition, the global coalition of nongovernmental organizations co-founded by Human Rights Watch in 2003. The report will be presented to countries attending the 13th meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the United Nations in Geneva on September 16-19.
Israeli Forces’ Attack on Sanaa Kills Journalists
A new report by Human Rights Watch documents attacks by all the warring parties in Yemen on journalists. An attack on a media center in Sanaa, the capital, by Israeli forces on September 10, is one more example of the danger for media workers in Yemen. The attack was one of several that Israeli forces carried out on Sanaa and Al-Jawf that day, which killed at least 35 people, including journalists, and injured dozens more, according to the Houthi’s Ministry of Health.
The building housed both the Houthi’s media headquarters and the offices of two newspapers. Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen analyst, said that the strikes were carried out when staff of the Houthi-controlled newspaper called 26 September were printing the paper.
“Since it is a weekly publication, not a daily one, staff were gathered at the publishing house to prepare for distribution, significantly increasing the number of people present in the compound,” he said on X.
The Israeli military claimed to have struck the “The Houthi Public Relations Department” in response to the Houthis’ recent attacks on Israel.
The neighborhood is a densely populated residential area just next to Sanaa’s Old City, a UNESCO heritage site. The strikes took place when many residents and others were walking and driving through the streets, according to interviews and video footage taken after the attack and shared that evening on X by Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run news channel, and verified by Human Rights Watch. The video, a compilation of video clips edited together, shows streets packed with people and vehicles, damaged buildings, and rescue workers pulling injured people, including at least one child, from the rubble.
Radio and television facilities are civilian objects and cannot be targeted. They are legitimate targets only if they are used in a way that makes an “effective contribution to military action.” However, civilian broadcasting facilities are not rendered legitimate military targets simply because they are pro-Houthi or anti-Israel, or report on the laws of war violations by one side or the other, as this does not directly contribute to military operations. For example, if a broadcasting facility is engaged in military communications, any attack on it is still subject to the principle of proportionality, meaning incidental civilian harm should not be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
The recent Israeli forces’ attack further highlights the threats journalists are facing in Yemen, not just by domestic authorities but also by external warring parties. Israeli forces have deliberately targeted journalists again and again in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as in Lebanon. Other countries should press both Israeli forces and Yemeni authorities to immediately end their targeting of journalists and media workers and to protect freedom of speech and information, which is their obligation under international law.
DR Congo: Militias, Army Threaten South Kivu Civilians
(Nairobi) – Congolese military forces and a coalition of abusive militias are threatening the security of civilians in Uvira, South Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today.
The militias known as Wazalendo (“patriots” in Swahili) are allied with the Congolese army and oppose the abusive Rwanda-backed M23 armed group, which has captured parts of South Kivu. Concerns over the protection of civilians in Uvira were heightened by tensions over the appointment of a new army commander. Wazalendo fighters have harassed, threatened, abducted, and restricted access to services for members of the Banyamulenge community in Uvira, who are South Kivu-based Congolese Tutsis, accusing them of supporting the M23.
“The deteriorating situation in South Kivu reflects a dangerous combination of governance failures, distrust between armed forces and armed groups that have been allied with them, and rising ethnic tensions,” said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Continuing atrocities by all parties to the conflict highlight the need for concerned governments to press for protecting civilians and providing safe passage for those fleeing the fighting.”
In early September, a general strike and a protest led by Wazalendo fighters and civil society groups paralyzed Uvira for eight days. Wazalendo leaders opposed the September 1 deployment of Gen. Olivier Gasita Mukunda, a member of the Banyamulenge community, to the city, alleging that he had colluded with the M23. Media reported he has since left the city.
On September 2, Wazalendo militias organized roadblocks, particularly along a major route to the Burundi border. Transport, trade, and education services were largely shut down until September 9. Burundi relies on Uvira for trade in basic supplies and fuel amid a devastating economic crisis.
For several days, Wazalendo fighters intermittently prevented people from fleeing across the border, witnesses said. A border officer told Human Rights Watch: “[the Wazalendo] did not want to see people fleeing to Burundi.” On September 5, Wazalendo fighters fired small arms and artillery within Uvira, killing an 8-year-old boy when a shell struck his house.
On September 8, Congolese military forces opened fire on unarmed protesters in Uvira who were protesting Gasita’s deployment to the city. The forces shot some people in the back as they fled, killing an 8-year-old boy and injuring at least 9 civilians, including an 11-year-old girl.
The protest followed months of deteriorating relations between the Congolese army and the Wazalendo, fueled by mutual accusations of corruption, infiltration, and of abandoning front line positions.
“Some people tried to go to the area where General Gasita was, and this was not allowed,” said a civil society leader. Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated a video showing protesters fleeing as gunshots were fired about 150 meters from the town hall.
The warring parties in eastern Congo have increasingly appealed to ethnic prejudices, triggering waves of discrimination and abuses. Many Wazalendo abuses have targeted the Banyamulenge, who have long been accused of being M23 supporters.
Human Rights Watch reviewed audio and video recordings of speeches by authorities that fueled distrust toward Gasita and the Banyamulenge. On September 6, four Wazalendo fighters surrounded the house of a civil society leader and member of the Banyamulenge community and attempted to force their way in. They told the guard, “Where is this ‘Rwandan’? Now is the time to finish him off” and accused him of being related to Gasita. The fighters left after a local authority intervened.
On September 6, South Kivu authorities wrote to the deputy prime minister for the interior to raise concerns about increasing intercommunal tensions targeting the Banyamulenge, who have been denied access to water points, and requesting support to identify, arrest, and remove individuals who are behind incendiary speech and defy state authority. On September 11, a delegation from Kinshasa, including the deputy prime minister for the interior, traveled to Uvira to “reconcile local communities, relieve tensions, and re-establish state authority,” according to media.
Tensions had escalated since August 25, when Wazalendo fighters prevented the funeral of an army colonel from the Banyamulenge community and his wife for several days and robbed people there. “They said no ‘Rwandan’ should be buried here in Uvira,” a witness said.
On September 6, Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, the spokesperson for the Congolese army, said during a news conference, “We don’t control the Wazalendo, the Wazalendo are not part of the armed forces,” and said it was not the army’s job to “manage” them.
In Burundi on September 8, police and ruling party youths detained hundreds of Congolese refugees and asylum seekers, according to several witnesses and media reports. They were given the “choice” of going to an official camp or returning to Congo, which about 80 people did. In Uvira, though, the returnees said they did not receive assistance. Over 70,000 refugees have fled eastern Congo into Burundi since January, when Rwandan forces and the M23 launched an offensive on Goma and Bukavu, North and South Kivu’s capitals.
All governments in the region should prioritize the need for safe passage for civilians to escape fighting, Human Rights Watch said.
In May, Human Rights Watch documented that Wazalendo fighters had beaten, killed, and extorted civilians, at times on an ethnic basis. Despite growing concern about the Congolese army’s lack of command and control over the Wazalendo, the army has continued to provide them with weapons, ammunition, and financial support.
Officials who knowingly provide weapons to abusive armed groups may be complicit in crimes they commit, Human Rights Watch said.
The Banyamulenge have long faced discrimination, exclusion, and targeted violence in Congo. Since the 1990s, Congolese political leaders and armed groups questioned the community’s citizenship and portrayed them as outsiders, fueling recurrent persecution. Since the end of the Congo Wars in 2003, cycles of armed conflict in South Kivu continued to expose Banyamulenge civilians to violence, especially as disputes over land, political representation, and control of resources deepened. Mai-Mai militias committed much of this violence.
The resurgence of the M23 in late 2021 led these and other armed groups to form the Wazalendo to fight the M23. The Rwandan government has increasingly used anti-Banyamulenge and anti-Tutsi incidents to justify its support for the M23, and portray their military operations as aimed to protect the Banyamulenge community.
Congolese authorities should publicly condemn and act to prevent ethnically motivated harassment and attacks, including by investigating and appropriately prosecuting all those responsible. The government should also prohibit discriminatory practices that may lead to further abuses, Human Rights Watch said.
The Congolese authorities should end their support to the Wazalendo and ensure that those responsible for unlawful killings and other abuses are held accountable through fair and transparent judicial processes. Commanders who knew or should have known about serious abuses by forces under their control and did not take appropriate action may be prosecuted as a matter of command responsibility.
“Civilians in eastern Congo are caught between multiple armed forces and groups, often with little clarity on who is responsible for their safety,” de Montjoye said. “The Congolese government needs to ensure that its armed forces take the lead on protecting civilians, delivering basic goods and services, and ending ethnic discrimination and abuse.”
Burkina Faso: Islamist Armed Groups Massacre Civilians
(Nairobi) – Two Islamist armed groups have killed several dozen civilians in three separate attacks in northern Burkina Faso since May 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. These attacks violated international humanitarian law and are apparent war crimes.
An Al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, or JNIM) attacked the town of Djibo, Sahel region, on May 11, and the village of Youba, North region, on August 3, altogether killing at least 40 civilians. The Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) attacked a civilian convoy bringing humanitarian aid to the besieged town of Gorom Gorom, Sahel region, on July 28, killing at least 9 civilians.
“The Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso have been responsible for repeated atrocities against civilians since 2016,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should provide better protection for all civilians at risk, investigate abuses, including those by the military and allied militias, and fairly prosecute those responsible.”
Since the start of their insurgency in Burkina Faso in 2016, the Islamist armed groups have repeatedly attacked and forcibly displaced tens of thousands of civilians. The Burkinabè government, which took power in a 2022 coup, has increasingly targeted civilians during counterinsurgency operations.
Between May and August 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed 23 people by telephone, including 14 witnesses to abuses, 9 civil society activists, members of the judiciary, community leaders, journalists, and militia members.
JNIM claimed responsibility for the May 11 attack on Djibo in which hundreds of fighters overran a military base, seized weapons, and killed dozens of soldiers. Fighters entered several neighborhoods and executed at least 26 civilians and burned shops and health facilities. Witnesses said that fighters targeted civilians from ethnic Fulani subgroups, whom it accused of joining or supporting the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la Défense de la Patrie, or VDPs), civilian auxiliaries that assist the armed forces in counterinsurgency operations.
“We found the bodies, including of very old men, in or outside their homes,” a 56-year-old man said. “Many were shot in the head.”
On August 3, JNIM attacked Youba village and killed 14 civilians, including a woman and four children, two of whom died after fighters set the shop where they were hiding on fire. Residents believe the attack aimed to punish the community for not complying with JNIM’s orders not to cultivate certain tall-growing crops that fighters said hindered their operations.
In an August 15 reply to questions from Human Rights Watch, JNIM’s Sharia Committee in Burkina Faso (Comité chariatique du GSIM au Burkina Faso) wrote that JNIM “has never, and could never, intentionally target civilians. If some claim that abuses have been committed in Djibo, Youba, or any other locality, it can only be unfounded allegations, or at most, incidental events caused by stray bullets, of which we have no knowledge.”
On August 21, Human Rights Watch wrote to Burkina Faso’s justice and defense ministers with its research findings and questions but received no response.
In July, IS Sahel attacked a civilian convoy for which Burkinabè soldiers and militia provided an escort. The convoy was transporting civilians, food, and other humanitarian aid for the besieged town of Gorom Gorom. Witnesses and other sources said the convoy was not transporting weapons or military equipment.
“I remember the fear of that day,” said a 52-year-old survivor. “I heard a lot of gunfire and screams. I jumped off the truck, crouched down with my hands on my head, and awaited my fate.”
All parties to the armed conflict in Burkina Faso are bound by international humanitarian law, notably Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and customary laws of war. The laws of war prohibit summary executions, attacks on civilians and civilian property, and looting, among other violations.
Warring parties are obligated to facilitate the delivery of impartial humanitarian assistance. Military personnel escorting a convoy do not make a civilian convoy a military objective. Attacks on combatants must take into account the principles of taking all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm, distinction between civilians and combatants, and proportionality.
The government has an obligation to impartially investigate and appropriately prosecute those implicated in war crimes, which are serious violations of the laws of war committed with criminal intent.
