Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide
News Release
December 8, 2025
Bulgaria’s delayed decommissioning of coal-fired power plants contributes to dangerous air pollution, risks breaching new air quality standards, and is slowing down the country’s transition away from fossil fuels.
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December 4, 2025 | Interactive
In Vietnam, more than 160 political prisoners are currently locked up simply for exercising their basic rights. Rights bloggers and activists face police harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and interrogation on a daily basis. Activists face long stints of pre-trial detention, without access to lawyers or family in a one-party police state that tolerates no dissent.
December 4, 2025 | News Release
December 3, 2025 | News Release
December 3, 2025 | Dispatches
December 3, 2025 | Commentary
“Like a Prisoner in My Home”
Coal Fueling Toxic Air in Bulgaria
The 45-page report, “Like a Prisoner in My Home’: Coal Fueling Toxic Air in Bulgaria” analyzes the data revealing alarmingly high air pollution levels in Dimitrovgrad, a town in southern Bulgaria, which hosts Maritsa 3, one of the country’s oldest coal plants. Maritsa 3 emits hazardous air pollutants, which contribute to poor air quality that harms the health of local residents, particularly children.
December 8, 2025
“We Need U”
How the U Visa Builds Trust, Counters Fear, and Promotes Community Safety
The 50-page report, “‘We Need U’: How the U Visa Builds Trust, Counters Fear, and Promotes Community Safety,” finds that the administration’s deportation policies undermine federal visa programs that provide a pathway for crime victims to obtain legal residency when they cooperate with law enforcement. Changed enforcement guidance, such as allowing Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to apprehend people in previously safe places like courthouses and health centers, is a strong deterrent for immigrants who might otherwise report crime to police or seek a protective order.
December 2, 2025
“All My Dreams Have Been Erased”
Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank
The 105-page report, “‘All My Dreams Have Been Erased’: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank,” details “Operation Iron Wall,” an Israeli military operation across Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps that began on January 21, 2025, days after a temporary ceasefire was announced in Gaza. Israeli forces issued abrupt orders to civilians to leave their homes, including with loudspeakers mounted on drones. Witnesses said soldiers moved methodically through the camps, storming homes, ransacking properties, interrogating residents, and eventually forcing all families out.
November 20, 2025
Exceptional Failure
France’s Persistent Education Shortcomings in Mayotte
The 73-page report, “Exceptional Failure: France’s Persistent Education Shortcomings in Mayotte,” finds that Mayotte’s municipalities often impose significant and arbitrary barriers to school enrollment, including by demanding documentation not required by law. Children who are enrolled often attend overcrowded schools ill-equipped to meet their basic needs, such as access to drinking water, sanitation, nutritious food, and a safe learning environment. Children living in informal settlements known as bangas, are particularly affected, as are children from migrant families.
November 18, 2025
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
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
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Illegal Cattle Ranches Devastate Rainforest and Livelihoods in Brazil
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
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Ugandan Mothers Stand by Their LGBT Children
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