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Human Rights Watch
Burkina Faso: Judicial Officers Feared Forcibly Disappeared
(Nairobi) – Burkina Faso authorities should urgently investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts of six judges and prosecutors as well as one lawyer who are feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch said today.
The abductions of the judicial officers and lawyer since October 10, 2025, could amount to enforced disappearances and possible unlawful conscriptions into the armed forces. Their cases, as well as those of four journalists who were detained and later released between October 13 and 18, appear linked to a wave of repression by the Burkinabè military junta against the judiciary and the media.
“Burkina Faso’s human rights situation has become increasingly defined by abductions, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and unlawful conscriptions of junta critics and activists,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The military junta should urgently locate and report on the seven missing people and release them if they have not been credibly charged with an offense.”
Several media and knowledgeable sources consulted by Human Rights Watch reported that between October 10 and 15, men in civilian clothes abducted the judicial officers, Urbain Meda, Seydou Sanou, Benoit Zoungrana, Moussa Dianda, and Alban Somé, from their homes in the capital, Ougadougou. On October 13, Arnaud Sempebré, a lawyer, was also reported missing.
Meda, Sanou, Zoungrana, and Dianda all worked at the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal, while Somé worked at the first instance court in Ouagadougou.
All of the judicial officers and the lawyer had been involved in a three-year case in which traders and customs officers had been charged with smuggling fuel to Islamist armed groups. A colleague of the judicial officers and other local sources said the abductions followed a July ruling by the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal that confirmed the first instance court’s verdict not to proceed with a criminal case. Sempebré, the lawyer, was representing those acquitted in the case.
The Burkinabè bar association stated on October 20 that it officially requested information about Sempebré’s whereabouts, to no avail, and had called for his immediate release.
Media and social media reported that unidentified men on October 20 abducted Jean-Jacques Wendpanga Ouedraogo, a former attorney general of the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal. Social media sources said he was released the following day. Human Rights Watch was unable to independently verify this information. In August 2023, Ouedraogo ordered into custody Amsétou Nikiéma, known as Adja, a traditional healer reportedly close to the military, who had been charged with assault and battery, among other offenses.
A member of the Burkinabè judiciary expressed concern that those abducted were being punished for the ruling in the smuggling case. “For three years, members of the notorious intelligence services have been abducting critics with impunity,” he said.
The junta has previously targeted judicial officers, Human Rights Watch said. In a July 2024 speech, the junta leader, Ibrahim Traoré, sharply criticized the justice sector, attacking judges and prosecutors whom he called “corrupt,” “crooks,” and “sellouts,” and condemned justice-sector unions that had publicly opposed a change in the judiciary’s Superior Council.
The change, initiated in 2023, grants the council the authority to appoint prosecutors but only on recommendations from the justice minister. The unions had opposed this change, saying that it would undermine the independence of the judiciary and place prosecutors under executive influence.
“We have a serious problem [with the justice sector],” Traoré said. “We have initiated reforms … some tried to boycott … but … we will go ahead with or without them. The battle [against the judicial officers] will be launched.”
In August 2024, the junta unlawfully conscripted into military service seven judges and prosecutors, misusing a 2023 emergency law. At that time, a coalition of three justice system unions reacted with a statement and condemned the requisitions as “acts of humiliation and intimidation of judicial officers.”
Since the October 2022 military coup, Burkina Faso’s junta has increasingly cracked down on peaceful dissent, political opposition, and the media, shrinking the civic space in the country. Security forces have arbitrarily arrested, detained, forcibly disappeared, and unlawfully conscripted dozens of journalists. Some of them have been released, while others remain missing, such as the investigative journalist Serge Oulon.
Local and international media and nongovernmental organizations reported that between October 13 and 16, members of the intelligence services detained Michel Wendpouiré Nana, deputy editor of the newspaper Le Pays; Ousséni Ilboudo and Alain Zongo, the editor and publisher of the newspaper l’Observateur Paalga, respectively; and Zowenmanogo Dieudonné Zoungrana, director of the newspaper Aujourd’hui au Faso.
The authorities released them between October 14 and 18. The reasons for their arrests were not revealed. In late September, Zoungrana took part in an interview with Traoré. A Burkinabè activist shared the interview transcript on social media before it was aired by national television, raising concerns that Zoungrana was detained because the interview had been leaked.