Burkina Faso established a Specialized Judicial Unit Against Terrorism-Related Crimes (Pôle judiciaire spécialisé dans la répression des actes de terrorisme) in 2017 with dedicated judges, staff, and a trial chamber in the capital, Ouagadougou, to investigate alleged crimes by members of Islamist armed groups. Investigations have moved slowly, however, and the unit lacks sufficient funds and personnel, which hinders its ability to deliver on its mandate and ensure due process rights.
Burkinabè authorities have also made scant progress in investigating and prosecuting members of the government security forces who have been implicated in serious human rights abuses during counterinsurgency operations, as Human Rights Watch has documented.
On July 17, the African Union appointed Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye as its Special Envoy for the Sahel region, despite his administration’s own record of human rights violations. Nevertheless, Ndayishimiye has an opportunity to strengthen the AU’s response to the most pressing human rights problems facing Burkina Faso’s government, including promoting accountability for crimes by all parties to the conflict, Human Rights Watch said.
“The AU Special Envoy should press the Burkina Faso government to investigate and appropriately prosecute all those responsible for serious abuses in Burkina Faso’s conflict,” Allegrozzi said. “The AU should provide technical and financial support to the Specialized Judicial Unit so that it can effectively deliver on its crucial mandate.”
For witness accounts and other details of the attacks, please see below. The names of those interviewed have been withheld for their protection.
JNIM Attack on Djibo, Sahel Region, May 11
On May 11, JNIM led a major attack on Djibo, targeting both government security forces and civilians. Media reports and witnesses said that hundreds of fighters riding motorbikes stormed the town and took control of its military base, then executed at least 26 civilians in several neighborhoods.
JNIM has besieged Djibo for over three years, cutting the population off from food, basic necessities, and humanitarian assistance, leading to illness and starvation among residents.
The Attack
Witnesses said the attack began at about 5 a.m. and that JNIM fighters remained in the city until late afternoon.
“I heard a loud explosion from Sector 4, where the military base is, followed by gunfire whistling above our heads,” said a 35-year-old woman. “Shooting continued almost all day, although by around 1 p.m. there was less of it. We hid in the house crying and praying.”
A blacksmith, 46, said that four JNIM fighters, including one he recognized, broke into his home in Sector 2 and ordered him and his brother outside:
“He [the fighter he recognized] told me: “I'm here to avenge my father’s assassination. Your brother had denounced my father to the military, and the military killed him in your [blacksmith’s] forge.” My brother froze next to me. He tried to provide explanations. But they didn’t listen to him. I asked him [the fighter] for mercy. He didn't listen to me either but said they wouldn't kill me because I wasn’t on the list of people who denounced civilians to the military. So, he shot my brother in the head and twice in the chest.”
The blacksmith confirmed that in November 2024 soldiers from a Rapid Intervention Battalion (Batallion d’Intervention Rapide, or BIR), a special forces unit involved in counterinsurgency operations, killed the father of the JNIM fighter in his forge. He said the victim had not been a member of the armed group.
Witnesses said residents hid in their homes for three days, until military reinforcements came and secured the town. “When we went out, we found that many people had been killed, mostly in Sector 2,” a 50-year-old man said. “There, I helped recover more than 20 bodies of both men and women.”
A 48-year-old man said that in Sector 2 he found the body of a 93-year-old member of the Tamboura family “lying on his bed, and riddled with bullets,” as well as the body of a 30-year-old woman who had been shot in the head. “It took us three days to collect the bodies,” he said.
A 56-year-old man said, “While most of the bodies were in Sector 2, people were also killed in other neighborhoods.” He said that at the market in Sector 1, he found the body of a 47-year-old man with a psychosocial disability (mental health condition) that was “riddled with bullets.”
Residents provided a list with the names of the 26 victims, including 3 women, ages 28, 30, and 32, and 23 men, ages 27 to 93. Of the victims, 16 belonged to the Tamboura family.
Witnesses said that fighters also burned dozens of shops in the central market in Sector 1, as well as a pharmacy, and looted a health facility. Satellite imagery analyzed by Human Rights Watch confirmed the burnings.
The witnesses said they left Djibo as soon as they could. On June 27, a supply convoy escorted by the military arrived in Djibo. When the convoy left a month later, they followed it to reach other localities.
A 35-year-old woman said she “took advantage” of the convoy to leave Djibo “where I was living in total hell.” She said she lost her daughter “because of hunger, because of the blockade imposed by the jihadists.”
JNIM Response
Witnesses said that JNIM fighters targeted civilians from ethnic Fulani subgroups. These subgroups include the Rimaïbé, including members of the Tambouras, a large local family, and the metal workers whom JNIM accused of supporting the VDPs. The Tamboura family said that in February, JNIM circulated a video on social media threatening to attack its members.
Experts on the JNIM insurgency said the video shows Ousmane Dicko, the younger brother and deputy of Jafar Dicko, the JNIM leader in Burkina Faso. In the video, Dicko holds papers with a list of over 90 handwritten names that he says mostly belong to members of the Tamboura family in Djibo. “Why are they joining the VDPs and not the mujahedeen [Islamic fighters]? … What did the mujahedeen do to them? Did they loot their cattle? Did they burn their homes?” Dicko can be heard saying, “What did the mujahedeen do to the Tamboura to push them to leave the mujahedeen and join the VDPs?”
Witnesses said JNIM reproached the Tamboura family after some of its members fled JNIM-controlled areas between 2022 and 2023, to go to Djibo, where security forces are present and some family members joined the VDPs.
In an August 15 reply to Human Rights Watch, JNIM’s Sharia Committee in Burkina Faso said that “we have never targeted the Tamboura people. Our action is not based on any ethnic or racial considerations, but exclusively on the necessity to respond to those who have declared war on us.”
Response of the Authorities
JNIM had previously attacked the military base in Djibo in October 2022, killing at least 10 soldiers. In November 2023, the armed group attacked the military barracks and a camp for internally displaced people, killing at least 40 civilians.
Residents expressed concerns about the military’s efforts to improve security in Djibo through the use of VDPs. A Djibo resident said, “The military has established a climate of terror. They turned on the Tamboura [family] and the metal workers, pressuring them to join the VDPs.… They have divided the [Fulani] community by pitting its members against each other.
“You are forced to say that this or that person is an accomplice of the jihadists to have credit with the military,” the 46-year-old blacksmith said. “The military have pressured many of us to lie and denounce [other] civilians.”
Media reported that several soldiers and VDPs were killed in JNIM’s May 11 attack on Djibo. The government did not issue any public statement about the attack, but on May 16, Burkina Faso’s state broadcaster, Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB), confirmed that on May 11, “hundreds or even thousands” of Islamist fighters attacked the military base in Djibo and that the military responded with several airstrikes in Djibo and surrounding villages.
JNIM Attack on Youba, North Region, August 3
On August 3, JNIM killed at least 14 civilians in Youba village, including a woman and four children. Residents said the attack was to punish the local community for not complying with JNIM’s instructions not to cultivate certain crops. Witnesses said the fighters also looted a gas station and burned at least 10 shops at the market. Two of the children killed, boys ages 12 and 14, who hid in a shop during the attack, died after fighters set the shop on fire. JNIM fighters also killed at least 9 on-duty VDPs and an off-duty VDP.
A 64-year-old woman said she heard the fighters saying: “People of Youba, you said you are brave, real men. Women [of Youba], we are going to kill all your husbands. Didn’t we tell you that you should not cultivate this year?”
Witnesses said that months before the attack, JNIM had warned villagers of Youba and surrounding localities not to grow tall crops, such as millet and corn, which could hinder their operations. “They had ordered us not to cultivate so they can see far,” a 36-year-old woman said. “Crops like peanuts and beans are tolerated.”
Witnesses said that hundreds of JNIM fighters on motorbikes and at least one pickup truck with a mounted machine gun stormed the village at about 4 p.m. yelling “Allah Akbar” (“God is great”). They said the fighters took control of the VDP base, then entered several neighborhoods, where they shot dead the men they found. “They didn’t go door-to-door,” the 64-year-old woman said. “But I saw them chasing and shooting all men they saw outside.”
Witnesses said that, although JNIM fighters targeted the men, they also shot the woman and two children as they attempted to flee. “The woman was killed on the spot near the VDP base,” said a 45-year-old man who had helped recover the bodies after the attack. “The two children were severely injured at the market and died after they were evacuated to the hospital.”
A farmer, 45, said, “I was in my peanut field with my wives when I saw a pickup truck with a heavy weapon on top. My wives covered me with a jacket. A jihadist asked them if there were any men with them. They said no and they left.”
Residents provided a list with the names of the 14 civilian victims, including 9 men, ages 27 to 55, the 35-year-old woman, and 4 children, ages 1 to 14.
Witnesses said that overwhelmed VDPs in the town did not respond to the attack and instead fled, leaving civilians unprotected. A 36-year-old woman said she heard JNIM fighters saying: “Do you want to challenge us? Your VDPs can do nothing against us. Where are they? They have fled, leaving you behind. Your husbands will be in trouble.”
Witnesses said that the military, which is based in Ouahigouya, 12 kilometers away, did not come during the attack, but that soldiers from BIR 14 only went to Youba after the attack to secure the area and allow VDPs to return to their base.
Youba residents said that in the days following the attack, regular army soldiers were deployed from their base in Ouahigouya to Youba to build a defensive trench around the village. “The soldiers began digging the trench north of Youba using excavators, and VDPs were helping them,” the 45-year-old farmer said.
Residents and media reported that on August 11, JNIM attacked Youba again, killing dozens of soldiers and VDPs. JNIM claimed responsibility for the attack the same day. Residents said JNIM targeted soldiers and VDPs who were digging the trench, and that two civilians were injured.
Human Rights Watch geolocated two videos posted on social media on August 13 showing dozens of JNIM fighters on motorbikes driving freely inside Youba village.
IS Sahel Attack Near Gorom Gorom, Sahel Region, July 28
On July 28, IS Sahel attacked a civilian humanitarian convoy escorted by Burkinabè soldiers and VDPs near the town of Gorom Gorom. At least nine civilians were killed and several others injured. The assailants also attacked the soldiers and burned several trucks.
Witnesses said that at about 1 p.m., Islamist fighters attacked a convoy containing at least 100 civilian trucks carrying at least 100 civilians, mostly traders and residents of Gorom Gorom. The convoy was heading south from the town of Dori about 56 kilometers away, along a road where IS Sahel is known to operate and attack security forces. The convoy was carrying food and other humanitarian aid to the town of Gorom Gorom, which IS Sahel has besieged for over three years. At least 10 military pickup trucks carrying Burkinabè soldiers and VDPs escorted the convoy.
“The trucks carried food and other important supplies for the people of Gorom Gorom,” a 34-year-old man said. “No weapons or ammunitions were being transported, it was a civilian convoy.”
Witnesses said that when the convoy, which stretched about two kilometers, reached the village of Balliata, about 23 kilometers from Gorom Gorom, fighters opened fire on the convoy. They said that the military escorting the convoy fired back but soon retreated.
“We began seeing a lot of people around the convoy, we thought they were farmers, but all of a sudden, they started shooting at us,” said a 52-year-old man who jumped off a truck in front of the convoy. “They shot continuously for over five minutes, I lied on the ground near the tire, as other people jumped off screaming.”
Witnesses believed the assailants were members of IS Sahel because the armed group had previously carried out similar attacks in the area. In January, IS Sahel fighters attacked a convoy escorted by the Burkinabè military that was carrying supplies and civilians between the towns of Dori and Seytenga in the Sahel region, resulting in 21 deaths, including at least 3 civilians. Media, citing security sources, also reported that the July 28 attack was carried out by IS Sahel.
Witnesses said that IS Sahel fighters killed at least nine civilians during the July 28 attack.
“I saw nine bodies that were taken to Gorom Gorom before they were buried at the cemetery the day after the attack,” said a 50-year-old man. “I knew all victims, one was my cousin. But this isn’t the final death toll, because most of those killed were taken to Dori.”
