Media Coverage

LGBTQ Afghans have increasingly been threatened, beaten, and raped since the Taliban took control of the country in August, a new report found. The advocacy groups Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International compiled a snapshot of how the freshly reawakened Taliban regime has targeted...

The Taliban and Western diplomats have begun their first official talks in Europe since they took over control of Afghanistan in August. Taliban representatives will be certain to press their demand that nearly $10 billion frozen by the United States and other Western countries be released as...

Taliban rule has had a devastating impact on Afghan women and girls, new research shows, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University said on Monday. The organizations looked at the conditions for women since the Taliban took control in Ghazni province, in...

At least 145 community leaders and rights activists were killed in 2021 in Colombia, the country’s human rights ombudsman has said. The 2021 death toll, which came amid a year defined by protests and government crackdowns, was lower than in 2020, when 182 killings were registered, the offices of...

The recent killing of Basak Cengiz by a man wielding a samurai sword is one of hundreds of murders of women committed in Turkey every year. Women’s rights activists blame the government’s failure to prevent gender-based violence, pointing to the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a 2011...

A 29-year-old activist and economics lecturer, Frozan Safi, has been shot and killed in northern Afghanistan, in what appears to be the first known death of a women's rights defender since the Taliban swept to power almost three months ago. The death underscores the pervasive sense of fear in...

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a plan to prevent any further misconduct by aid workers deployed in its field of operations after WHO staff were caught up in a major sexual abuse scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus vowed to ensure...

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued a ruling holding Colombia’s government responsible for the kidnap, torture, and rape of a journalist by paramilitary groups in 2000. The ruling said the attacks against Bedoya “could not have been carried out without the consent and collaboration...

The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution to have a special rapporteur working on the ground in Afghanistan to probe violations carried out by the Taliban. Actions directed against women and girls are of primary concern. UN experts in legal analysis, forensics, and women’s rights will support...