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Trending COP30 - Climate Change Conference  Israel/Palestine  The Trump Administration and Human Rights  Sudan  Russia-Ukraine War  Tigray Conflict

Human Rights Watch

## Please rush an urgent gift now to help expose human rights abuses and defend justice.

Donate Now

News Release

November 17, 2025

## Protect Civilians from Explosive Weapons

In "Strengthening Civilian Protection," Human Rights Watch and IHRC lay out seven guiding principles to effectively carry ou the commitments of the 2022 Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas.

What is Human Rights Watch?

What is Human Rights Watch?

- Learn more

## Latest News

More news

- ### Recommendations on Next Steps for Comprehensive Justice for Syria

November 17, 2025
- ### Japan: New Government Should Adopt Human Rights Diplomacy

November 17, 2025
- ### Brussels Rips EU Corporate Accountability Law

November 17, 2025
- ### Myanmar: Elections a Fraudulent Claim for Credibility

November 16, 2025
- ### Australia: Press Laos on Rights Abuses

November 16, 2025
- ### Ecuadorian Rights Group Files Case to Enforce Amazon Oil Referendum

November 14, 2025
- ### Mexico City: Proposed Public Care System Lacking Disability Rights

November 14, 2025
- ### ILO: Strengthen Global Rules to Protect Gig Workers

November 14, 2025

Trending COP30 - Climate Change Conference  Israel/Palestine  The Trump Administration and Human Rights  Sudan  Russia-Ukraine War  Tigray Conflict

## How We Work

**Investigate:** We investigate human rights abuses globally.

**Expose:** We publish our findings, share the stories of those affected by abuses, and speak out against injustice.

**Change:** We mobilize the public and press governments to enforce rights-respecting laws, change policy, and deliver justice.

- Learn more

89

nationalities represented

102

countries worked on

14+ million

global audience members

Zero

government funding

## Spotlight: COP30 Climate Conference

October 9, 2025 | Q & A

### Q&A: United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30)

The 30th annual United Nations climate change conference, COP30, will bring together states that are party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as thousands of experts, journalists, climate activists, and representatives from businesses and nongovernmental organizations.

November 4, 2025 | Dispatches

### In the Shadow of COP30, Brazil is Stripping Rainforest of Protections

October 15, 2025 | News Release

### Brazil: Illegal Ranches Devastate Rainforest, Livelihoods

April 23, 2025 | Dispatches

### COP30 Should Deliver Bold Action on Climate and Rights

January 16, 2025 | News Release

### Brazil: Lead COP30 by Example

## Reports

See more

Our deepest research, for people who want all the facts.

- ### Strengthening Civilian Protection

Principles for Implementing the Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

The 37-page report, “Strengthening Civilian Protection: Principles for Implementing the Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas,” introduces seven guiding principles to help countries that have endorsed the Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Area put their commitments into practice. Civilians make up the vast majority of casualties caused by the use of explosive weapons—such as aerial bombs, rockets, missiles, and artillery and mortar projectiles—in populated areas. Explosive weapons also turn urban areas into rubble, destroy infrastructure, and damage the environment and cultural heritage.

November 17, 2025
- ### Protected No More

Uyghurs in Türkiye

The 51-page report, “Protected No More: Uyghurs in Türkiye,” finds that Uyghurs’ previous access to international protection status, and indeed preferential treatment under the Turkish immigration system, is being nullified as authorities arbitrarily mark their police and immigration records with “restriction codes,” denoting them a “public security threat.” The government detains some Uyghurs in inhumane and degrading conditions, and coerces them to sign voluntary return forms, putting them at risk of removal to third countries that have extradition agreements with China.

November 12, 2025
- ### “You Have Arrived in Hell”

Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans in El Salvador’s Mega Prison

The 81-page report, “‘You Have Arrived in Hell’: Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans in El Salvador’s Mega Prison,” provides a comprehensive account of the treatment of these people in El Salvador. In March and April 2025, the US government sent 252 Venezuelans, including dozens of asylum seekers, to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, CECOT) mega prison in El Salvador, despite credible reports of serious human rights abuses in El Salvador’s prisons. The Venezuelans were subject to refoulement—being sent to where they would face torture or persecution—arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, inhumane detention conditions and, in some cases, sexual violence.