Witnesses provided a list with the names of the nine victims, including two women, ages 25 and 39, and seven men, ages 25 to 52.
Neither IS Sahel nor the Burkinabè government or military issued any public statements about the attack.
Libya: Investigate Cases of Two Missing Lawmakers
(Beirut) – Libyan authorities should urgently investigate and provide information on two missing members of parliament after graphic images and video surfaced recently, increasing grave concerns for their safety, Human Rights Watch said today.
In August 2025, a grainy image circulated on social media platforms that commentators said showed Seham Sergewa, a member of the Libyan House of Representatives abducted in July 2019, being physically abused. In May, photos and video footage circulated on social media showing Ibrahim al-Drissi, a House of Representatives member abducted in May 2024, chained and undressed, pleading his innocence. Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the images and video, which increase concerns about the parliament members’ wellbeing.
“Eastern Libyan authorities and the military leadership should be doing all they can to address enforced disappearances in areas under their control and by forces under their command,” said Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The families of those missing have a right to know what happened to their loved ones and obtain justice.”
Both lawmakers, who were seized in Benghazi by unidentified gunmen, have not been heard from or seen since. No entity has acknowledged responsibility.
Two rival authorities have been vying for control of Libya, the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), affiliated armed groups, and quasi-state forces control western Libya. The Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) and affiliated security apparatuses and militias control eastern and southern Libya. Libya’s House of Representatives is located in Benghazi.
Human Rights Watch on September 1, 2025, wrote to the office of Khalifa Hiftar, commander of the LAAF, and to the Libyan general prosecutor al-Siddiq al-Sur, requesting information about Sergewa and al-Drissi, but received no response from the general prosecutor. The LAAF replied on September 10 saying that, as a military institution, it did not conduct criminal investigations into the “crime against MP Seham Sergewa,” or forensic investigations such as determining the authenticity of photos or videos. It stated that any LAAF member who is found to be implicated in violations would be referred for appropriate judicial prosecution.
On July 17, 2019, masked armed men stormed the Benghazi residence of Seham Sergewa and abducted her. Neighbors and relatives abroad told Human Rights Watch at the time that some of the cars used in surrounding the house during the incident were linked to the LAAF group known as the 106th Battalion.
The former interim government that administered Benghazi at the time of Sergewa’s abduction denied that it or any forces linked to the LAAF had any role in her abduction. Its interior minister claimed, without providing evidence, that unidentified “terrorist groups who infiltrated Benghazi” abducted her.
An image circulated on social media around August 11 that commentators said shows Sergewa being physically abused. Human Rights Watch was unable to verify claims in the media about video footage depicting her abuse, as well as where or when the image – which was reportedly a screenshot from a video – might have been taken. Human Rights Watch has not reviewed the video, which is not in public circulation. If authentic, the image of Sergewa would be the first since her abduction more than six years ago.
Unidentified gunmen abducted Ibrahim al-Drissi on May 16, 2024, after he left an event in Benghazi. There was no information about his whereabouts until May 2, 2025, when reports, videos, and photos began surfacing in news outlets and social media platforms that purported to show him, semi-nude, chained by the neck in a cell-like structure, and in inhumane conditions.
The Benghazi Internal Security Agency, an armed group operating under the LAAF, contended that the video appearing to show al-Drissi is an artificial intelligence generated “deepfake.” While such claims are difficult to verify, Human Rights Watch reviewed the video and consulted a group of experts from Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, an initiative of the nongovernmental organization WITNESS.
Of the five teams that contributed to the analysis, four teams found no significant evidence of AI manipulation. One team noted possible signs of manipulation due to inconsistences in lighting in shadows but noted that the poor quality of the video file could confuse their tools and lead to false positive results.
The cases of Sergewa and al-Drissi are only two among dozens enforced disappearances and killings of journalists, activists, and politicians in eastern Libya since 2014, amid widespread impunity for militias and armed groups. Human Rights Watch has also documented scores of enforced disappearances in western Libya. A United Nations statement in August found that there is a “pervasive and systematic practice of enforced disappearances across the country,” and that the “persistence of incommunicado detention, the existence of unofficial detention facilities where torture and ill-treatment are widespread, and the routine denial of due process feed into this grave pattern.”
Enforced disappearance is prohibited under Libyan and international law, and the authorities are required to investigate such crimes. Under Libyan Law No. 10 (2013) on the Criminalization of Torture, Enforced Disappearances and Discrimination, enforced disappearances are punishable with up to eight years in prison. Libya’s justice sector faces significant challenges and its judiciary is unwilling and unable to conduct meaningful investigations into serious human rights violations and international crimes.
Libyan media reported on May 12 that al-Siddiq al-Sur, the general prosecutor, visited Benghazi to review the status of the investigation into al-Drissi’s disappearance, but his office has not publicly disclosed any additional information.
Libyan authorities should conduct a prompt and transparent investigation to determine the authenticity, timing, and location of circulating photos and videos purporting to show Sergewa and al-Drissi, Human Rights Watch said. Libya’s general prosecutor should report on the steps his office has taken to investigate the cases. He should also disclose what measures his office has taken to review unresolved enforced disappearance cases in Libya, how many such cases his office is investigating, and whether any suspects are currently in detention or have been held accountable for alleged enforced disappearances.
Enforced disappearances are considered a violation of multiple human rights embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 2 of the Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance states that enforced disappearance “is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”
“A struggling and dysfunctional justice system is no excuse to normalize enforced disappearances in Libya,” Salah said. “Senior Libyan civilian and military officials who have information on cases of enforced disappearance but fail to take appropriate action could be found complicit in the crime.”
Ethiopian Health Professionals to Resume Striking
Health professionals in Ethiopia plan to resume striking on September 15 to demand better wages and living conditions, marking the second round of strikes in recent months.
Following months of organizing spearheaded by the Ethiopian Health Professionals Movement (EHPM), public health care workers launched a nationwide walkout in May, halting nonemergency health services. The professionals raised numerous grievances, including improved working conditions, fair salaries, health insurance, and access to affordable housing and transport.
There are limits on health workers’ right to strike under Ethiopian law, and the government is more broadly intolerant of protest and dissent. Health workers’ decision to brave the risks of protesting in this way reflects the desperate importance of the problems they want the government to address.
Instead of engaging in good faith dialogue, the government clamped down. Authorities detained dozens of striking doctors. Police charged one prominent figure in the movement, Dr. Daniel Fentaneh, with “inciting, mobilizing, and organizing a strike,” alleging it resulted in the loss of human life. He spent 27 days in detention before being released on bail. The Ethiopian government has suspended the Ethiopian Health Professionals Association (EHPA), a group that endorsed the striking workers’ demands.
Health officials say they will strike again now in hopes that the Ethiopian government will address the issues that are still unresolved.
Salaries of Ethiopian medical professionals remain low, with some surgeons earning on average less than US$100 per month. Rising inflation and a deepening cost of living crisis are causing further strain, making even basic necessities unaffordable for Ethiopians from all walks of life.
The government says it’s working to address health care workers’ grievances. In late August, the Ministry of Health issued instructions to regional and city administrations to establish clinics where medical professionals and their families could access free care and for health institutions to provide transport during working hours. Discussions about salary increases and overtime benefits are forthcoming, according to EHPM’s Facebook page.
Health professionals are skeptical.
The risks they face are real. Ethiopian police detained three journalists from a popular private station, Sheger FM, after it aired a broadcast about the upcoming strike. Two of the journalists remain in detention and may face charges of terrorism.
As the strike approaches, the government has an opportunity to demonstrate that it is serious about tackling the crisis affecting the country’s health care system and the longstanding concerns of its health care professionals.
Turkiye: Social Media, Messaging Platform Disruptions
(Istanbul, September 12, 2025) – Türkiye’s slowing down (throttling) of social media and messaging platforms at moments of social or political importance is denying people important information and impeding democratic participation, 15 groups including Human Rights Watch said in a statement released today. The following is their statement:
Türkiye: Stop Throttling Social Media Platforms and Messaging Services
Türkiye is increasingly throttling social media platforms and messaging apps to silence online communication at moments of profound political or social importance. The undersigned human rights and press freedom organisations condemn Türkiye’s actions, which isolate people from vital information, and stifle democratic participation. Türkiye should correct course and uphold its international human rights obligations.
On September 7, at 11:45 p.m., major social media platforms and messaging services X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal became inaccessible in Istanbul for approximately 21 hours.
The bandwidth throttling coincided with a police blockade of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) Istanbul headquarters. The blockade triggered a call from CHP’s Istanbul Youth Branch to gather in front of the building at 11:00 p.m. on September 7, in protest against a temporary injunction by an Istanbul court suspending the Party’s provincial leadership and replacing it with “trustees”, a decision some legal experts say was beyond the court’s jurisdiction. On September 11, a court in Ankara rejected the case for the annulment of the Party’s Istanbul provincial congress on substantive grounds.
The throttling of platforms was accompanied by attacks on peaceful assembly and growing pressure on media reporting on the tense situation. On September 8, the police forcibly entered the CHP headquarters together with the court-appointed trustee, deploying tear gas against demonstrators, journalists, party members and staff both outside and inside the building. At least 10 people were reportedly detained and handcuffed.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office had issued a ban on public gatherings in six districts starting at 8:00 p.m. on September 7 and lasting until September11. In addition, the president of the government-aligned broadcasting watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (Radyo ve Televizyon Üst Kurulu, RTÜK), warned on X that outlets “undermining social peace and public safety” would face administrative fines, broadcasting suspensions and, ultimately, license revocations. This comes after major independent broadcasters TELE1, Halk TV, and SZC TV were hit with broadcast bans in recent months.
No official explanation has been provided for the throttling. Under Article 60/10 of the Electronic Communications Law (Law No. 5809), the Presidency may order the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) to restrict communications without a court order where there is peril in delay, citing national security, public order, or other grounds listed under Article 22 of the Constitution. These administrative restrictions are temporary and have to be brought to the judiciary within 24 hours. The competent court is required to render a decision within 48 hours thereafter. This means that communication can be cut for up to 72 hours without judicial approval. Article 60/10 was added to the Electronic Communications Law in August 2016 with a State of Emergency Decree, and codified into law in November of the same year.
Türkiye has a documented pattern of throttling social media platforms and messaging apps during critical events, including the February 2023 earthquakes, when X was throttled for about 12 hours even though it was essential for urgent rescue efforts. Another example is the throttling of Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X after a bombing in November 2022.
The latest shutdown is the second one in recent months. When CHP’s 2028 presidential candidate and then-Istanbul Mayor was detained in March 2025, X, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram were throttled in Istanbul for 42 hours. This time around, the government escalated its repression by including Signal, and Whatsapp, the most widely used mobile application in the country. Accessing these platforms and messaging services through VPNs is not a reliable alternative in Türkiye, as most major providers have already been blocked for several years.
These restrictions are often imposed with little to no explanation. Platforms and messaging services are throttled and then quietly restored, leaving the public in a state of uncertainty. They limit the ability of journalists to report developing events of intense public interest, restrict access to vital information and stifle political dissent during moments when the public most needs open and free communication.
Türkiye’s actions are in clear violation of international human rights law. As emphasised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “given their indiscriminate and disproportionate impacts on human rights, States should refrain from the full range of internet shutdowns.” Any restriction on freedom of expression, including the blocking of certain platforms, must be based on a clear legal basis, necessary to achieve a legitimate aim, and proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued.
According to the OHCHR, any internet shutdown, including targeted ones, must further be subject to prior authorisation by a court or other independent adjudicatory body and communicated in advance to the service providers with a clear legal explanation and details regarding scope and duration. In addition, governments must provide redress mechanisms, including through judicial proceedings, to those whose rights have been affected. Türkiye repeatedly violates these requirements. It instead uses throttling measures as convenient tools in its arsenal to block people’s access to information in politically sensitive times and to limit scrutiny of its actions.
