Human Rights Watch's Blog

Click to expand Image The United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland, February 26, 2024. © 2024 Hannes Albert/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Photo

The United Nations Human Rights Council on October 6 extended a project to gather evidence of human rights violations and war crimes associated with Sri Lanka’s civil war for at least two more years. The resolution adopted by consensus offers a ray of hope to victims of abuses and their families that they may one day see justice, despite the efforts of successive Sri Lankan governments to block accountability.

Sri Lanka’s civil war between the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government raged between 1983 and 2009. Both sides committed countless atrocities, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and recruitment of child soldiers. In the final months of the war, which ended in the LTTE’s total defeat, an estimated 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed when the LTTE used the population as human shields and the Sri Lankan army bombarded areas it had declared as “safe zones.”

Successive Sri Lankan governments have refused to acknowledge these crimes while blocking efforts at accountability, and have used state security agencies to intimidate and surveil victim’s families. The Human Rights Council established the UN Sri Lanka Accountability Project  in 2021 after the government backtracked on commitments to establish a hybrid justice mechanism to prosecute conflict-related crimes.

The current government of President Dissanayake, who was elected in 2024, has adopted a more moderate tone than some previous administrations, but continues to reject the UN project. While it has pledged to advance post-war “reconciliation” and prosecute some emblematic cases, little progress has been made, reminding victims of previous broken promises.

The Dissanayake administration needs to honor its promises to advance domestic truth-telling and accountability by demonstrating credibility through concrete confidence-building actions. At least 20 mass graves have been discovered in Sri Lanka, but none have yet been successfully investigated. The government should ensure that ongoing excavations at the Chemmani mass grave near Jaffna are successfully completed, including by enabling the provision of equipment for DNA testing.

The government should also order police, security and intelligence agencies to end the surveillance, harassment and intimidation of victim families, human rights defenders and journalists in the north and east. And it should make good on its promises to repeal repressive laws, establish an independent prosecutor, and prosecute emblematic cases.

While justice is denied in Sri Lanka, the UN’s evidence-gathering project remains essential to support potential prosecutions abroad under the principle of universal jurisdiction. The victims and their families are entitled to justice.

Click to expand Image The United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland, February 26, 2024. © 2024 Hannes Albert/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Photo

(Geneva) – The United Nations Human Rights Council on October 6, 2025, adopted a landmark resolution creating an independent mechanism to investigate past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said today. The resolution puts the Taliban and all others responsible for serious crimes in Afghanistan on notice that evidence is being collected and prepared so they may someday face justice.

The resolution, led by the European Union, was adopted by consensus. The mechanism is expected to include a focus on the Taliban’s current abuses against women and girls, which amount to gender persecution. The body will collect and preserve evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave rights abuses; identify individuals responsible; and prepare files that can be used to support their prosecution in national and international courts. The resolution also further extended the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, whose monitoring and reporting remains essential and is complementary to the work of the new mechanism.

“Countries at the UN Human Rights Council have together sent a strong message of their resolve to ensure that those responsible for serious international crimes in Afghanistan now or in the past will one day face justice in court,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It’s crucial for the new mechanism to get up and running quickly so that it can begin to collect, prepare, and preserve evidence, and build files on those responsible for international crimes in Afghanistan.”

The resolution responds to calls by Afghan and international human rights groups to address entrenched impunity in Afghanistan. In August 2025, a coalition led by HRD+, a network of Afghan human rights defenders, with support from 108 Afghan and international organizations, reissued an appeal for the investigative mechanism after four years of campaigning. Over the previous year, UN experts and countries from various regions joined civil society groups appealing to the EU to take this step.

The investigative mechanism, in accordance with its mandate and the practice of two similar mechanisms on Syria and Myanmar, is expected to take a comprehensive approach to investigating international crimes. All individuals responsible for carrying out rights-abusive Taliban edicts and policies that violate international law, such as the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law, would be subject to investigation, and the evidence will be collected, preserved, and prepared for future prosecutions.

The mechanism is expected to investigate actions by the Taliban leadership, provincial directors, governors, and other officials who are responsible, for example, for torture and other ill-treatment of people in custody. It will also target officials responsible for the denial of women and girls of their rights, notably to education, health care, and freedom of movement, which constitutes gender persecution.