November 12, 2025
- ### “No Money, No Care”

Obstetric Violence in Sierra Leone

The 75-page report, “No Money, No Care: Obstetric Violence in Sierra Leone,” documents cases of verbal abuse, medical neglect, and abandonment of women and girls facing serious obstetric complications, practices that experts interviewed say are common. Many women interviewed said they were shamed and mistreated by healthcare providers for expressing pain, needing help, or for not having enough money to pay fees. Others described humiliating experiences in which healthcare providers treated them brusquely or withheld important health information. Some cases documented constitute obstetric violence, a largely unaddressed form of gender-based violence prevalent across the world.

November 2, 2025
- ### “You’ll Die Waiting for Justice”

Impunity for Security Forces Abuses in June 2021 Unrest in Eswatini

The 26-page report, “You’ll Die Waiting for Justice,” confirms that the Royal Eswatini Police Service and the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force improperly used tear gas, and rubber bullets, and physically assaulted civilians during the June 2021 unrest. The security forces also shot indiscriminately at protesters and passers-by with live ammunition, killing scores of protesters and injuring hundreds more, including children. The findings shine a spotlight on the absence of accountability since then and the precarious and desperate situation for the victims, requiring urgent action to remedy their situation.

October 30, 2025
- ### Whose Abortion Is It?

The Harms of State-Mandated Parental Notification for Abortion and Judicial Bypass in the United States

The 89-page report, “Whose Abortion Is It? The Harms of State-Mandated Parental Notification for Abortion and Judicial Bypass in the United States,” documents how state-mandated parental notification laws in six US states threaten young people’s health and safety and undermine their human rights. Most young people considering abortion involve a parent in their decision. Those who do not often have no access to a parent or fear that parental involvement will lead to severe consequences, such as physical abuse, loss of housing, family alienation, or forced continuation of a pregnancy against their wishes. The alternative to notifying a parent involves petitioning a judge for a court order in an invasive, stressful, and often traumatizing process called “judicial bypass.”

October 29, 2025

## Videos

Watch more

Play

Play

3 Things to Know About Brazil, Host of this Year’s Biggest International Climate Conference, COP30

Play

Play

What is COP?

Play

Play

Why Human Rights Watch and Other Civil Society Organizations are at COP30 in Belem

Play

Play

Illegal Cattle Ranches Devastate Rainforest and Livelihoods in Brazil

Read a text description of this video

Read a text description of this video

**SOUNDBITES**

**Toto Arara**

Every year, the invaders clear more land for cattle. Then they burn it.

**SOUNDBITES**

**Givanildo dos Santos Lima**

Today, the biggest driver of deforestation in the Amazon region is cattle ranching.

**DATE/PLACE**

February 2025

Cachoeira Seca Indigenous Territory, Brazil

**Powdem Arara**

I don't know why the government doesn't remove the invaders from our land.

**Pyjaka Arara**

We, the Arara people, are very afraid of ranchers.

**Maria Márcia de Melo**

The landgrabbers made me lose 17 years of work in a matter of minutes. Look! It's all dead.

**DATE/PLACE**

November 2024

PDS Terra Nossa, Brazil

**Maria dos Reis**

We can't say anything, or the land grabbers threaten us.

**Cleve Gonçalves da Silva**

And it's very dangerous here in Terra Nossa. They've already killed many people in this settlement.

**TITLE**

Invaded

Watch full video at HRW.org

Play

Play

Ugandan Mothers Stand by Their LGBT Children

### More videos

Play video

3 Things to Know About Brazil, Host of this Year’s Biggest International Climate Conference, COP30

01:35

Play video

What is COP?