The undersigned human rights and press freedom organisations urge Türkiye to refrain from throttling social media platforms and messaging services. Türkiye must stop its consistent crackdown on dissenting voices and the media, and uphold its international human rights obligations.
Signatories:
ARTICLE 19ARTICOLO 21Civic Space Studies Association (CSSA)EuroMed Rights NetworkEuropean Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)Human Rights Watch (HRW)International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights DefendersInternational Press Institute (IPI)Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)PEN DenmarkPEN InternationalP24 Platform for Independent JournalismSouth East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights DefendersWHO Guidance Win for People with Albinism, Diabetes
What may seem like a technical exercise in global health bureaucracy, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) update to its Essential Medicines Lists, will in fact have life-changing consequences for millions of people around the world. By adding therapeutic sunscreen and rapid-acting insulin analogues on September 5, the WHO sent a clear signal to governments: these are not luxuries, but lifesaving goods that should be available and accessible to all, regardless of their ability to pay.
Every other year since 1977, the WHO has convened a group of medical experts to produce a list of essential medicines. This Model List of Essential Medicines, along with the WHO’s Model List of Essential Medicines for Children, directly influences the policies of over 150 governments around the world.
People with albinism face a disproportionate risk of skin cancer because of the lower levels of melanin in their skin. The United Nations independent expert on albinism, the Global Albinism Alliance, the Africa Albinism Network, and others, have long advocated including SPF 50+ broad-spectrum sunscreen in these lists, with Human Rights Watch supporting their position. The WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines has now acknowledged both the public health importance of sunscreen and the need for a clear therapeutic standard.
The inclusion of rapid-acting insulin analogues is also a major step toward improving the availability and accessibility of these drugs, which millions of people with diabetes around the world depend on to regulate their blood sugar.
In 2022, Human Rights Watch documented how the US government’s failure to adequately regulate the price of insulin undermined the human rights of people with Type 1 Diabetes. Thanks to the work of diabetes patient advocates like T1International, which have for years advocated for their inclusion, the updated WHO lists now recommend that all governments should ensure that these drugs are made available “at prices individuals and health systems can afford.”
All governments that are parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have a “core obligation” to ensure at least minimum essential levels of primary health care, an obligation that is interpreted as requiring governments to provide drugs listed as essential by the WHO to people within their jurisdiction. Now the crucial task ahead is ensuring that governments live up to these obligations.
Zambia: Acid Spill Jeopardizes Residents’ Health
(Johannesburg) – Zambian authorities should address recent reports that polluted water and soil from an acid spill in Zambia’s copper mining region pose a serious health risk, Human Rights Watch said today.
On February 18, 2025, a dam in Chambishi, Copperbelt province, holding mining waste from Chinese mining company, Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, burst its walls and released acidic effluent into Kafue River’s watershed. Sino-Metals is a subsidiary of the Chinese government-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group. The pollution killed fish, burned maize and groundnut crops, and led to the deaths of livestock, wiping out livelihoods of local farmers and posing harm to residents.
“Recent reporting on the immediate and long-term health effects of the February acid spill show the need for the Zambian government to investigate the health hazards and take comprehensive action to prevent further harm,” said Idriss Ali Nassah, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities are obligated to ensure that the internationally protected rights to health and to a healthy environment of the affected communities are respected.”
Zambian authorities should conduct a comprehensive investigation with international and domestic experts to identify environmental health risks, and test affected communities for possible acute and cumulative heavy metal poisoning.
Civil society groups contended that the acid spill resulted from “a broader pattern of gross corporate negligence and inadequacies in environmental compliance, oversight and enforcement.” An official from a local environmental organization told the media that “people unknowingly drank contaminated water and ate affected maize. Now many are suffering from headaches, coughs, diarrhea, muscle cramps, and even sores on their legs.”
In the days after the toxic spill, Sino-Metals apologized for the environmental disaster and the harm caused to local communities, and promised to remedy the situation by cleaning up the river and to restore people’s livelihoods “to the best of our abilities.”
However, in August, six months after the acid spill, a travel advisory by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had information showing that water samples from the area of the acid spill contained 24 different heavy metals, 16 of which, including nickel, lead, arsenic, zinc, and uranium, exceeded the threshold values set by the World Health Organization. High exposure to these metals can pose serious health hazards, especially for children, older people, and pregnant women.
On August 6, the US government ordered the immediate evacuation of all US government personnel from areas affected by the acid spill. The United States stated that newly available information had revealed “the extent of hazardous and carcinogenic substances … as well as the immediate and long-term health threats that exposure to these contaminants pose as long as they remain in the environment. Beyond contaminated water and soil, contaminants from the spilled mine tailings may also become airborne, posing a health threat if inhaled.”
After the disaster, the Zambian government ordered Sino-Metals to restore the polluted river, rehabilitate the surrounding environment, and compensate over 500 affected farmers. Since then, however, the government has denied that the acid spill still posed a serious health risk, stating that “laboratory results show that the pH (acidity) levels have returned to normal and concentrations of heavy metals are steadily decreasing, which means that the immediate danger to human, animal and plant life has been averted.”
The Zambian government has undertaken some measures to mitigate the harm, including using lime to reduce acidity levels in the affected waterways. However, Human Rights Watch spoke to two environmental activists who said that community members in areas affected by the pollution still complained of headaches, coughs, diarrhea, and other health issues that increased after the spill. Some said they had not received the promised compensation.
The Zambia Environmental Justice Coalition also expressed concern over the scale of the disaster and the long-term impact on affected communities. The coalition urged the government to “renegotiate all compensation agreements—ensuring the full involvement of affected communities—to promote intergenerational justice and restore livelihoods.”
Mining has caused other serious environmental and health harm in Zambia. In Kabwe, Central province, a lead and zinc mine, closed in 1994 but never cleaned up, has caused severe lead poisoning among residents. A civil society coalition has called a full clean-up and compensation for those affected by the pollution.
Under the 2011 Environmental Management Act, everyone in Zambia has the right to a “clean, safe and healthy environment.” Further, Zambia is a party to international and regional human rights treaties that obligate the government to protect the right to health and the right to a healthy environment. The right to the highest attainable standard of health is guaranteed by article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and by article 16 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“Zambia’s economy is heavily reliant on the mining sector, but the government still has an obligation to protect the right to health of those affected by mining activity,” Nassah said. “Donor governments should help Zambia achieve this though support and cooperation.”
Morocco: Exonerate, Release Activist Sentenced for Blasphemy
(Beirut) – Moroccan authorities should urgently overturn the 30-month sentence of an activist convicted on blasphemy charges for wearing a t-shirt authorities deemed offensive, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities need to ensure that the right to free expression is respected.
The activist, Ibtissame Lachgar, was arrested on August 10, 2025, and charged by the Rabat First Instance Court with “causing harm to Islam” after posting a photo on social media of herself wearing a shirt with the words “Allah is lesbian.” The court found she had violated Morocco’s penal code and on September 3 sentenced her to 30 months in prison and a fine of 50,000 Moroccan dirhams (approximately US$5,500). Her defense team has said they will appeal. Lachgar remains in detention.
“Sentencing an activist to more than two years in prison merely for posting a photo on social media is a huge blow to free speech in Morocco,” said Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should abolish this draconian legislation instead of using it as a tool to violate free speech rights.”
Lachgar is a clinical psychologist and prominent activist who co-founded MALI, a movement for personal freedoms. Her lawyers reportedly had asked the authorities to release her from pretrial detention on medical grounds because she has a condition that requires ongoing treatment. Media reported that the Rabat tribunal had denied that application.
Prosecutors in Morocco have an arsenal of repressive legislation to punish critics for nonviolent speech, including harsh and overbroad laws on terrorism, cybercrime, apostasy, and criminal defamation that they use to jail human rights defenders, activists, and bloggers. In 2022, a Moroccan court sentenced a blogger, Fatima Karim, to two years in prison on charges that she publicly insulted Islam through posts on her Facebook page.
Under article 267.5 of the country’s penal code, a person convicted of “causing harm” to Islam faces six months to two years in prison and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 dirhams (approximately $2,200 to $22,000). The punishment can be increased to two to five years and a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 dirhams (approximately $5,500 to $55,000) if the alleged offense is committed through print, audiovisual, or electronic media.
Morocco’s press code also stipulates fines and a court-ordered suspension for publications and electronic media found responsible for “causing harm” to Islam (article 70).
The Moroccan authorities should decriminalize laws that are used to violate freedom of expression, including laws the criminalize “insulting religion” and blasphemy laws, Human Rights Watch said. Morocco’s parliament should revise the penal and press codes by eliminating all nonviolent speech offenses that conflict with Morocco’s obligations to respect freedom of expression.
The International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Morocco in 1979, requires that “Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference,” and that “everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.” The United Nations Human Rights Committee, an expert body charged with interpreting the covenant and assessing government’s compliance with it, has determined that, except in very limited circumstances, “prohibitions of displays of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible with the Covenant.”
“Decriminalizing peaceful speech, including laws on blasphemy and insult to religion, should be a top priority for Morocco’s legislature,” Salah said.
Flotillas Highlight Urgency to Lift Israel’s Blockade of Gaza
In the absence of international action to stop the Israeli government from continuing its grave crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, people from around the world are embarking on flotillas aimed at breaking Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, delivering desperately needed aid, and demanding an end to Israel’s atrocities.
This week, a coalition of activists spanning North Africa, the Gulf states, France, and Malaysia launched the Global Sumud Flotilla, despite threats and danger.
On September 8, an explosion took place, igniting fires on board the flotilla’s “Family Boat.” Organizers said an item dropped by a drone struck the boat, a Portuguese-flagged vessel carrying members of the flotilla’s steering committee in Tunisian waters, which they condemned as a targeted act of intimidation. The next day, organizers reported a second drone attack, releasing footage and an image of a burned item found on deck.
More than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed amid Israel’s assault over the last 23 months in Gaza, including over 2,000 trying to access humanitarian aid. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble and, as the population has come under unrelenting bombardment, most have been forcibly displaced at least once.
Now, as Israeli forces escalate operations in Gaza City and continue starving the civilian population in defiance of orders from the International Court of Justice, it is urgent for states to act.
Governments should be using all their leverage to prevent genocide by halting weapons sales to Israel, suspending preferential trade agreements, and imposing targeted sanctions against Israeli officials responsible for ongoing abuses.
Flotillas come amid governments’ inaction and can put participants at great risk. Some Gulf participants reported being blocked from traveling by authorities and advised not to participate citing safety concerns. Israeli forces intercepted prior flotillas, detaining and deporting most activists. In 2010, when Israeli forces intercepted the “Mavi Marmara,” a Turkish ship participating in a flotilla, they killed nine activists. This incident serves as a reminder for the international community to protect flotilla participants, whom Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has branded as “terrorists.”
Flotillas are a means by which ordinary people can peacefully speak out on the world stage against the threat of mass extermination. But there is no substitute for meaningful action by governments to halt abuses and ensure accountability. Governments should ensure that participants are not obstructed, attacked, or wrongfully prosecuted and press Israel to end its unlawful blockade of Gaza.
Yemen: Journalists Under Assault
(Beirut) – Yemen’s warring parties, including the Houthis, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), and the Yemeni government have committed serious human rights violations against journalists and media institutions in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
September 11, 2025 “We Pray to God by Torturing Journalists”The 59-page report, “‘We Pray to God by Torturing Journalists’: Warring Parties’ Systematic Violations Against Journalists and Press Freedom in Yemen,” documents the warring parties’ wide range of violations against journalists and media institutions, including the widespread use of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and other inhuman treatment. The authorities on all sides of the conflict have also carried out broader violations against Yemenis’ right to free expression and against the media, including seizing media organizations, intimidating and harassing media workers and obstructing their movement and work.
“Warring parties’ repeated attacks on journalists and media institutions have threatened the lives of dozens of journalists and have gravely undermined freedom of expression in Yemen,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities in Yemen should be doing everything in their power to ensure people’s basic needs and rights, rather than abusing and silencing those who are simply reporting what is happening.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 27 people, including 16 journalists, between October 2024 and May 2025. Human Rights Watch also reviewed and analyzed photos and documents related to the cases investigated, including official documents and court indictments, among other evidence.