The investigative mechanism’s scope is not limited to Taliban abuses but also covers those by officials of the former government, warlords, and members of international forces, non-state armed groups, and others responsible for serious abuses and violations in Afghanistan.

“The European Union has demonstrated principled leadership by putting forward this resolution for an investigative mechanism on Afghanistan,” Abbasi said. “By adopting the resolution by consensus, UN Human Rights Council member states have sent a powerful message against double standards for justice or a hierarchy of victims, and demonstrated growing international resolve to bring those responsible for international crimes to account.”

The UN secretary-general has been asked to put the body in operation with some urgency, finding a way to ensure that it can begin work on its core mandate despite the UN’s ongoing financial crisis. This is particularly urgent for women and girls, whose lives are so restricted every day in many ways under Taliban rule.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban officials on charges of the crime against humanity of gender persecution. The resolution directs the new mechanism to cooperate closely with the ICC and, particularly in light of US sanctions imposed on its officials and those seeking justice before the court, condemns “attacks and threats against the Court, elected officials, personnel and those cooperating with the Court.”

“UN Human Rights Council members have sent a clear message to victims, their families, and all those bravely fighting for justice in Afghanistan that their voices have been heard, and that their suffering is neither invisible nor erasable,” Abbasi said. “The UN secretary-general should ensure the investigative mechanism is promptly rolled out, and UN member states should ensure funding is made available for the mechanism to begin its work.”

Click to expand Image A person waves Yemeni flags during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the September 1962 revolution in Sanaa, Yemen. © 2016 Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters

(Beirut) – Houthi authorities arrested dozens of people in the last week of September 2025, as they have in past years, for peacefully celebrating or posting on social media about the anniversary of Yemen’s “September 26 Revolution,” Human Rights Watch said today. 

The holiday marks the establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962. The Houthis, the de facto authorities who control Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen believe that September 21, the day in which they took over Sanaa, should be celebrated instead.

“The Houthis seem to be expending far more resources on arresting people for harmless social media posts than they are on ensuring that people in territories their control have access to food and water,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should be protecting people’s rights, not silencing anyone commemorating a national holiday.” 

The Houthis should immediately release all those detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of assembly and speech as well as all others who remain in arbitrary detention, including the dozens of United Nations and civil society staff arrested and disappeared over the last year and a half, Human Rights Watch said.

Starting around September 21, the Houthis began arresting dozens of people in relation to the commemoration of the holiday. Fares al-Hemyari, a Yemeni journalist, posted on X that hundreds of protestors had been arrested in Sanaa, Amran, Hajjah, Dhamar, Al-Bayda, Ibb, and Taizz governorates. 

Human Rights Watch spoke to five people whose relatives had been arrested. Many others said they feared reprisals from the Houthis if they spoke to Human Rights Watch about the arrests. 

Among those arrested are dozens of activists: Oras al-Eryani, a writer and satirist; Abdul Majeed Sabra, a well-known lawyer; and Aref Mohammed Qatran and Abdulsalam Qatran, the brother and nephew, respectively, of Judge Abdulwahab Qatran. Many of them have not been able to contact their families or a lawyer, and the authorities have refused to let their families know where their relatives are, amounting to enforced disappearance.

A brother of one detainee said that his brother left their house on the evening of September 22 “to throw out the trash and buy some groceries” and never returned. After searching for him for two hours, some family members contacted Houthi security authorities, who would not provide any details about his case.

The brother said that the family were able to confirm “through multiple sources” that the Houthis’ Security and Intelligence Service was holding him. However, the brother said that his family was “not officially informed of his whereabouts [by authorities], nor were we allowed to visit or communicate with him, despite repeated promises.” 

He added that his brother has diabetes, increasing the family’s concern for his well-being.

Abdul Majeed Sabra, a prominent lawyer in Sanaa, told Human Rights Watch in 2024 that after he posted on social media that he would provide legal services to lawyers who had been detained in relation to September 26 commemorations, Houthi members “directly threatened” him. On September 25, 2025, Houthi security forces stormed Sabra’s office and arrested him.

