Afghanistan: Taliban Torture Civilians in Panjshir

(New York) – Taliban security forces in northern Afghanistan’s Panjshir province have unlawfully detained and tortured residents accused of association with an opposition armed group, Human Rights Watch said today. Since mid-May 2022, fighting has escalated in the province as National Resistance Front (NRF) forces have attacked Taliban units and

Ukraine: Russian Strikes Killed Scores of Civilians in Chernihiv

Russian forces killed and wounded numerous civilians in eight attacks in Chernihiv city in northeastern Ukraine in early March 2022, Human Rights Watch said today.

Call for Commonwealth Leaders to Speak Up for Rights of Rwandans

Dear Commonwealth Heads of Government, We, the undersigned civil society organisations, express our grave concerns about the human rights situation in Rwanda as it prepares to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in June 2022. The silence of the Commonwealth on Rwanda’s human rights record risks undermining

Resistance — Not All Germs Are Created Equal

STORY AT-A-GLANCE This article was previously published June 9, 2018, and has been updated with new information.

Innocent Guilt: 4 Ways Manipulators Trick You into Feeling Guilty & Lying

If you’ve been in the company of a manipulator for a long time, you will start acting in toxic ways yourself.

'That's Not How This Works:' Wired Forced to Retract Smear of Free Speech Friendly Platform Substack

Wired, a formerly non-partisan but now wildly left-wing tech outlet, had to retract a false claim it made about the newsletter platform Substack after it was called out on Twitter by Substack’s head of comms, Lulu Cheng Meservey. The leftist tech publication falsely claimed that Substack “actively recruits and

Call for respect of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the Republic of Guinea

Dear Prime Minister, Our organizations, Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (Action des chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture, ACAT-France), Act Together for Human Rights (Agir ensemble pour les droits humains, AEDH) and Human Rights Watch (HRW), are deeply concerned about the deterioration of the current

Case Study of Recognition Patterns in Haunted People Syndrome

Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) denotes individuals who recurrently report various “supernatural” encounters in everyday settings ostensibly due to heightened somatic-sensory sensitivities to dis-ease states (e.g., marked but sub-clinical levels of distress), which are contextualized by paranormal beliefs and reinforced by perceptual contagion effects. This view helps to explain why

Report -- Shrinkflation: Package Sizes Decrease but Prices Stay the Same

Product sizes on store-bought packages are subtly decreasing while prices remain the same as companies are using the sneaky method of “shrinkflation” to combat rising costs, according to an Associated Press (AP) report. For example, Folgers coffee containers have decreased from 51 ounces to 43.5 ounces while the price

Science-Backed Ways to Improve Your Mood

STORY AT-A-GLANCE In Gallup's 2022 Mood of the Nation survey, only 69% of Americans said they were very or somewhat satisfied with their overall quality of life — down from 84% in January 2020.

Scientism, Not Science, Rules the Roost

STORY AT-A-GLANCE Science has long been regarded as a stronghold of logic and reason.

Indonesia Debuts Visa to Entice Foreigners to Work-from-Home in Bali

Indonesia’s government recently announced plans to develop a new “digital nomad” visa program that would allow remote workers to live and work in Indonesia tax-free for up to five years, Fortune reported on Tuesday. Indonesian Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno described the nascent initiative to Bloomberg on June 6. He

Privacy International, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Human Rights Watch's Statement to Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime

Privacy International, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Human Rights Watch welcome the opportunity to participate in the second session of the Ad Hoc Committee.

Iran: 1988 Mass Executions Evident Crimes Against Humanity

(Beirut) – Overwhelming evidence shows that the Iranian authorities’ mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in an in-depth question-and-answer document released today. In 1988, Iranian authorities, acting on the orders of then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, summarily and extrajudicially

Iran’s 1988 Mass Executions

In 1988, Iranian authorities, acting on the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, summarily and extrajudicially executed thousands of political prisoners across the country.