Human Rights Watch documented 14 cases of abuses against journalists by the Houthis, the STC, and the Yemeni government, including five who were until recently or are currently arbitrarily detained since November 2023: three by the Houthis, and two by the STC. Four were forcibly disappeared.
In some cases, authorities detained the family members of journalists either in addition to or in place of the journalist, often holding them as leverage to coerce journalists to “confess” to bogus charges or to stop them from carrying out their work.
Four journalists who were previously detained said they were severely tortured in prison, in addition to other forms of ill treatment. They said that they believed the authorities subjected them to more brutal treatment than other detainees to frighten them, and others, so that they wouldn’t report on the authorities’ abuses, mismanagement, and corruption.
Abdelkhaleq Emran, a released journalist, said that a Houthi prison authority told him that, “We pray to God by torturing journalists.”
Warring parties’ targeting of journalists and media institutions has encroached on freedom of expression in Yemen. Many journalists have fled the country due to the abuses they have faced, or their fear of abuse, by warring parties. Those who have stayed have often limited their reporting to avoid being targeted.
“Lubna Sadeq,” a freelance journalist in Aden, said that she tried to hide her identity as a journalist when traveling through checkpoints because she fears the reaction of checkpoint officials if they discover her profession. “Even in my passport, my colleagues advised me to write my occupation as “student” to avoid getting into trouble at checkpoints,” she said.
Nabil al-Osaidi, a board member of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, said that “The space for [journalistic] freedom has been shrinking.” He, and others, said that the authorities have been conducting surveillance of journalists and detaining them for something as inconsequential as a social media post critical of authorities.
Many journalists have been killed in Yemen over the last 11 years of fighting, including likely assassinations by warring parties. However, there have not been adequate investigations to determine who was responsible in most instances Human Rights Watch documented.
The Houthis and the STC have also seized and/or shut down several major media institutions across the country since the start of the conflict. Researchers documented five cases in the past four years, including Yemen Live for Media Production and Satellite Broadcasting, Yemen Digital Media, Sawt al-Yemen, SABA News Agency, and the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.
Authorities in Yemen, including the Yemeni government, the Houthis, and the STC, have obligations under both international and domestic laws to protect freedom of expression, which includes journalism. Under both international and national law, they must also not arbitrarily detain, forcibly disappear, torture, or murder people.
UN member states should use all opportunities to raise serious concerns about violations of human rights in Yemen at the upcoming 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), including condemning warring parties’ arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances of journalists and other media workers, and call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained.
UNHRC members should also ensure that the resolution on Yemen that will be negotiated at the 60th session, condemns these rights violations, calls on the Yemeni authorities to immediately remedy them, and requests the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor the situation and report to the UNHRC.
The UN special rapporteur on torture, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances should request a visit to Yemen. They should use the visit to monitor the human rights situation and document and report on violations of human rights, including against journalists, such as arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture.
“All warring parties should immediately release journalists who remain wrongly detained and end their abusive practices against journalists and media institutions,” Jafarnia said. “The international community should also put an end to their inaction concerning the ongoing violations in Yemen and ensure that warring parties are held to account.”
Pakistan Floods Highlight Urgent Need for Reforms
Catastrophic floods from heavy rainfall in Pakistan this past week displaced at least four million people, destroyed thousands of acres of crops, and severely damaged critical infrastructure. At least 900 people died. Thousands of those displaced are in relief camps; many more lack shelter and are in dire need of assistance.
The loss of life, damage to buildings and infrastructure, and destruction of agriculture are the disastrous consequences of climate change coupled with unchecked development. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that this is just the latest in a string of failures by successive governments in Pakistan to enact needed reforms and policies to regulate development.
Floods caused by heavy rainfall events are expected to become more frequent and intense as climate change accelerates. Moreover, Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, facing rates of warming considerably above the global average and frequent, extreme climate events. These events are particularly threatening for marginalized and at-risk populations. Pakistan’s 2022 floods affected 33 million people, caused 1,700 deaths, and inflicted billions of dollars in damages.
Unchecked development exacerbates these effects. One representative example is the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project, which the government launched in August 2020 to address Lahore’s many problems – pollution, sewage, water, housing, and employment – while reviving the city’s “lost glory.” The Pakistan government has a history of conducting poor quality environmental assessments for politically connected infrastructure projects. In this case, it ignored warnings by independent environmental activists and experts who called the project ecologically and financially unviable and argued that building barrages and other dams on the river and replacing farmland with paved concrete could swell water levels upstream and cause flooding. Today, most of the area earmarked for the project is submerged, along with parts of Lahore city itself.
Pakistan’s government has an international human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable harms, including from climate change and extreme weather events. It should provide assistance to communities already affected by the floods and take preventive measures to protect the most at-risk groups from such events in the future. Without enforcing meaningful environmental protections alongside climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, Pakistan’s vulnerable communities will remain at risk of preventable displacement and worse.
Türkiye: Drop Case Against Bar Association
(Ankara, September 10, 2025) – Criminal and civil proceedings against the executive board of the Istanbul Bar Association are incompatible with Türkiye’s international human rights obligations and represent a direct assault on the independence of the legal profession, 12 legal and human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch said today.
Amicus brief by 12 international orgs on the legal proceedings against the Istanbul BarThe groups submitted an amicus brief to the Istanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court on September 5, 2025, in advance of the September 9-10 hearing in the case.
The legal action targets the Istanbul Bar Association’s president, İbrahim Kaboğlu, and 10 executive board members, and stems from a public statement issued by the Bar on December 21, 2024, following the killing of two Kurdish journalists, Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin, allegedly in a drone strike in northern Syria.
In its statement, the Bar Association had recalled international legal protections that must be provided to journalists in conflict zones, called for an effective investigation into the deaths, and demanded the release of protesters and lawyers detained at a demonstration held in Istanbul that same day.
In response, prosecutors in Türkiye opened criminal proceedings against the Bar’s leadership for “propaganda for a terrorist organisation” and “disseminating misleading information,” and simultaneously filed a civil lawsuit seeking to dismiss the board on the grounds that it had acted beyond its legal duties. On March 21, the Istanbul 2nd Civil Court of First Instance ordered the termination of the entire board’s mandate, a decision that is currently under appeal.
The 12 organizations said in their joint submission that these proceedings violate Türkiye’s obligations under international human rights law. The Istanbul Bar Association’s statement, they note, falls squarely within its professional mandate and legal duty to defend human rights and the rule of law.
“The criminal and civil proceedings against the Istanbul Bar Association’s executive board amount to retaliation for engaging in lawful, rights-based advocacy,” said Ayşe Bingöl Demir, director of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project. “They are part of a broader effort to intimidate the legal profession and silence institutions that challenge state power.”
The organizations emphasized that bar associations must be free to speak out on legal and human rights concerns without fear of intimidation or punishment. Thierry Wickers, president of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, said that, “These actions are not just an attack on the Istanbul Bar Association, they are an attack on the very idea of an independent legal profession, one of the main pillars of a democratic society and a fundamental guarantee for ensuring the rule of law and preventing abuse of state power.”
The groups said in the amicus brief that the charges brought against the Bar’s leadership are both vague and legally baseless, relying on overbroad anti-terrorism and “disinformation” laws that fail to meet international standards of legality, necessity and proportionality. No part of the Bar’s statement can reasonably be interpreted as “inciting violence” or “promoting terrorism,” the groups said. Instead, it reflects the Bar’s role as an institutional safeguard, defending its members and speaking out against unlawful detentions and alleged violations of international law.
“The Istanbul Bar’s statement was well within its statutory duties and its internationally protected role,” said Baroness Helena Kennedy, director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute “To criminalise such a statement is both legally indefensible and politically alarming.”
The organizations said that this case is not isolated but emblematic of a wider pattern in Türkiye, where bar associations have faced mounting interference, lawyers are increasingly prosecuted for their work, and dissenting institutions are subjected to coordinated pressure.
Dinushika Dissanayake Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for Europe, said that, “What is happening in this case is emblematic of a systemic pattern but also sets a dangerous precedent: criminal law is being misused to target lawyers, their professional body and human rights defenders for simply carrying out their work. Türkiye’s overly broad anti-terrorism laws are open to abuse.
“Prosecutions such as these send a chilling message that demanding the authorities abide by their human rights obligations comes at a heavy cost and that lawyers’, their representatives’ and all of our right to freedom of expression can be arbitrarily curtailed. In the face of this, the only fair outcome is the acquittal of all the leaders of Istanbul Bar Association at tomorrow’s hearing.”
In light of these concerns, the international organizations have asked the Istanbul court to assess the lawfulness and propriety of the ongoing criminal and civil proceedings in line with Türkiye’s binding obligations under international human rights law, including the standards on the independence of lawyers and bar associations and the rights to freedom of expression and association.
As the groups highlight in the amicus brief, the charges and actions against the Istanbul Bar Association’s executive board contravene these standards, appear to pursue an ulterior political purpose, and risk setting a dangerous precedent for legal professionals and institutions engaged in rights-based advocacy.
The organizations that submitted the amicus curiae brief are: Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, Amnesty International, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, German Federal Bar, Human Rights Watch, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, International Commission of Jurists, International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger, Law Society of England and Wales, Lawyers for Lawyers, and PEN Norway.
Egypt: Mass Crackdown Targets Online Content Creators
(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities have since July 2025 carried out an abusive campaign of mass arrests and prosecutions targeting online content creators, Human Rights Watch said today.
Based on Interior Ministry statements, the authorities arrested or prosecuted for online content at least 29 people, including at least 19 women and a child, between late July and late August, while credible media and human rights reports recorded another 8 cases. The authorities brought vague charges against those targeted, including belly dancers and tattoo artists, such as violating “public morals,” “undermining family values,” and “money laundering,” stemming from what they said were “indecent” videos posted on social media platforms like TikTok.
“Egyptian authorities’ campaign against online content creators seems intended to quell the last vestige of space for free expression in the country,” said Amr Magdi, senior Middle East and North Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This is part of the government’s relentless attempt to criminalize all forms of expression that do not conform with its political or social views.”
The government’s actions violate the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and nondiscrimination, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should drop abusive prosecutions and cease using vague morality charges to quell online expression.
Those arrested face criminal charges of “violating family principles or values in Egyptian society” under article 25 of Law No. 175 of 2018 on Cybercrime, which can lead to six months to three years in prison and hefty fines. Human Rights Watch previously documented that this law has become one of the key tools for criminalizing free expression in recent years.
The authorities have also used a combination of broad and poorly defined laws that give prosecutors and judges unrestricted discretion in defining what constitutes charges of “public indecency” and “inciting debauchery” in the penal code.
The public prosecution confirmed on August 8 that it had charged 10 content creators with broadcasting “indecent videos” that “undermine family and societal principles” on TikTok, ordering the pretrial detention of eight while releasing two on bail. It also froze the assets of all 10 and banned them from travel.
The authorities also targeted at least one child and several other young people. On June 23, prosecutors jailed a 16-year old girl, Nour Tufaha, for four days before referring her case to trial for allegedly posting online “indecent” videos of herself dancing. On August 25, a juvenile court reportedly sentenced her to two years in prison for “promoting vice and debauchery.”
On August 4, the public prosecution ordered the pretrial detention of a young woman who posts on TikTok, known as Suzy El Ordoneya, over accusations that she published videos that “offend public decency.” Her page on TikTok has nearly 9.3 million followers and features videos in which she discusses social issues, sings, or dances. On August 20, a judge renewed her detention for 15 days pending investigation on charges of publishing “indecent” videos and “money laundering.”
The Interior Ministry’s morality police department and other police units also detained four belly dancers for posting videos of themselves dancing in allegedly “indecent” clothing deemed to “violate public morals.” Official statements and Egyptian media identified them as Badiaa, an Egyptian-Italian dancer, Noura Denial, Boosi al-Asad, and Doosa.