According to one interviewee, Sabra was detained in relation to a social media post, in which he had written: “You [Houthis] deny Yemenis the right to express joy over their own September 26 Revolution—the one that restored their dignity and reintroduced them to the true faith, away from the myths of the Imamate—by simply posting a photo on social media, which you dismiss as treason and subservience to foreign powers." Sabra’s family doesn’t know anything about his whereabouts, according to a post on X by Ishraq al-Maqtari, a prominent human rights defender who has been following his case.

Abdulwahab Qatran, a prominent judge in Sanaa who himself was previously arrested by the Houthis, said that the Houthis arrested his brother, Aref, along with Aref’s son Abdulsalam, on September 21 without any charges. Judge Qatran said that three military vehicles and a taxi arrived at his brother’s house in Hamdan and told Aref and Abdulsalam to hand themselves over to the authorities, and that otherwise, “they would take the doors off and storm the house, so [Aref and Abdulsalam] handed themselves over.” 

The judge said that his brother and nephew were held first at Hamdan Security Complex but moved to an unrevealed location on September 22. The judge said he communicated with them through one of the prisoners’ phones. The last call the family had with Aref was on September 22, when he said he has sick and concerned about his life. 

The judge said that the authorities did not provide any legal document justifying the arrest, and that he is not aware of whether the authorities have charged them, but he believes the arrest is because that they were planning to commemorate September 26. Later, the Houthis arrested four more people from Qatran’s village for commemorating the holiday. 

Arresting a person without a warrant and clear charges is a violation under the Yemeni Criminal Procedures Law, article 132. Detaining a person without a basis in domestic or international law, as well as detaining them without promptly charging them, are violations of international human rights law. In their 2023 report, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen stated that they had documented many cases involving arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture in Yemen, adding that “most violations investigated by the Panel were attributed to the Houthis.”

In 2024, Human Rights Watch found that dozens of people had been arrested in relation to the holiday, many without charge. In 2023, Sabra posted that the Houthis had arrested approximately 1,000 people in relation to the anniversary. SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, a Yemeni human rights organization, found that the Houthis had used excessive force against those peacefully protesting and celebrating. 

Houthi authorities have also arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared dozens of United Nations and civil society staff since May 31, 2024. Most recently, on August 31, the Houthis detained an additional 19 UN staff.

“The Houthis should stop arresting people for merely exercising their rights and expressing beliefs and opinions that don’t align with the Houthis’ ideology, and should immediately release all those they have arbitrarily detained,” Jafarnia said. 

Click to expand Image Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman attends the delivery of the judgement in the case against him before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, October 6, 2025. © 2025 Piroschka van de Wouw/AP Photo

(The Hague) – The first International Criminal Court (ICC) conviction of a former leader of the “Janjaweed” militias for serious crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region spotlights the need for international action to ensure accountability for crimes across the country, Human Rights Watch said today.

On October 6, 2025, ICC judges convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kosheib) on 27 charges involving war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2003 and 2004 in 4 villages—Kodoom, Bindisi, Mukjar, and Deleig—in West Darfur. The judges also issued a decision outlining the timing for sentencing proceedings.

“The ICC’s long-awaited landmark conviction for serious crimes in Darfur provides the first opportunity for victims and communities terrorized by the Janjaweed to see a measure of justice before the court,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “With the current conflict in Sudan producing new generations of victims and compounding the suffering of those targeted in the past, the verdict should spur action by governments to advance justice by all possible means.”

Several other cases concerning crimes committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2008 have been brought before the ICC. They are the result of an investigation that followed the United Nations Security Council’s referral in 2005 of the situation in Darfur to the court’s prosecutor.

The Omar al-Bashir government in Sudan established the so-called Janjaweed militia, which worked alongside Sudanese government forces during a brutal counterinsurgency against rebel groups to carry out a systematic ethnic cleansing campaign.

The campaign targeted civilians from the Fur, Massalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups, from which rebel groups recruited. At the time, international attention was riveted on the region and the Security Council referral—the first of its kind—validated the court’s essential mandate, only two years after it opened its doors.

Human Rights Watch called for the ICC to investigate Ali Kosheib for his alleged crimes in Darfur in a 2005 report. ICC judges issued a first arrest warrant against Ali Kosheib in 2007, but he remained at large for over a decade. In 2013, Human Rights Watch documented Ali Kosheib’s involvement in the destruction of the town of Abu Jeradil and surrounding villages in Central Darfur. A second ICC warrant was made public after Ali Kosheib surrendered and was transferred to ICC custody in June 2020.

