Human rights watch

Torture, sexual violence, forced confessions: Experts reveal mass human rights violations in Iran

As part of its campaign of suppression, Tehran has arrested people in mass, detaining individuals in unofficial facilities where they cannot communicate with the outside world.

A bus burned during protests, on a street in Tehran, Iran, January 16, 2026
 L to R: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump. (illustration)

Tehran must be confronted: Trump, Netanyahu should lead the West's moral stand - editorial

US President Donald Trump (C), Vice President JD Vance (L) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) pictured in the White House, November 6, 2025; illustrative.

Trump declines to take sides between Vance, Rubio in 2028 successor debate

US President Donald Trump sits at his desk, behind a hat that reads "America is back" at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2026.

Trump has attacked pillars of democracy, Human Rights Watch alleges


Leading Jewish Republicans split over a Biden human rights nominee

Elliott Abrams, a longtime foreign policy maven with experience in a number of Republican administrations, has come to her defense.

Freedom House President Mark Lagon (R) testifies as Washington Director Human Rights Watch Sarah Margon (L) listens during Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on "Corruption, Global Magnitsky and Modern Slavery - A Review of Human Rights Around the World", on Capitol Hill in Washington, July

Delegitimizing Israel has become a mainstream pastime - opinion

The Human Rights Watch report accusing Israel of apartheid could have a negative impact on the Jewish state's international legacy.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch Americas, holds up a report while addressing the media in Bogota

Human Rights Watch chairman invests in Israel as he calls it ‘apartheid’

Neil Rimer is a board member of Human Rights Watch, which recently accused Israel of apartheid.

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Israeli apartheid charge: Tool against oppression or existential threat?

SETTLEMENT AFFAIRS: "Saying Israel is an apartheid state means it is a crime against humanity, which means it has no right to be, and we have an obligation to make sure it has no right to be."

THE SECURITY BARRIER is seen in the background as a Palestinian protester walks with a placard depicting former South African president Nelson Mandela during a demonstration against settlements near the West Bank village of Bil’in in 2013.

Human Rights Watch really wants to push Israel and PA into one state

This attempt to shoehorn several different areas, run by three different authorities into one place is at the heart of new human rights reports about Israel.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch Americas, holds up a report while addressing the media in Bogota

The HRW apartheid report: Does it matter? - analysis

It doesn't matter in the Western corridors of power, as they will see the report for what it is. But it does matter for influential young people who do not have a good grip on the subject.

OMAR SHAKIR, Human Rights Watch Israel and Palestine director, looks up before a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem in September

HRW chief: Israeli apartheid charge followed lack of peace deal

“We all hope that the peace process works, but 30 years into it, with no end in sight, we can’t accept that remote prospect as justifying a contemporary abusive reality,” HRW's chief said.

Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth

Human Rights Watch: Israel commits crime of apartheid, UN must apply sanctions

Israel met the legal definition for crimes of apartheid as set out by the Rome Statute, Human Rights Watch said in a 213-page report.

Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth speaks during a interview with Reuters in Geneva, Switzerland, April 9, 2018

Israel is not an apartheid state - editorial

HRW’s exploitation of the apartheid image in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a cynical appropriation of the suffering of the victims of the actual apartheid regime.

A bloodied Israeli flag hangs on the main building at the University of Cape Town on Monday at the start of Israel-Apartheid Week.

Human Rights Watch demonizes Israel via propaganda of apartheid - opinion

HRW allegations, also mirroring the other NGOs, exploit the inherent flexibility and political essence of international law, with claims based on far-fetched interpretation of the Rome Statute.

Omar Shakir, a US citizen representing New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Israel and the Palestinian territories, speaks to Reuters TV in Amman, Jordan.