Security forces arrested Mohamed Abdelaty on August 4 for broadcasting videos in which he allegedly used “indecent” language. Prosecutors and judges renewed his detention most recently on September 1. Pro-government newspapers reported that he is also facing charges related to “money laundering.” Abdelaty has over half a million followers on TikTok, where he showcases comedy sketches, commentary, and weightlifting.
On August 12, authorities arrested an 18-year-old known on TikTok as “Yasmeen” for publishing allegedly “indecent” videos. Authorities claimed Yasmeen was “a man mispresenting as a woman,” a claim frequently used against proscribed gender non-conforming appearances. She was released on bail on August 13.
On August 3, the authorities arrested Mohamed Shaker, known on TikTok as “Shaker Mahzour Delwati” following complaints by a pro-government lawyer to the public prosecutor accusing him of broadcasting videos that “violate the principles and values of the society.” Shaker, who has more than 5.5 million followers on TikTok, often shares clips of luxury cars and high end travel.
Authorities also targeted tattoo artists as part of sweeping arrests. For example, On August 5, police arrested an online content creator and tattoo artist known as Fadi Tattoo for allegedly publishing videos of himself tattooing women, which authorities said “contradicts societal traditions.” He was released on bail on August 7.
On August 10, pro-government newspapers reported that a criminal appeals court had sentenced a woman who posts on TikTok and her male assistant to three years in prison and a 100,000 Egyptian pound fine (US$2,054) for posting “indecent” videos on TikTok. Human Rights Watch could not verify their names or content.
These arrests came amid a campaign on social media and in pro-government newspapers accusing content creators of “morality” violations and “money laundering.” Pro-government media also reported that several lawyers had filed complaints with the public prosecutor against content creators for “promoting vice and debauchery.”
In July, one complaint sent to the public prosecution was reportedly signed by 32 lawyers against 10 content creators, 8 of them women. Egyptian laws allow citizens to file complaints with the public prosecution against individuals for what they deem to be “offenses” that impact public safety or morals. The public prosecutor has the authority to decide whether to proceed with investigation and indictment.
A member of the House of Representatives’ Telecommunications Committee, Ahmed Badawy, said on August 2 that TikTok might be banned in Egypt if it does not “eliminate content … in order to respect societal values.”
Targeting girls and women based on how they dress or engage in acts like dancing, exemplifies the campaign’s discriminatory nature, Human Rights Watch said. Discrimination against girls and women, including social and cultural discrimination, is prohibited under international human rights law, including the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The right to free expression is guaranteed under the Egyptian Constitution and international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
International law requires that any limitations to freedom of expression must be proportionate, stated in a precise manner, in a way that people can reasonably predict what constitutes a violation, and be necessary to protect national security, public order, public health, or morals in a democratic society. What constitutes morality must not be derived from one set of traditions, religion, or culture, but rather in light of the diversity of a society.
The UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees the interpretation of the covenant, has affirmed that the right to freedom of expression applies online and also said that laws “may not confer unfettered discretion” to authorities and that any “limitations must be understood in the light of universality of human rights and the principle of non-discrimination.”
“The Egyptian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all those arrested for exercising their right to free speech online and drop the charges against them,” Magdi said. “The authorities should also repeal all laws restricting the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of belief in the name of morality.”
Saudi Arabia: Migrant Workers Unpaid for Months
(Beirut) – Hundreds of migrant workers employed in Saudi Arabia by the manufacturing and supply company Sendan International did not receive their salaries for up to eight months, Human Rights Watch said today. They include workers employed in state-owned oil company Aramco project sites.
Migrant workers were often stranded without pay for months, forced into undocumented status, or left with no choice but to return home at their own expense, abandoning outstanding wages and benefits. These abuses have occurred as Saudi Arabia is undergoing a massive construction boom, including building 11 new and refurbished stadiums ahead of FIFA’s 2034 World Cup. Aramco is a “major worldwide partner” of FIFA and sponsors other global sports bodies.
“The failure of Sendan International, Aramco, and Saudi authorities to ensure migrant workers receive their wages is only one recent example of the impunity for Saudi businesses that enables them to mistreat workers,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The lack of effective protections for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia is a stark warning to FIFA and other companies that their operations in Saudi Arabia will be stained with widespread labor abuses unless they demand genuine labor protections.”
Between June and August 2025, Human Rights Watch spoke with 14 migrant worker employees of Sendan International from migrant origin countries Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. At least eight had worked on Aramco project sites. Workers said they had stopped working in March after being unpaid for up to eight months. Based on media reports from Nepal and India, at least 850 workers claim they did not receive their wages for months. The actual figure could be even higher.
Media reports indicate that Sendan International may have ceased operations in December 2024, but workers Human Rights Watch interviewed said they continued working until March 2025 and Sendan International did not respond to a Human Rights Watch letter requesting confirmation. If Sendan International has ceased operating, Aramco has a responsibility to use its leverage to ensure that workers employed on their sites receive their wages, including through government-backed compensation programs. Aramco, too, did not respond to a request for comment.
Human Rights Watch also wrote to Saudi Arabia’s Human Resources and Social Development Ministry, which responded by acknowledging this case of unpaid wages, detailing government wage protection measures in Saudi Arabia, and stating that “non-compliance of Sendan International Company was detected through the Wage Protection System, and corrective action was taken in coordination with the company, the affected workers, and their embassies.”
While the ministry also stated that “affected workers were provided with guidance and access to dedicated mechanisms for recovering their dues, and the Ministry continues to monitor the situation until all claims are resolved,” it did not provide answers to follow-up questions regarding how many workers were impacted by unpaid waged and the number of claims submitted or resolved.
Human Rights Watch found that the Al-Etihad Cooperative Insurance Company, which provides compensation for such workers under the government’s Expatriate Worker Wage Insurance Service, has started collecting information for the unpaid workers, though many impacted workers have not filed claims, or have not heard back if they did. Human Rights Watch has not been able to determine whether any workers have been compensated, and Al-Etihad did not respond to questions about the compensation process.
Based on interviews in June, some stranded workers had been provided with accommodation, but according to workers and media reports, the food Sendan had provided was both inedible and insufficient. One Nepali worker said, “We are eating only rice and lentils. We don’t even have money to buy toothpaste or shampoo.”
Workers said their families back home were struggling without remittances, including to pay off recruitment loans charged by recruiters in their home countries, which are illegal under Saudi laws. “Until eight months ago, I used to send home INR 30,000 [about US$340] every month,” said a worker from India. “Now they have to send money to me for my expenses.”
Out of desperation, hundreds of workers protested or took to social media despite the fear of arrest, as Saudi Arbia bans protests. One worker on an Aramco site who is owed around SAR 20,000 [about $5,330] said: “Our supervisor on site pressured us to continue working, but we refused.”
Some workers, including those who chose not to strike, went to work elsewhere without authorization, despite the risks of detention and deportation. “I saw many workers protesting,” a Bangladeshi worker said. “But thinking about my family, I quietly left and ran away from the company.”
Another Bangladeshi worker who had paid recruitment fees of BDT 420,000 [about $3,435] said: “About seven months after I joined the company, the problems began.…When I asked my Indian supervisor, the response was ‘Look, I’m facing the same problem. The company doesn’t pay me properly either. I can’t tell you anything.’” The worker was forced to seek irregular work elsewhere, risking deportation.
Wage theft against migrant workers remains one of the most widespread abuses in Saudi Arabia, as documented by Human Rights Watch and in an outstanding forced labor complaint to the International Labour Organization (ILO) against Saudi Arabia by the 12 million-member-strong Building and Wood Workers’ International Union (BWI). Victims are rarely compensated for their legally owed wages and, even when they are, it can take years to receive them.
While Saudi Arabia introduced the wage insurance service in October 2024 for migrant workers in private establishments when employers fail to meet their payment obligations, but it has severe limits and is grossly inadequate to address the extent of abuse. Migrant workers can only submit a claim after being unpaid for at least 6 months and if 80 percent of the workers in the company are similarly affected. This automatically denies a remedy in a large majority of wage theft cases.
Despite this narrow eligibility, workers at Sendan International are eligible for the insurance. However, 8 of the 11 workers Human Rights Watch followed up with in August had not applied out of fear it would affect their employment prospects in Saudi Arabia or lead to deportation as undocumented workers. The three workers who submitted claims are still awaiting responses.
A former Sendan worker with outstanding recruitment loans has not filed for his claims due to his irregular status and told Human Rights Watch, “I’m constantly afraid that if the police catch me, they will deport me.”
Two workers who found new jobs said they did not submit claims because they are scared it would adversely impact their chances to work. One worker said: “I thought if I claim my dues, I might not get the release paper [to transfer to a new company]. So I decided not to.”
Even for eligible victims of the who may eventually get the money owed them, coverage is capped at SAR 17,500 [US$ 4,663] and excludes end-of-service benefits. International labor standards say that in the event of wage theft, workers should be guaranteed full wages owed and also provided compensation for losses incurred by delayed payments.
“If compensation to victims in a wage theft case of this scale where workers dared to protest is so flawed, it is clear that many workers who face similar and even worse abuses are falling through the cracks,” Page said.
EU: Georgia’s Rights Crisis Needs Urgent Response
(Brussels, September 10, 2025) – The European Union and its member states should use all available diplomatic and legal tools to press the Georgiangovernment to end its persecution of independent civil society and the media, nine international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said in a joint statement to the EU.
The Georgian authorities have frozen the bank accounts of seven leading human rights and civil society organizations and summoned several of their leaders for questioning as part of a spurious criminal investigation. The latest escalation follows the adoption of a raft of legislative measures restricting and marginalizing the work of civil society.
“The EU and its member states should urgently respond to the Georgian government’s attempt to eliminate independent organizations and media in the country,” said Iskra Kirova, Europe and Central Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The harassment of these groups violates Georgia’s obligations under multiple human rights treaties. EU member states should muster the consensus to press the government to change course.”
The repression followed the wave of protests in response to widespread election manipulation in October 2024 and the government’s decision to abort Georgia’s effort to join the EU and related reforms. Besides the restrictive legislative changes, the government crackdown involved excessive use of police force and arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of protesters, opposition activists, and leaders on spurious criminal and administrative charges.
Niger: Islamist Armed Group Executes Civilians, Burns Homes
(Nairobi) – The Islamist armed group Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) has escalated attacks on civilians in Niger since March 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks violated international humanitarian law and are apparent war crimes.
In at least five attacks across Niger’s western Tillabéri region that Human Rights Watch documented, IS Sahel summarily executed over 127 villagers and Muslim worshipers, and burned and looted dozens of homes. Witnesses said the Nigerien army did not adequately respond to warnings of attacks, ignoring villagers’ requests for protection. Protection strategies for residents in the region should be urgently overhauled to deter future attacks and create more responsive warning systems.
“Islamist armed groups are targeting the civilian population in western Niger and committing horrific abuses,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Nigerien authorities need to do more to protect people living in the Tillabéri region.”
The Tillabéri region borders the countries of Burkina Faso and Mali, where government forces have been fighting Islamist armed groups for over a decade. The area has been a focal point of IS Sahel activity in Niger for a decade, as well for government counterinsurgency operations. Since 2019, Islamist armed groups allied with the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda have escalated attacks against military targets and civilians in the so-called tri-border area. These groups have also destroyed schools and religious sites, and imposed severe restrictions based on their interpretation of Islam.
From May to July 2025, Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 28 people, including 19 witnesses and 9 local activists, journalists, and physicians. Human Rights Watch wrote to the Niger justice minister on August 19, sharing research findings and requesting information on the government’s steps to enhance the protection of civilians. The justice minister did not respond.
No armed group has claimed responsibility for the five attacks that Human Rights Watch documented. However, witnesses said they believed the attackers were members of IS Sahel based on the villages targeted and the attackers’ attire, including turbans with red bands similar to those the armed group wore during previous attacks. Residents also said that prior to each attack, IS Sahel fighters had threatened their communities, accusing them of collaborating with the Nigerien army or disregarding the fighters’ demands.