The judges convicted Ali Kosheib on charges including murder, rape, intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population, pillage, destruction of the property of an adversary, forcible transfer of the population, outrages upon personal dignity, persecution, cruel treatment, and other inhumane acts. 

The verdict comes more than two years into the current conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group born out of an effort by the government to integrate the Janjaweed into a formal structure. 

Both warring parties have committed war crimes, such as executing detainees and mutilating their bodies, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including in Khartoum, North Darfur, Gezira, and South and West Kordofan states, Human Rights Watch has found.

The RSF has committed crimes against humanity, including in an ethnic cleansing campaign in West Darfur in 2023 against ethnic Massalit and other non-Arab communities, and widespread sexual violence in Khartoum, the capital, since 2023. The RSF and its allied militias have also raped scores of women and girls in the context of sexual slavery in South Kordofan since September 2023.

The ICC prosecutor’s office signaled in January 2025 that it expects to request arrest warrants based on its current investigations into crimes committed since April 2023 in West Darfur. The ICC’s mandate remains limited to Darfur under the Security Council referral.

The UN-backed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan and the African Union’s Joint Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan are mandated to investigate current violations across Sudan, but they have no authority to prosecute. In the current conflict, no international body can prosecute international crimes committed in regions other than Darfur.

To hold those responsible to account, governments should back the ICC’s ongoing work while also supporting comprehensive justice pathways led by the Sudanese people to address crimes committed since April 2023, Human Rights Watch said. This should include seeking to expand ICC jurisdiction to all of Sudan, working toward an internationalized justice mechanism for Sudan, and encouraging cases in other countries’ courts under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

The verdict comes as the ICC is facing serious threats from those opposed to accountability, including the current Trump administration in the United States. The US never joined the court but was a clear supporter of the Darfur investigation across multiple administrations. Prominent US congressional leaders have applauded the ICC’s work in Darfur, and the US provided extensive financial support to efforts to document serious international crimes in Sudan.

The Trump administration, in a bid to thwart the court’s work in Palestine, has imposed sanctions against the ICCs officials, a UN human rights expert, and three Palestinian human rights groups. These sanctions threaten the court’s work, including in Sudan, where victims have waited for more than 20 years for justice.

The Ali Kosheib verdict is a critical reminder of the importance of the ICC as a permanent court of last resort, when all other avenues to justice are blocked, Human Rights Watch said.

Governments should strongly condemn US moves against the court, redouble their commitment to cooperate with and support the ICC, including by securing arrests and ensuring the court has adequate funding, and call for rescinding the US sanctions program.

Darfuris and activists in Sudan and across Africa long campaigned for the surrender of Ali Kosheib and other ICC suspects. Local communities and displaced Darfuris in Sudan demonstrated in support of Ali Kosheib facing justice and held vigils for victims of attacks for which he was alleged to be responsible.

Former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and two other former Sudanese high-level officials wanted by the ICC, including Ahmed Haroun, former state minister for humanitarian affairs and former governor of Southern Kordofan state, have yet to be handed over. The Sudanese authorities should immediately surrender al-Bashir and the others, Human Rights Watch said.

“Both parties to the conflict continue to commit atrocity crimes across Sudan, fueled by rampant impunity and claiming thousands of victims,” Evenson said. “ICC member countries and justice-supporting governments should make clear their support for the ICC and commit publicly to explore all avenues to close the accountability gap in Sudan, so that victims of today’s crimes will not have to wait two decades for justice.”

Click to expand Image Displaced Palestinians returning to the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025.  © 2025 Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

(Jerusalem) – United States President Donald Trump’s “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” announced on September 29, 2025, is no substitute for the urgent action governments need to take to protect civilians and support justice after two years of grave abuses in Israel and Palestine, Human Rights Watch said today. 

The 20-part plan does not directly address human rights issues or accountability for serious crimes committed since October 7, 2023. Governments should be taking immediate measures, including arms embargoes, targeted sanctions, and support for the International Criminal Court (ICC), in accordance with their international legal obligations to prevent and stop violations by the parties regardless of whether the Trump plan goes forward. 