Burkina Faso is a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Enforced disappearances are defined under international law as the arrest or detention of a person by state officials or their agents followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty, or to reveal the person’s fate or whereabouts.
“Independent courts and a free media are essential checks on the government’s power,” Allegrozzi said. “Burkina Faso authorities need to immediately halt any interference in the judiciary, ensure that judges and prosecutors can carry out their duties without fear, and stop the harassment of journalists and media outlets.”
Brazil Resumes Key Dialogue over Equality
This week Brazil is hosting the 4th National Conference on the Rights of LGBTQIA+ People, an ambitious effort to chart new directions for public policy on equality and inclusion. Beyond its national scope, the conference underscores Brazil’s reemergence as a key voice in global equality debates. And as many countries, including in the Global North, roll back support of LGBTQIA+ rights, the conference shows how the Global South can lead in renewing commitment to equality and human rights.
The conference seeks to convene government, civil society, and grassroots actors from across Brazil and shape a new National Plan for the Promotion of Human Rights and Citizenship of LGBTQIA+ People. Discussions are organized around themes of confronting violence, promoting decent work and income generation, advancing intersectionality and internationalization, and adopting a national policy on the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. Together, they reflect a comprehensive vision that links democracy, participation, and equality, and are expected to set the stage for renewed federal commitments and stronger policy implementation in the years ahead.
The first edition of the conference, held in 2008 under the theme “Human Rights and Public Policies: The Path to Ensure the Citizenship of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Travestis, and Transexuals,” was groundbreaking in embedding the rights of LGBTQIA+ people within Brazil’s broader social policy agenda. The second and third editions followed in 2011 and 2016. Former Brazilian President Michel Temer issued a decree to hold the conference, but it never happened. His successor President Jair Bolsonaro revoked the decree and adopted openly hostile rhetoric toward LGBTQIA+ populations.
The conference’s return comes at a pivotal moment. Violence against LGBTQIA+ people remains alarmingly high in Brazil, particularly against trans and gender-diverse people. Legal protections are robust, but enforcement remains a challenge. Meanwhile, lawmakers and gender-critical social movements continue to threaten hard-won rights, including around gender and sexuality education and gender-affirming care.
The conference can also serve as a model and galvanize other Latin American countries to strengthen their own participation, partnerships, and normative frameworks on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.
But advancing policy frameworks is only the beginning. Ensuring effective implementation, holding institutions accountable, and translating conference resolutions into equality demand sustained political will and resourcing. Brazil’s renewed engagement offers hope that transformative, inclusive policymaking in the Global South can shape not only national futures but also support the global struggle for human rights.
Malaysia: Abducted Refugee Detained in Myanmar
(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should press Myanmar’s junta for the immediate release of a refugee family abducted from Kuala Lumpur in July 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. More than two years after her disappearance, Myanmar junta authorities announced on October 17, 2025, that they were detaining Thuzar Maung, a Myanmar pro-democracy activist, along with her husband and three children.
The junta said that Thuzar Maung, 48, and her family members were arrested for “illegally reentering” Myanmar and that an arrest warrant had been issued for her under Myanmar’s counterterrorism law in January 2023. Malaysian authorities should urgently reopen their investigation into the abduction of Thuzar Maung and her family from their home in Kuala Lumpur, which may amount to transnational repression, a cross-border violation of human rights against a country’s nationals.
“The Malaysian authorities should publicly press Myanmar’s junta to free Thuzar Maung and her family and investigate how this prominent refugee ended up in Myanmar,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Malaysian government is failing to protect refugees at risk, including children, and the role of Myanmar’s junta and possibly other governments needs to be fully explored and brought to light.”
Maung is a longtime advocate for democracy in Myanmar and for refugee and migrant rights in Malaysia. She fled Myanmar for Malaysia in 2015 to escape growing violence against Muslims. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, recognized her and her family as refugees. At the time of her abduction, she had over 93,000 followers on Facebook, where she would post criticism of abuses by the Myanmar junta following the February 2021 military coup.