On June 21, IS Sahel fighters opened fire on worshipers in a mosque in Manda village, killing over 70 and injuring at least 20. “The scene was chilling,” said a 77-year-old woman who lost three sons in the attack. “There were bodies everywhere, one on top of the other. There were bodies inside and outside the mosque. The wounded were screaming and bleeding.”
On May 13, IS Sahel fighters attacked the hamlet of Dani Fari and killed five men and two boys, and burned at least a dozen homes. A herder said: “The bodies were scattered … riddled with bullets. There wasn’t a single body out there that had fewer than three bullet holes. The bullets had hit people in the back, arms, head…. We found the bodies of the two children lying on their backs.”
Niger’s military junta has been in power since July 26, 2023, when army officers of the self-proclaimed National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie), led by Brig. Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, overthrew and detained the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.
They cited the deteriorating security situation as one of the reasons for toppling Bazoum and promised to restore security in areas affected by Islamist armed groups. The nongovernmental organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) has reported that since the coup, though, IS Sahel has killed about 1,600 civilians.
The junta security forces have conducted large counterinsurgency operations, including airstrikes, against the Islamist armed groups in conflict-affected areas. On August 3, the junta began an initiative known in the Hausa language as “Garkuwar Kassa” (Shields of the Homeland), aimed at recruiting and training civilians to assist the armed forces. But that has raised concerns among human rights groups about creating abusive militias.
Human Rights Watch has previously reported on abuses by Islamist armed groups in Niger, including the killing of hundreds of civilians in 2021. Human Rights Watch also documented abuses by Niger’s security forces in 2021, including killings and enforced disappearances during counterinsurgency operations, and the junta’s crackdown on the political opposition, media, and peaceful dissent.
All parties to Niger’s armed conflict are bound by Common Article 3 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary laws of war. International humanitarian law prohibits attacking civilians, mistreating anyone in custody, and burning and looting civilian property. Individuals who order, commit, or assist serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent may be prosecuted for war crimes. The Niger government has an obligation to investigate and appropriately prosecute alleged war crimes committed within its territory.
“Civilians threatened by Islamist armed groups are calling on Niger’s junta to provide greater protection,” Allegrozzi said. “The government should take urgent steps to deter future atrocities, investigate serious abuses by IS Sahel and other armed groups, and bring those responsible to account based on international fair trial standards.”
For detailed accounts of the attacks, please see below.
Click to expand Image Graphic © 2025 Human Rights WatchFambita, Tillabéri Region, March 21, 2025
On March 21, IS Sahel fighters attacked a mosque in Fambita village, killing at least 46 worshippers, including 3 children, who were attending the afternoon prayer, and injuring at least 12 others. They also looted livestock and homes in the village and burned at least 20 homes, as well as several shops at the market. Fambita is in the rural Kokorou commune, where IS Sahel operates and carries out attacks against security forces and civilians.
Witnesses identified the assailants as IS Sahel fighters because they wore turbans with red bands and because, weeks before the attack, IS Sahel fighters had threatened to attack Fambita residents, accusing them of collaborating with the army.
A 71-year-old man said that three months before the attack, he attended a meeting with the Fambita chief who called on villagers to collaborate with the military. He said the chief:
Told us that the military told him that the only way to get rid of the jihadists in our area was to train and arm residents to work alongside the military…. I stood up and told the chief that we had a deal with the jihadists for the past five years and if they learned that we were collaborating with the military, they would retaliate against us. But the chief reassured us that … everything would be done discreetly. However, the jihadists were quickly informed and here are the consequences.
Witnesses said that the fighters stormed the mosque at about 2 p.m., shooting randomly at worshippers.
“The imam had preached for about 30 minutes … when shooting began,” a 36-year-old man said. “I heard gunshots and shouts of ‘Allah Akbar!’ and ran toward the exit as people fell in front of me and others screamed in panic.”
Another man, 61, who lost his three boys, 10, 12, and 15, in the attack said: “I was holding my youngest son’s hand when shooting began. As we crossed the doorway of the mosque, he was hit by bullets and fell. Others fell too like bugs sprayed with insecticide.”
The man said he ran away to the nearby bush where he rested under an acacia tree until about 6 p.m. when he returned to the mosque. He added:
I found a macabre scene. Wounded people screaming and rolling on the ground in pain. There were more than 40 bodies piled up. Among them, those of my two boys.… I immediately pulled them out from the other bodies, covered them with a cloth, until some family members came to help me take them to the cemetery where I buried them.
Residents said that, except for the three boys, who were buried in three graves the same day, and 10 other bodies that were buried at the mosque, the remaining 33 bodies were all buried the day after the attack in a mass grave at the Fambita cemetery. The villagers provided a list with the names of the 46 victims, ages 10 to 74.
Residents also said that IS Sahel fighters set fire to dozens of homes and shops at the market. “My home is gone, it was completely burned,” the 71-year-old man said. “The jihadists also took all my animals.”
Fire detection data provided by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed active fires over Fambita on March 21. Low-resolution satellite imagery from the day after analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows a large burn mark over the market area.
Witnesses said the army did not intervene during the attack. “Soldiers came three days later just to assess the situation,” the 61-year-old man said. “There were Malian and Burkinabè soldiers alongside with our soldiers, they came from Tillabéri.”
On March 21, the government released a statement condemning the attack by IS Sahel in Fambita and declared three days of national mourning. On March 25, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, also condemned the attack “in stark violation of international human rights law and humanitarian law,” and called for “an impartial investigation … to bring those responsible to justice.”
Dani Fari, Tillabéri Region, May 13, 2025
On May 13, IS Sahel fighters attacked Dani Fari, an ethnic Zarma hamlet, and killed five men and two boys. They also burned at least 12 homes and looted dozens of others.
Dani Fari is about 20 kilometers from the town of Tillabéri, in an area where both the IS Sahel and the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) operate.
Witnesses identified the assailants as IS Sahel fighters because they wore turbans with red bands and because, a week earlier, IS Sahel had threatened to attack Dani Fari residents, accusing them of collaborating with the army.
A 42-year-old herder said:
All those who had an Android phone got the voice message on WhatsApp and shared it with the rest of the population. You could hear someone, claiming to be from the IS Sahel, saying that our hamlet was complicit with the military, that our community had joined the militias and provided information to the military about the positions of the jihadists and that they [IS Sahel fighters] would come for us.
Residents said that some members of the Zarma community had joined local self-defense groups because they felt that the government had failed to adequately protect their villages and property from the Islamist armed groups. However, they believed only a few young men in Dani Fari had joined such groups.
They said that residents had alerted the military in Tillabéri after they had received the IS Sahel threats and sought the military’s protection. However, the soldiers only intervened when the assailants had gone.
“We told [the military] that an attack was in the making, that we needed protection,” a 38-year-old man said. “But they came when the hamlet had already been looted, houses burned, and people killed.”
Witnesses said that on May 13, scores of IS Sahel fighters riding motorbikes stormed the hamlet at about 5 a.m., shooting and yelling “Allah Akbar” (God is great), causing people to flee.
The herder said:
I was preparing for the morning prayer when I heard gunshots. One after the other, they got closer and closer. I just ran with my family toward the bush…. The shooting lasted until about 8 a.m. From our hiding place, we saw flames coming out of our hamlet, and we knew that all our property had been destroyed.
Witnesses said that most Dani Fari residents returned to the hamlet the same day, after soldiers from the Tillabéri military base arrived around 4 p.m. to assess the situation.
Residents said that when they returned to Dani Fari, they found the bodies of five civilian men and two boys, that all homes in the hamlet had been looted, and at least 12 burned.
The 38-year-old man said:
It was distressing. There were bodies on the ground, burned houses, smoke. My hut, made of goat skin, and my shed had been burned.… My animals were gone, goats, sheep, donkeys. They took everything. There was nothing left in the hamlet. They looted homes, taking everything that was useful, including millet and rice.
Residents provided a list with the names of the seven people killed, including five men, ages 37 to 61, and two boys, ages 10 and 12.
Manda, Tillabéri Region, June 21, 2025
On June 21, Islamist fighters attacked a mosque in Manda village, killing over 70 worshippers, including two women and five children, who were attending the morning prayer, and injuring at least 20 others. They also looted homes in the village and burned at least 10 of them. Manda is in the rural Gorouol commune, where both JNIM and IS Sahel operate and carry out attacks against security forces and civilians.
Residents believed the assailants belonged to IS Sahel because the armed group had carried out attacks against religious sites in the past, both in Niger and in neighboring Burkina Faso.
The authorities did not publicly react after the massacre in Manda, leading to an outcry by residents. On June 29, a group of people from Gorouol area issued a statement deploring the “inexplicable silence” of the authorities who “did not provide any moral” assistance and very limited material support to the victims and their families.
Witnesses said that before the June 21 attack, IS Sahel fighters had threatened to attack Manda residents, accusing them of collaborating with the army. They said that the evening before the attack, IS Sahel fighters went to Manda and accused residents gathered at the mosque of being “infidels” and providing information to the military. “This upset us,” said a 59-year-old man. “We told them that we had been living with them [IS Sahel] for many years and that such accusations weren’t true.”
“We told them that they themselves control the village and that they should be able to know who the army informants are and who are not, instead of accusing all the villagers,” another man, 64, said. “Conversations were tense, and they left, but we knew they were angry.”
Witnesses said that the fighters returned to Manda the following day at 5 a.m. and stormed the mosque, shooting indiscriminately at civilians as they fled or took cover.
Another resident who survived the attack at the mosque, said:
They opened fire on everyone. They sprayed us with bullets from their Kalashnikovs [assault rifles]…. The mosque was full. I was able to escape but many were killed…. People ran everywhere, screaming, falling on the ground. My son was killed, and I lost eight other family members.
A man, 67, said:
The imam was preaching when shooting began.… The worshipers rushed to the door, and the assailants were there. People started falling on the ground…. I was the fourth in a row, and I was able to escape; I don’t even know how. But most of the people there were killed. The attackers sprayed with bullets all those who were inside the mosque, as well as all those who tried to flee.
A woman, 77, said one of her sons, 25, died during the attack, while two others, 30 and 33, were severely injured. She said she rushed to the mosque by motorbike at about 10 a.m. to evacuate her two injured sons to the nearest health facility in Ayorou, 54 kilometers away. She said:
The driver loaded them onto his three-wheeled motorbike and also decided to take three other men who had been injured. My children were bleeding. One was bleeding from the chest. The other had a bullet wound in his back that was spilling a lot of blood. They were dying. My husband had torn his boubou [loose-fitting garment] to tie the wounds … but they were bleeding so profusely that the boubou was completely soaked with blood…. Before reaching Ayorou, my children passed away…. When we arrived at the health center, we let the three other injured get out, and we continued straight to the cemetery.
Witnesses said that when the attack ended, at about 8:30 a.m., survivors went to the mosque to help evacuate the injured, and collect and bury the dead.
A 59-year-old man who lost three brothers – ages 51, 54, and 57 – in the attack, said:
We found total desolation … dead people everywhere, bodies piled up. There were about 20 injured, of whom at least 10 were in critical condition. They could not move; they were barely breathing and were bleeding. We helped each other. We brought the wounded out of the mosque and loaded them onto motorbikes for evacuation. All my brothers were already dead.… There was no collective burial … everyone buried their family members. People were afraid to gather, they thought that if there was a collective burial, it could attract the attackers again and lead to another massacre. I took my three brothers and buried them in a mass grave at the Manda cemetery.
The 67-year-old man said that when he returned to the scene, “There were dead bodies everywhere,” mostly inside the mosque, but also outside. “I estimate the death toll at more than 70,” he said. “My eldest son was shot in his legs and back. The bullets went through his ribs. He lost a lot of blood. He died before reaching the hospital.”