“The two years since October 7, 2023, have brought a seemingly endless stream of atrocities against civilians for which there has been no letup or justice,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments should not wait for the adoption of Trump’s or any other plan to take action to prevent further harm to those most at risk.” 

Atrocity crimes in Israel and Palestine over the past two years have taken a devastating toll on civilians with thousands killed, maimed, starved, forcibly displaced, and unlawfully held hostage or detained; towns and neighborhoods leveled to the ground; and countless communities and lives devastated, Human Rights Watch said. 

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups gunned down several hundred civilians at festivals and in their homes across two dozen communities in southern Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks. Scores of civilians were taken hostage, and many are still held, including those starving in tunnels. Human Rights Watch found in its July 2024 report that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and unlawful imprisonment.

Click to expand Image Photos of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are displayed during a protest organized by their families in Tel Aviv, September 27, 2025.  © 2025 Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

Governments with influence over Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups should press for the urgent release of civilian hostages, an ongoing war crime, Human Rights Watch said.

In Gaza, Israeli forces have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians, including decimating entire families and killing on average the equivalent of an entire classroom of children each day. Military operations in Gaza have left most of the territory in ruins, flattening entire neighborhoods and towns and severely damaging or destroying most homes, schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure. Israeli authorities have caused a famine, using starvation as a weapon of war, and forcibly displaced virtually the entire population multiple times. 

The United Nations, human rights organizations, and the media have repeatedly reported Israeli authorities’ actions in Gaza that seriously violated international law. Human Rights Watch found numerous violations of the laws of war amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity, including extermination, and acts of genocide, and the violation of binding orders by the International Court of Justice.

In the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed or maimed, thousands detained, many without trial or charge, and tens of thousands displaced, mostly by Israeli forces, but also by settlers.

The scale of destruction in Gaza and the patterns of attacks have demonstrated the Israeli government’s contempt for its fundamental obligations under international law. The failure to uphold these norms has consequences that extend far beyond Israel and Palestine. When powerful states or their allies disregard international humanitarian law without consequence, they erode the credibility of the entire system and weaken protections for civilians in armed conflicts elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said.

All governments should act to prevent further atrocities and to uphold the universality of human rights. They should take steps to halt ongoing abuses and support credible investigations and meaningful accountability for those responsible, including the following measures:

Press Israeli authorities to immediately and unconditionally lift unlawful sweeping restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza.Press Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all civilians held hostage.Suspend military assistance and arms transfers to Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.Impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against Israeli officials and others credibly implicated in ongoing serious violations.Suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel and ban trade with illegal settlements.Publicly express support for the ICC and strongly condemn efforts to intimidate its officials and those cooperating with the court or to interfere with its work; commit to support the enforcement of ICC warrants.

“The worsening repression on the ground as decades of ‘peace processes’ played out should have made clear the folly of relying solely on peace plans to address grave abuses,” Shakir said. “Governments urgently need to take concrete action to protect Gaza’s over two million Palestinians and the Israeli hostages.”

Click to expand Image The picture shows the emblem of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. © Tim Brakemeier/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

(Washington, DC) – The United States Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration appears to be letting politicized and ideological priorities impact the availability of health-related information, Human Rights Watch said today. Respecting and fulfilling the right to health requires a credible, evidence-led process that enables people to make informed decisions about their health care. 

In public remarks on September 22, 2025, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. espoused medical guidance advising pregnant women to avoid taking acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol), medication commonly available over-the-counter for treating pain and fever. These remarks generated considerable controversy and concern but were only the latest in a series of actions fueling wider concerns that health policy in the US is not being driven by an evidence-based approach that people’s health and human rights require. 

“If the administration’s goal is to help make America healthy, it has to stop making it harder for people to make informed choices about health care,” said Matt McConnell, economic justice and rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Respect for people’s right to health requires health policy driven by evidence, not ideology or the personal beliefs of government officials.” 

Under international human rights law, everyone has the human right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, which includes the right to seek and receive information concerning health issues, and to make informed decisions about their health care. Government refusal or failure to use scientifically and medically appropriate research and health education to inform health policy is inconsistent with its obligations to the public and undermines the right to health.