01:18

Play video

Why Human Rights Watch and Other Civil Society Organizations are at COP30 in Belem

00:49

Play video

Illegal Cattle Ranches Devastate Rainforest and Livelihoods in Brazil

10:57

Play video

Ugandan Mothers Stand by Their LGBT Children

05:38

## Quick Takes

- Play

Play

COP 30 Climate March: Why People Are Here, and What They Are Asking For
- Play

Play

What's the world going to look like after we transition to renewable energy?
- Play

Play

Why indigenous people in Brazil are calling for land rights
- Play

Play

Did you know in March & April, the US government removed 250+ Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador?
- Play

Play

Imagine you have to leave your home where your ancestors have lived for centuries
- Play

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Why Human Rights Watch and other civil society organizations are at COP30 in Belem

Featured Investigation

## Listen, Run, Hide

How Russia Uses Quadcopter Drones to Hunt and Kill Civilians in Kherson, Ukraine

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## Nearly 5 Decades of Impact

Together with our partners, we’ve:

- Helped put powerful war criminals behind bars
- Protected children laboring in tobacco fields
- Won a Nobel Peace Prize for our work banning landmines

See what else we've achieved

- ### A Proud Record Tackling the Scourge of Landmines
- ### Canada: All 10 Provinces To End Immigration Detention in Jails
- ### Some Governments, Companies Take Steps to Protect Children
- ### Interview: Victory for People with Disabilities and Older Persons in Mexico
- ### Chad’s Ex-Dictator Convicted of Atrocities
- ### Japan Passes Law to ‘Promote Understanding’ of LGBT People

## Regions

- ### Asia

- ### Japan: New Government Should Adopt Human Rights Diplomacy

November 17, 2025
- ### Myanmar: Elections a Fraudulent Claim for Credibility

November 16, 2025
- ### Australia: Press Laos on Rights Abuses

November 16, 2025
- ### Europe/Central Asia

- ### Brussels Rips EU Corporate Accountability Law

November 17, 2025
- ### Türkiye: ‘Restriction Codes’ Harm Uyghurs Seeking Safety

November 12, 2025
- ### Kazakhstan: Reject ‘LGBT Propaganda’ Legal Proposals

November 11, 2025
- ### Americas

- ### Ecuadorian Rights Group Files Case to Enforce Amazon Oil Referendum

November 14, 2025
- ### Mexico City: Proposed Public Care System Lacking Disability Rights

November 14, 2025
- ### US/El Salvador: Torture of Venezuelan Deportees

November 12, 2025
- ### Middle East/North Africa

- ### Tunisia: Overturn Unjust ‘Conspiracy’ Trial Convictions

November 14, 2025
- ### Lebanon: Hannibal Gaddafi Free After Long Unlawful Detention

November 13, 2025
- ### US: Prioritize Rights During Saudi Leader’s Visit

November 10, 2025
- ### United States

- ### US Food Assistance Cuts Undermined Rights

November 13, 2025
- ### US Supreme Court Allows Discriminatory Passport Rule

November 10, 2025
- ### US: Prioritize Rights During Saudi Leader’s Visit

November 10, 2025
- ### Africa

- ### Cameroon: Killings, Mass Arrests Follow Disputed Elections

November 12, 2025
- ### UN Rights Body Set to Hold Urgent Session on Sudan

November 12, 2025
- ### Trial of Ex-Congolese Warlord Important Step for Justice

November 12, 2025

## Topics

- ### Economic Justice and Rights

- ### Brussels Rips EU Corporate Accountability Law

November 17, 2025
- ### ILO: Strengthen Global Rules to Protect Gig Workers

November 14, 2025
- ### US Food Assistance Cuts Undermined Rights

November 13, 2025
- ### Arms

- ### Protect Civilians from Explosive Weapons

November 17, 2025
- ### Alleged Cluster Munition Remnant Kills Cambodian Boy

November 4, 2025
- ### Myanmar Military Paramotor Strike Kills, Injures Dozens

October 9, 2025
- ### Free Speech

- ### Australia: Press Laos on Rights Abuses

November 16, 2025
- ### Türkiye: ‘Restriction Codes’ Harm Uyghurs Seeking Safety

November 12, 2025
- ### Human Rights Watch Remarks to European Parliament Trade Committee on EU-Gulf relations

