Sudan: Pact Omits Key Justice Reforms (Nairobi) – Sudan’s political actors and international partners should ensure that progress on human rights and accountability for serious human rights violations are central to any new transition, Human Rights Watch said today. This includes an end to the violent crackdown against peaceful protesters, releasing arbitrarily detained protesters, and taking
Twitter Files: Executives Met with Federal Agencies Amid Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal, Allowed FBI to Report Tweets Elon Musk’s Twitter released another batch of internal discussions on Friday, which revealed that executives at the social media company had met with federal agencies amid the Hunter Biden laptop story, and that the FBI reported tweets it didn’t like to workers at the company. On Friday night,
Russia: Harsh Sentence For Opposition Politician (New York) – A Moscow court on December 9, 2022, sentenced a Russian opposition politician to eight and a half years in prison with an additional four-year ban on use of the internet, in continued efforts to dismantle and decapitate Russia’s peaceful political opposition and silence any criticism of the
'Visibility Filtering:' Twitter Files Reveals Shadowbanning, Other Tools Used to Censor Conservatives A new Twitter Files investigation has revealed the many tools that company executives employed to blacklist and shadowban conservative voices.
Indonesia: New Criminal Code Disastrous for Rights (Jakarta) – The Indonesian parliament passed a new criminal code on December 6, 2022, containing provisions that seriously violate international human rights law and standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Articles in the new code violate the rights of women, religious minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and
Greece: Problematic Surveillance Bill (Athens, December 8, 2022) – Greece’s lawmakers are considering a draft surveillance law that lacks effective privacy and human rights safeguards, Human Rights Watch said today.
Poland: Lawmaker Faces Charges for Pro-Choice Protest (Berlin) – Poland’s government should immediately drop charges against a member of parliament who participated in a pro-choice protest and stop targeting reproductive rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 29, 2022, the Toruń prosecutor’s office charged Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, a member of the Left (Lewica) party, with
'Everyone Knew This Was F*cked:' Elon Musk Releases Twitter's Internal Convos on Hunter Biden Laptop Censorship Elon Musk’s Twitter released internal discussions about censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story Friday night via journalist Matt Taibbi.
Elon Musk: Twitter Has 'Interfered in Elections' Elon Musk claimed in a recent tweet that Twitter has “failed in trust & safety for a very long time and has interfered in elections.” Musk, the new owner of the platform, has promised to release internal documents to restore public trust in the company. In a recent tweet, Twitter owner
China: Respect Right to Peaceful Protest (New York) – The Chinese government should respect the fundamental rights of people across China to peacefully protest the government’s draconian “zero Covid” restrictions and to call for freedom and human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately release all protesters wrongfully detained and cease online censorship
Thailand: Police Forcibly Disperse APEC Protesters (New York) – Thai riot police used apparently excessive force to disperse demonstrators protesting against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok on November 18, 2022, Human Rights Watch said today. Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha should promptly order an impartial investigation into alleged beatings and the use of rubber
What is All this Fuss about Rights? Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash People seem to think that anyone who complains about their “rights” is some sort of crybaby ninny. I hear comments all the time like, “Rights? You already don’t have any rights, why are you so upset about losing any more?” Or quite the
India: Serious Concerns Raised at UN Rights Review (New York) – The Indian government should promptly adopt and act on the recommendations that United Nations member states made at the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process on November 10, 2022, six international human rights groups said today. The recommendations cover a range of key concerns including