The Trump administration has restricted public access to federal health information resources. In accordance with a day-one executive order targeting services and information on sexual orientation and gender identity, officials removed thousands of Health and Human Services (HHS) web pages and datasets, including research articles, federal guidelines, and educational information on health issues like reproductive rights, contraception, HIV, maternal health, and mental health.  

Public access to much of this information has since been restored as a result of a series of court cases brought by physicians and public health officials who found their work jeopardized by the sudden loss of these resources. In a February ruling to restore many websites and datasets taken down by the government, a federal judge stressed that “everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare” are those who ultimately bore the harm of these actions. 

Some of these resources remained offline for significant periods, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Mpox vaccination recommendations amid an ongoing global outbreak of the disease. Others are still offline. 

Disrupting and altering these online federal healthcare resources interferes with the public’s right to access health information, Human Rights Watch said. Because many of these actions targeted sites with information about gender and sexuality, they also disproportionately harmed communities that have long faced structural barriers to accessing health care and health information, particularly women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. 

Layoffs at HHS and its constituent agencies have also reduced the production and availability of health information resources that the public, healthcare workers, scientists, and public health officials across the country rely on. The CDC’s reproductive health division was particularly affected, with significant cuts in programs that disseminate guidance on safe contraception use and publish data about the drivers behind the US’ alarmingly high rate of maternal mortality among Black women. 

The current administration has also eliminated several advisory committees of independent experts. This has eliminated the experts’ production of evidence-based guidance for policymakers and medical professionals on issues such as eliminating systemic barriers in access to health care and preventing the spread of infections in healthcare facilities. 

The administration also appears to have significantly undermined the independence of an HHS advisory committee that informs policymakers and medical professionals about evidence-based immunization practices. This calls into question whether the committee’s guidance is scientifically and medically appropriate, Human Rights Watch said. 

In June, Secretary Kennedy, who has long promoted views contrary to scientific consensus, removed all existing members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), triggering immediate condemnation from the American Medical Association, the largest US professional association for physicians and medical students. 

On September 18 and 19, Secretary Kennedy’s handpicked replacements for ACIP voted to reverse the CDC’s universal recommendation on Covid-19 vaccination, which Secretary Kennedy has long criticized. It also voted to remove the combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) from the recommended vaccine schedule for children under age 4. 

The recommendations produced by ACIP have a direct influence on the availability and accessibility of vaccines in the US. Once adopted by the CDC, as they generally are, this committee’s recommendations determine which vaccines should be made available to the public. Many states’ policies on vaccination are closely tied to the committee’s recommendations, and almost all public and private health insurance programs cover the cost of vaccination in line with their findings.

If adopted by the CDC, the committee’s recommendations would restrict parents’ access to the combined MMRV vaccine for young children. Access to combined vaccines that provide coverage against multiple illnesses has been associated with increased vaccine coverage. 

In August, Secretary Kennedy abruptly fired Susan Monarez as CDC director, triggering a wave of resignations from top public health officials within the agency and widespread condemnation from medical associations. In an opinion article in early September and public comments to the Senate Health Committee in late September, Monarez said that she was fired, in part, for refusing to prematurely sign off on ACIP’s vaccine recommendations. Secretary Kennedy has denied these claims.

In response to these recent actions taken by the administration, several states have joined together in regional blocs to issue separate vaccine recommendations that follow the advice of private associations of medical professionals instead of ACIP. In contrast, Florida took steps in September to end all state-mandated vaccine and immunization requirements for public school attendance, and other states may soon follow suit.

“This fragmentation is a worrying sign that it is becoming much harder for the public to access consistent, reliable information about health care,” McConnell said. “US authorities should ensure that federal healthcare resources are grounded in evidence and accessible to all, and should take steps to bolster the public’s trust in those resources.”

Click to expand Image Charfadine Galmaye Saleh (L) and Makaila Nguebla. © Private

On September 17, the Chadian authorities published a decree purporting to strip blogger Makaila Nguebla and journalist Charfadine Galmaye Saleh of their nationality. The move marks a chilling escalation in the repression of dissent. By wielding citizenship as a political weapon, the government not only violates international law but crosses a line that threatens the rights of two outspoken critics and the broader foundation of civic life in Chad.