The junta reported that the Myittha Township Court in Mandalay Region had issued an arrest warrant for Thuzar Maung under the junta-amended section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law and section 512 of the Criminal Procedure Code for providing support to the opposition National Unity Government, which it has declared as a “terrorist organization.” Section 52(a) carries a prison sentence of three to seven years.
The announcement includes a photo allegedly of the five family members in custody with their eyes blacked out. It states that action will be taken “against those living abroad contacting terrorist groups, opposing the state, and providing financial support to terrorist groups.” No information was provided regarding the date of their arrest, any legal proceedings against the family, or where they are being held, meaning they remain forcibly disappeared.
On July 4, 2023, unidentified men abducted Thuzar Maung with her husband, Saw Than Tin Win, and her daughter and two sons from their home in Ampang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. A friend on the phone with Maung at the time heard her yell that unknown men were entering the house, before being disconnected. CCTV footage captured a car with fake license plates entering their gated community before the call and exiting three hours later, at which point all of the family’s phones had been turned off.
On July 21, 2023, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and other UN experts wrote to the Malaysian government, urging the authorities “to urgently advance an immediate, impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation of the alleged enforced disappearance” of the family. The working group expressed concern that Thuzar Maung had been targeted for her human rights activism and that the risk of forcible return “would put their personal safety, liberty, integrity and life in danger and expose her to the serious risk of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, summary execution, and lack of a fair trial.”
In September, the Malaysian government responded that the police investigation had found no physical evidence or witness testimony to suggest that the family was abducted or forcibly disappeared and that there was no record of their leaving the country. Instead, Malaysia detailed the family’s alleged history of leaving rental houses without notice. It also stated that it had sought assistance from the International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL, to inform Myanmar junta authorities of the family’s disappearance.
Since the 2021 coup, Malaysian authorities have summarily deported thousands of asylum seekers to Myanmar despite the risk to their lives and freedom, without assessing their asylum claims or other protection needs. Immigration raids and arrests have surged over the past year, with 34,000 between January and mid-May alone.
Malaysian authorities have forcibly returned foreign nationals, including asylum seekers and refugees, at the request of their home governments. Governments wrongfully designating nationals living abroad as “terrorists” reflect what UN experts said was their “profound concern regarding the reported rise in transnational repression” across Southeast Asia. Civil society supporting Myanmar nationals in Malaysia, including UNHCR-registered refugees, told Human Rights Watch of growing fears of arrest and forced returns.
The Myanmar junta has arrested an estimated 30,000 activists, journalists, humanitarian workers, and others since the coup, including thousands under the Counter-Terrorism Law. With millions of Myanmar nationals having fled the country, the junta has engaged in transnational repression to crack down on activists outside its borders, such as requesting deportations, revoking passports, and conducting digital surveillance.
Malaysia is this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). At the ASEAN summit and related events starting October 26 in Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN members and partners should urge Malaysia to reopen the investigation into Thuzar Maung’s disappearance and, more broadly, to end its abusive treatment of migrants and refugees. ASEAN as a bloc should ensure that regional instruments enshrine the rights of refugees, dissidents, activists, and other targets of transnational repression.
“ASEAN members and partners at the Kuala Lumpur summit should work together to bring an end to horrific crimes of transnational repression in the region,” Pearson said. “Refugees like Thuzar Maung and her family should be safe from harm, and Malaysia and other countries need to act to deter further efforts by the junta to abduct and disappear Myanmar refugees.”
Intersex Rights Advance Based on Evidence, Principle
Intersex Awareness Week is marked annually to recall a small group of protesters who picketed the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1996 for ignoring the rights of children born with sex variations. While the academy has not budged, medical institutions and governments around the world are increasingly recognizing that people born with intersex variations deserve bodily autonomy.
Intersex children are born with chromosomes, gonads, hormone function or internal or external sex organs that don’t match typical social expectations. For over half a century, doctors around the world have routinely performed surgery on newborns to standardize bodies so that they align with social gender norms. These nonconsensual surgeries are medically unnecessary to perform at such a young age. They also carry significant risk of trauma and other forms of lifelong harm, including a loss of sexual pleasure and/or function, incontinence, chronic pain, scarring, and early-onset osteoporosis.