Residents provided a list with the names of 71 victims, including two women, ages 30 and 45, five children, ages 14 to 16, and 64 men, ages 19 to 92.
Witnesses said they found that the village had been looted and at least 10 homes and sheds burned.
Manda residents said they had alerted the army about the IS Sahel threats against the village a week before the attack, but soldiers did not respond and only came three days after the attack to assess the damage.
The 67-year-old man said:
The army knew. A week before [the attack], the jihadists circulated a voice message on WhatsApp accusing us of being spies. They said they would kill us. So, we alerted the army. The village chief informed the army. But soldiers did not come. Some soldiers from the Ayorou and Tillabéri bases only came three days after the attack, when people had already managed to bury their dead and evacuate the wounded.
Abarkaize, Tillabéri Region, June 20 and 23, 2025
On June 20, IS Sahel fighters entered the hamlet of Abarkaize and executed its 67-year-old chief. Three days later, they returned and kidnapped five men. Residents found the bodies of the five men, their throats slit, at the outskirts of the hamlet on June 23.
Abarkaize, a hamlet populated by ethnic Zarma, Tamasheq, Fulani, and Hausa, is in an area where both the IS Sahel and JNIM are present. Witnesses said they believed the assailants belonged to IS Sahel because the armed group had previously threatened the chief and that IS Sahel fighters executed the chief because he had refused to require the members of his community pay the zakat (Islamic tax).
“The jihadists came three times before they killed the chief and every time, they asked him to collect the zakat among the community and give it to them,” a 39-year-old man said. “But he refused because he was afraid that the military would accuse him of collaborating with the jihadists.”
A man, 45, said that on June 20 at about 5 p.m., he saw IS Sahel fighters on motorbikes heading toward the chief’s home and that minutes later, he heard gunshots and “ran away out of fear.” He said that when he returned to the hamlet, he found the body of the chief “with a bullet in the head.”
On June 23, the IS Sahel fighters returned to Abarkaize at about 1 a.m.
A man, 59, said:
I was awakened by heavy gunfire and shouts of “Allah Akabar.” I immediately fled to the bush with my family…. The next morning, when we returned to the hamlet, we found that five people were missing. We started looking for them until we found their bodies, lined up one after the other, three kilometers from Abarkaize. They had their throats slit. We buried them in a mass grave and left.
Residents believe the fighters killed the five men to punish the community for not paying the zakat. They provided a list with the names of the victims, all ethnic Zarma men, ages 19 to 57.
Witnesses said the army, which has a base in Ayorou, about 25 kilometers from Abarkaize, did not respond to the attack, or visit the hamlet in its aftermath. “The military did not intervene and when we reached Ayorou, after we abandoned the hamlet, they actually stopped and searched us,” the 45-year-old man said. “They didn’t want us to pass because they said we are from Abarkaize, which is a hamlet ‘full of terrorists.’”
Ezzak, Tillabéri Region, June 23, 2025
On June 23, IS Sahel fighters killed at least six civilian men in the hamlet of Ezzak, looted homes, and burned at least nine. Residents believed the attack was a reprisal against the local community, whose members the fighters accused of collaborating with the army.
Ezzak, a hamlet populated by various ethnic groups including Zarma, Tamasheq, and Hausa, is in the rural commune of Bankilaré where both IS Sahel and JNIM have been present for at least five years. Residents said IS-Sahel controlled Ezzak, imposed Sharia (Islamic law), and collected the zakat.
Credible sources and the media reported that in March, April, and May, the Nigerien military carried out several counterinsurgency operations, including airstrikes, in the Bankilaré area targeting IS Sahel positions. “That’s why they attacked us,” said a 56-year-old man. “They accused us of providing information to the military about their positions.”
The attack in Ezzak appeared to be part of a larger IS Sahel operation in Bankilaré area that targeted several hamlets, including Tatararat, Tarjarmourghatt, and Addas, leading to the killing of at least 28 civilians. Human Rights Watch has not documented these attacks.
A herder, 48, said that on June 23 he was in his field when, at about 4 p.m., he saw a group of armed men wearing turbans with red bands walking toward his brother, who was about 100 meters away from him. He said:
I thought the jihadists were just going to talk to my brother.… But then, I saw my brother making gestures and lifting his hands in the air … and then one of the jihadists pointed his Kalashnikov at my brother's head and shot. He fell, and I ran away. The attackers chased me, shooting at me, but they didn’t get me.
Another man, 55, said he was home when he heard gunshots and shouts:
I went out and saw from far a group of jihadists shooting and yelling “Allah Akbar.” I ran away as fast as I could with many other residents. We spent the night in the bush, frightened and desperate…. We could see smoke and flames coming out from the hamlet.
Witnesses said that when the attack began, all residents fled to the nearby bush and only returned the following day.
“We found six bodies, including my brother,” the 48-year-old man said. “Four in the fields and two in their homes. They had all been shot in the head…. We dug a hole and put all the bodies inside before abandoning the hamlet.”
Residents provided a list with the name of the six victims, all men, ages 35 to 65.
The 56-year-old man said that his home had been looted, like all other homes in the hamlet: “They took everything, including food and also burned at least nine huts.”
Witnesses said that almost all residents fled after the attack, seeking protection across the border in Mali or elsewhere in Niger. They said the Nigerien army, which has a base in Ayorou, about 25 kilometers from Ezzak, did not respond after the attack.
“No soldiers came to help us,” the 55-year-old man said. “And even worse, the military doesn’t trust us. They consider us as collaborators of the jihadists because we live in an area controlled by the jihadists.”
The 48-year-old man said:
When I fled Ezzak, I went to Ayorou with my family, and soldiers stopped us at a checkpoint and asked us where we were going. I told them that my brother had been murdered by the terrorists and that our hamlet had been attacked and people massacred. But the military told me that I was lying, that we collaborate with terrorists and that, when things are not going well with them [terrorists], we leave and spy on their positions for the military. When they told me that, I lost all hope. They made me pay 20,000 CFA (US$35) at the checkpoint to pass.
Nepal: Police Fire on ‘Gen Z’ Protest
(Bangkok) – Police in Nepal used lethal force to suppress youth protests on September 8, 2025, that killed at least 19 people and injured over 300, Human Rights Watch said today.
Young people, identifying themselves as “Gen Z,” organized a protest movement after the government announced a widespread ban on social media on September 4. Many also expressed anger about pervasive political corruption and nepotism in government. The government has lifted the ban, but Nepali authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the police use of force and appropriately discipline or prosecute all those responsible for abuses, regardless of rank.
“The police shooting of demonstrators in Kathmandu and across Nepal shows the administration’s appalling disregard for the lives of its own citizens and desperate need to suppress criticism,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities need to hold those responsible for these killings to account instead of upholding the culture of impunity that has allowed the security forces to get away with murder.”
Sahana Vajracharya, a journalist, told Human Rights Watch that in Kathmandu she saw “a sea” of protesters, many in school uniforms, march toward parliament around 11 a.m. on September 8. She said police used water cannons and tear gas as the marchers pressed against barricades, and fired live ammunition after people climbed on the wall outside parliament.
A credible security source said that there were “orders from above” to respond aggressively to the protests, though Human Rights Watch could not corroborate this. In Kathmandu, police used tear gas, water cannons, and live ammunition against crowds largely consisting of young people and children. Police also opened fire in Itahari in southeast Nepal, where two people were reported killed, and in other cities. They also used tear gas at Civil Hospital in Kathmandu, where some of the injured were taken.
“I witnessed the protest and the crackdown,” one man said. “Security forces fired directly at students. Several were injured and some were killed.”
Following the violence, the authorities declared a curfew in some areas to prevent large gatherings. The home minister, Ramesh Lekakh, resigned, and there were calls from members of coalition parties to leave the government. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli said that he was “saddened” by the violence but blamed “vested interest groups.”
The government’s social media ban appeared to have little effect, Human Rights Watch said. Graphic footage that appears to show police shooting peaceful protesters, some in school or college uniforms, quickly circulated online. Some protesters were struck by bullets to the head.
Discontent in Nepal, among young people in particular, appears to have been building for some time against corruption and nepotism by the political elite. The protests gained momentum after the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a sweeping directive on September 4 to ban 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, X, and YouTube, saying that they had failed to register with the authorities by a deadline on September 3. The government said that social media registration was necessary for tax and regulatory purposes, although critics accused the government of censorship.
The government has a record of silencing online speech in violation of the right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said. Other proposed legislation could curtail free expression online, and the authorities have sought to prosecute journalists over online content. In June, the police sought to arrest a journalist who used social media to make allegations about a political family’s business dealings. The government should not arbitrarily curtail the rights to freedom of expression, to seek information, or other rights online, Human Rights Watch said.
The Nepali police have a history of using unnecessary lethal force against protesters. In the past, the government has typically announced an opaque official inquiry and offered financial compensation to victims’ families, but has taken only modest “departmental action” against security personnel responsible for using excessive force against protesters.
An investigation was ordered into the police use of lethal force against demonstrators in the southern Madhesh region in 2015 that resulted in the deaths of about 50 civilians and 9 police officers during weeks of protests against a new constitution. The official report into those events was never published and no police officers faced accountability for the shootings.
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms prohibit the use of firearms except in cases of imminent threat of death or serious injury. Appropriate warnings are to be given when firearms are discharged.
The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nepal is party, has stated that “Firearms are not an appropriate tool for the policing of assemblies, and must never be used simply to disperse an assembly.… [A]ny use of firearms by law enforcement officials in the context of assemblies must be limited to targeted individuals in circumstances in which it is strictly necessary to confront an imminent threat of death or serious injury.”
The Basic Principles also provide that in cases of death and serious injury, “a detailed report shall be sent promptly to the competent authorities responsible for administrative review and judicial control.”
Nepal is the largest contributing nation to UN peacekeeping operations, providing personnel from the Nepal military and police. UN Peacekeeping should make clear that no officers or units implicated in abuses on September 8 will be eligible for future peacekeeping missions, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Nepali government has time and again demonstrated that it is unwilling to seriously investigate, yet alone, prosecute members of its security forces responsible for serious abuses,” Ganguly said. “Unless the government takes serious action in response to the September 8 killings, UN Peacekeeping should start to reassess its relationship with Nepal.”
Trump Moves to Restrict Gender-Affirming Care to Federal Workers, Families
The Trump administration announced last month that it would remove gender-affirming care from the health care services covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program beginning in 2026. The move erodes health care coverage for the more than 8 million people who rely on FEHB, employment-based health insurance for federal employees, retirees, and their family members, and threatens the dignity of transgender recipients.
The proposed changes to FEHB would apply to cover individuals regardless of age and significantly hamper access to medical care, such as hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgeries, for federal workers, their spouses, children, and dependents. While mental health counseling for gender dysphoria would remain covered – and carriers would establish a case‑by‑case exceptions process for individuals already receiving care – these carveouts will not create a uniform or reliable system to ensure continuity of care.
Lambda Legal has condemned the exclusion of gender-affirming care as unlawful and as a violation of sex discrimination protections in federally regulated health plans.
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented how bans and barriers to gender-affirming care cause serious harm. A June 2025 Human Rights Watch report described how restrictions on such care for transgender youth led to deteriorating mental health and abrupt interruptions to treatment, violating individuals’ rights to health, nondiscrimination, and personal autonomy. Removing coverage for gender-affirming care from health insurance will force people to either pay out of pocket or forgo required care because of costs, significantly restricting access.
These measures are part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to roll back rights for transgender people. In January 2025, the administration issued an executive order rejecting the validity of transgender identity in law and policy. It has also targeted gender-affirming care, issuing a January 28 order attempting to ban youth access to care and an April 10 proclamation labeling such care a form of child abuse. In July, the Department of Justice began issuing subpoenas to more than 20 hospitals providing gender-affirming care to youth. With these measures, some clinics have begun to cease or radically reduce these services, particularly for youth.
The administration should immediately abandon efforts to deny gender-affirming care and ensure that all people covered under FEHB have equal access to comprehensive, nondiscriminatory health coverage.