Both Nguela and Saleh are known critics of the government in Chad. Nguebla is a blogger, human rights activist, and formerly served as the president’s human rights adviser. Saleh is the editor of TchadOne, an influential online media outlet. Both men are currently in exile for their safety. Making an example of them by trying to strip them of citizenship not only violates their fundamental rights but creates a climate of fear for all local dissenters. Journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens alike are forced to weigh their right to free speech against the existential threat of losing their status, identity, and security as citizens.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out that everyone is entitled to a nationality, which should never be revoked arbitrarily or in a manner that leads to statelessness. This legal norm is reinforced in multiple international and regional African conventions to which Chad is a party. Yet Chad is brazenly purporting to do just this. Citizenship is not simply a passport or a bureaucratic classification. It is a fundamental legal status to which many civil and political rights attach. Without it, individuals lose a key source of protection and are vulnerable to rights violations, such as arbitrary detention, interference with private and family lives, denial of access to their country, and other deprivations.

This move comes as the rights climate in Chad continues to worsen: opposition leaders face long prison sentences, civil society and journalists are increasingly suppressed, security forces are accused of carrying out violence with total impunity, and the president continues to solidify power. As attempts were taken to strip Nguelba and Galamaye of their citizenship, the National Assembly voted to remove term limits for the president. Who will dare speak out against this move now?

What the government hopes to gain in the short term by banishing two critics will cost the country dearly in legitimacy and stability. When citizenship becomes a pawn in the hands of those in power, the rule of law unravels and, with it, the prospects for a more democratic and rights-respecting Chad.

Click to expand Image French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, September 23, 2025. © 2025 Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

The calamitous situation in Gaza, with Palestinian civilians facing extermination and ethnic cleansing by Israeli forces, was a major focus of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level week. Along with recognition of the state of Palestine by France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, among others, states made key commitments on human rights and accountability that were overwhelmingly adopted by the UNGA and now need to be fulfilled.

On September 29, US President Donald Trump released his 20-point “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” which makes no mention of either human rights or justice. But states should not wait for the adoption of a peace plan to fulfill their commitments on rights. They should take immediate action, using their leverage as required as parties to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to stop Israel’s escalating atrocities against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel and their preferential trade deals, ban trade with illegal settlements, and impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials responsible for ongoing crimes against Palestinian civilians.

All governments should support accountability for Israeli authorities’ war crimes, crimes against humanity, including extermination, apartheid, and persecution, and acts of genocide. They should also pursue accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and unlawful imprisonment, committed by Palestinian armed groups against Israelis during the October 7, 2023, attacks and the holding of hostages. 

They should rally behind the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is combating impunity for atrocity crimes globally, and condemn and act to counter US sanctions against ICC judges and officials, prominent Palestinian rights organizations, and a UN expert.

States approved the UNGA resolution ahead of a high-level conference that marked the passing of the September 2025 deadline for states to comply with a landmark July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The vote this year should not be an empty gesture as Israeli authorities expand illegal settlements and further displace and exterminate Palestinians. Respect for Palestinians’ basic rights is not dependent on reaching agreement on a peace plan. Countries should move ahead quickly with steps that advance justice and accountability.

Click to expand Image The Reparations Task Force meets to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, US, September 22, 2022.  © 2022 Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed the need and urgency forcomprehensive reparatory justice for historical and ongoing harm linked to colonialism and enslavementon October 1 at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. The report is timely as attacks on even minimal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts mount in the United States and elsewhere.

In an oral statement delivered at the UNHRC session, Human Rights Watch expressed support for his call for a transformative, context-specific, and rights-based approach to reparatory justice, led by the most affected communities.

Whether addressing the US’ legacy of enslavement or European legacies of enslavement and colonialism, Türk stressed that affected communities should drive the design and outcome of reparatory processes. He also said that private institutions, such as museums, corporations, universities, and religious groupsshould take responsibility for their historical benefits, ties, and roles in perpetuating the abuses of colonialism and enslavement.

He called for broad systemic reforms, such as addressing environmental injustices that disproportionately impact Africans and people of African descent as well as international financial systems that contribute toracial inequalities. This is particularly relevant as discussions about reparations around the world gain momentum.