Over 50 evaluations by United Nations human rights treaty bodies on the conduct of various countries have concluded that nonconsensual surgeries to alter the sex characteristics of children born with intersex traits are human rights violations. Countries including Malta, Greece, and Spain, as well as parts of Australia and India, have banned nonconsensual surgeries, while the UN Human Rights Council passed its first resolution on the issue last year and issued a comprehensive report this year.
In January, the US Department of Health and Human Services published a landmark report on intersex health equity that called for ending nonconsensual surgeries. In August, delegates of the Australian Medical Association unanimously supported a resolution to recognize the harm that medical professionals had inflicted on intersex people. “Recognising this harm is the first step,” a physician said in support of the resolution. “Next we must call for legislated protections, guidelines founded in lived experience and evidence.”
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in October urged that “Member States should enact legislation that explicitly and specifically prohibits any medical intervention on a person’s sex characteristics…without their prior, free, informed, express and documented consent.”
Intersex Awareness Week is a good reminder of how far things have come and how much further they need to go. The evidence of harm inflicted on intersex people is plentiful. Undoing it requires respecting the principle of bodily autonomy and integrity, a core human rights obligation.
EU to Sign Uzbekistan Partnership Deal Despite Rights Abuses
(Brussels, October 22, 2025) – Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will pay a high-level visit to Brussels on October 24, 2025, to sign a partnership deal with the EU setting out a new stage of closer relations and cooperation.
While the new EU-Uzbekistan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement specifies respect for democratic principles and human rights and fundamental freedoms as an “essential element” of the agreement, Uzbekistan’s rights record has worsened in many areas since negotiations started six years ago, Human Rights Watch said today.
“In signing this agreement without requiring specific improvements to ensure the ability of independent civic groups or media professionals to carry out their work or address the country’s history of impunity for abuses, the EU has missed an important opportunity to bring about positive change,” said Iskra Kirova, Europe and Central Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The EU and its member states should now insist that Uzbekistan fulfil its essential obligations under the new deal and be prepared to raise tough issues in bilateral relations.”
In the last several years, Uzbek authorities have ramped up restrictions on independent human rights activism and freedom of expression, targeting activists, bloggers, and others, including with unfounded criminal charges such as “insulting the president online.” At least two bloggers have been put into forced psychiatric detention in violation of their rights to liberty and security and health.
Nongovernmental organizations are subject to excessive and burdensome registration requirements and independent groups are prevented from registering. No progress has been made on a stalled code for nongovernmental groups. In June 2024, parliament passed a law allowing the authorities to designate as “undesirable” and ban from the country any foreigner on overly broad and vague grounds of contradicting state sovereignty or discrediting Uzbekistan. Consensual same sex relations between men remains criminalized.
In July 2022, security forces in Uzbekistan used unjustified, including lethal, force to disperse mainly peaceful protesters in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan’s autonomous republic. Since then, the authorities have largely denied accountability for the deaths and grave injuries that occurred. However, a peaceful Karakalpak blogger and lawyer, Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his alleged role in the protests. His allegations of ill-treatment and torture have been ignored.
Although Uzbekistan has eliminated state-imposed forced labor in its cotton sector, risks of forced labor and restrictions on freedom of association for agricultural workers in Uzbekistan persist.
The EU’s signing of the agreement with Uzbekistan takes place amid intensifying engagement between the EU and Central Asian countries with the first EU-Central Asia summit held in April 2025 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The summit declaration put freedom of expression and association, an enabling environment for civil society and independent media, and the protection of human rights defenders at the core of EU-Central Asia relations.
But these commitments have not resulted in substantial human rights improvements, and neither has the preferential EU market access granted to Uzbekistan in exchange for implementation of international labor and human rights conventions. Energy, transport, access to raw materials and security cooperation have instead dominated bilateral relations at the expense of advancements on rights.
Rights protections and the rule of law are essential to secure the EU’s interests in this partnership, including for sustainable trade and security cooperation, Human Rights Watch said. The European Parliament and EU member states that need to ratify the agreement in the coming months should assert that the continued stifling of civic activism, curbs on free expression and assembly, or the risks of forced labour, imperil bilateral relations.
“Signing this agreement is an important milestone,” Kirova said. “The EU should make clear that Uzbekistan’s human rights obligations are non-negotiable and that it will monitor closely and insist on the implementation of all aspects of the deal.”