November 4, 2025
- ### Environment and Human Rights

- ### Ecuadorian Rights Group Files Case to Enforce Amazon Oil Referendum

November 14, 2025
- ### Uganda Continues Targeting Fossil Fuel Activists

November 6, 2025
- ### In the Shadow of COP30, Brazil is Stripping Rainforest of Protections

November 4, 2025
- ### Disability Rights

- ### Mexico City: Proposed Public Care System Lacking Disability Rights

November 14, 2025
- ### Mexico’s Supreme Court Steps Forward but Falls Short

October 15, 2025
- ### On Mental Health Day, End Coercion, Embrace Dignity

October 9, 2025
- ### Technology and Rights

- ### ILO: Strengthen Global Rules to Protect Gig Workers

November 14, 2025
- ### Kenya: New Cybercrime Amendments Threaten Online Expression

November 7, 2025
- ### Next Steps for Mitigating Harm in the UN Cybercrime Convention

November 4, 2025
- ### Refugees and Migrants

- ### Thailand: Vietnamese Refugees at Risk from Hanoi

November 13, 2025
- ### Türkiye: ‘Restriction Codes’ Harm Uyghurs Seeking Safety

November 12, 2025
- ### Human Rights Watch Remarks to European Parliament Trade Committee on EU-Gulf relations

November 4, 2025
- ### United Nations

- ### UN Rights Body Set to Hold Urgent Session on Sudan

November 12, 2025
- ### US Skips UN Periodic Rights Review

November 7, 2025
- ### UN: Momentum Builds for Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

October 27, 2025
- ### International Justice

- ### Trial of Ex-Congolese Warlord Important Step for Justice

November 12, 2025
- ### UN: Momentum Builds for Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

October 27, 2025
- ### World Court: Israel Needs to Allow UN Aid into Gaza

October 24, 2025
- ### Children's Rights

- ### Youth Football Dream Turned Into Nightmare

November 10, 2025
- ### US: Parental Notice for Abortion Causes Harm

October 29, 2025
- ### France Failing Unaccompanied Migrant Children

October 24, 2025
- ### LGBT Rights

- ### US Supreme Court Allows Discriminatory Passport Rule

November 10, 2025
- ### Brazil Resumes Key Dialogue over Equality

October 22, 2025
- ### Intersex Rights Advance Based on Evidence, Principle

October 22, 2025
- ### Health

- ### US: Millions Face Soaring Health Costs as Subsidies Expire

November 5, 2025
- ### Haiti: Cholera Resurgence Threatens Vulnerable Communities

November 5, 2025
- ### US: Parental Notice for Abortion Causes Harm

October 29, 2025
- ### Women's Rights

- ### Obstetric Violence Deadly for Sierra Leone Women, Newborns

November 2, 2025
- ### Afghan Women’s Return to Football a Human Rights Victory

October 31, 2025
- ### France Redefines Rape in Landmark Law

October 30, 2025
- ### Crisis and Conflict

- ### United States: Federal Agents Use Excessive Force in Illinois

October 23, 2025
- ### Russian Forces Deliberately Attack UN Aid Convoy

October 21, 2025
- ### Myanmar Military Paramotor Strike Kills, Injures Dozens

October 9, 2025
- ### Rights of Older People

- ### Russian Strike Kills Dozens of Older People in Ukraine

September 17, 2025
- ### South Korea: Older Workers’ Low-Paid, Precarious Work

July 8, 2025
- ### Saudi Arabia: Prisoner, 70, Dies After Medical Neglect

June 17, 2025
- ### Torture

- ### Iran: Detainees Ill-Treated and Disappeared After Israeli Evin Prison Attack

August 14, 2025
- ### Iran: Authorities Amputate Three Prisoners’ Fingers in Acts of Torture

July 31, 2025
- ### Libya: Barriers to Justice

June 2, 2025
- ### Terrorism / Counterterrorism

- ### Burkina Faso: Army Directs Ethnic Massacres

May 12, 2025
- ### Trinidad and Tobago Nationals Remain Stranded in Northeast Syria

April 30, 2025
- ### US Jury Awards $42 Million to 3 Iraqis Abused at Abu Ghraib Prison

November 14, 2024

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