In the US, some states and localities are exploring or already implementing reparative measures despite backsliding at the national level. African and Caribbean countries are working to join their agendas to strengthen their pursuit for reparatory justice by European and other governments, including at the recent Africa-CARICOM summit. The African Union and UN have dedicated the next decade to reparatory justice.

Echoed by African states who spoke at the UNHRC session in Geneva, the UN rights chief’s call to action challenges governments and institutions to reckon with their legacies and move beyond symbolic gestures.

In the US, this means Congress should adopt H.R. 40, which calls for creating an expert commission to study and develop reparation proposals to address the lasting impacts of enslavement and subsequent racial injustices for African Americans. For Europe, it means that governments should accept legal responsibility to address their enslavement and colonial legacies.

Achieving reparatory justice is not only a moral imperative but a right, with associated legal obligations,and a necessary step toward creating equitable societies rooted in acknowledgement, reconciliation, and justice.

Click to expand Image Members of the military attend a meeting convened by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Quantico, Virginia, September 30, 2025. © 2025 Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

(Washington, DC) – Remarks by United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump at a joint address to top military leaders on September 30, 2025, raise grave concerns that the administration will seek to deploy combat forces in domestic law enforcement roles, Human Rights Watch said today. If implemented, these proposals would be in brazen violation of US law and risk widespread human rights violations.

In his remarks at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, President Trump claimed that the US military should be used domestically to confront a “war from within,” and declared that US cities should serve as “training grounds” for the armed forces. This speech comes after the Trump administration’s unlawful use of lethal force against boats from Venezuela, and days after the White House issued a memorandum instructing the government to investigate civil society groups for links to “terroristic conspiracies.”

“The administration first says that it wants the military to be more lethal and less accountable and then threatens to deploy troops in a show of force to US cities,” said Tanya Greene, US program director at Human Rights Watch. “This is a recipe for disaster.”

Several US laws govern the boundary between the US military and domestic law enforcement. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the US army or air force to execute domestic law unless expressly authorized by US Congress. The Trump administration has nevertheless deployed forces to US cities using a patchwork of contested authorities including a presidential memorandum to federalize National Guard units and claims of a need to protect federal property or “federal functions.” The legality of these moves has been hotly contested.

Hegseth outlined plans to pursue “maximum lethality,” lower standards for misconduct, and weaken what Hegseth called “politically correct” rules of engagement. Whether he implements those plans or not, such rhetoric risks creating a permissive environment for human rights violations and makes the prospect of an illegal domestic deployment even more alarming, Human Rights Watch said.

While international human rights law does not prohibit states from using the military in law enforcement roles, military forces are generally ill-suited to the task. International human rights standards around policing emphasize restraint and respect for human rights, with force and firearms only to be used in extremely limited circumstances.

Military forces are trained primarily for combat, not in the effective conduct of rights-respecting law enforcement, and this misalignment creates an inherent risk of serious violations. In the United States, one of the most traumatic episodes of the Vietnam War era occurred at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970, when National Guard troops opened fire on unarmed students, killing four. 

Human Rights Watch has documented violations in countries around the world linked to the use of military forces to quash dissent or assume law enforcement roles. Zimbabwe military forces used excessive, lethal force to crush nationwide protests in mid-January 2019. In Mexico, successive governments have relied on the military to combat criminal activity, with soldiers committing extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and torture.

In Brazil, military forces deployed for law enforcement have committed abuses, including killings and torture, which have not been properly investigated or punished. Myanmar, Egypt, and Thailand, among others, have all conducted lethal crackdowns on protests with their military forces.

Hegseth’s stated plan to eliminate anonymous complaints and to restrict internal dissent would silence whistleblowers and victims of harassment, Human Rights Watch said. Such measures could violate protections under US law and undermine service members’ ability to seek redress.

State and local officials, especially governors with their authority over National Guard forces, should speak out against any effort to turn the military into a domestic police force, Human Rights Watch said. Congressional leaders in both parties should make clear that they expect the US military to act according to the highest standards of professionalism. Whistleblower channels should be protected. 

“The Trump administration has conjured up a series of absurd fabrications with serious human rights consequences during its time in office,” Greene said. “There is no reason and no legal justification for any disastrous use of military forces on US soil.”