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Human Rights Watch oral statement at the Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner's Report on Venezuela - 56th session of the Human Rights Council

Throughout its “Universal Periodic Review” – a state-to-state rights review process at the United Nations Human Rights Council that concluded today – the Chinese government issued blanket denials in the face of well-documented and egregious rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and across mainland China and dismissed recommendations on ending such abuses.

In a recent meeting, Qatar’s advisory Shura Council proposed the government adopt measures that would require domestic workers to obtain their employer’s permission before being allowed to leave the country. Workers would have to submit their leave or departure requests through the Ministry of Interior’s “Metrash” online portal at least five days ahead of their proposed date of departure. They would be allowed to appeal if their employer did not approve their request.

As the Council meets to adopt the Universal Periodic Review of Saudi Arabia, authorities in the country continue to commit widespread violations of basic human rights within and beyond its borders.

New judiciary guidelines in China specify that crimes of secession by Taiwanese “separatists” are punishable under Chinese law. The guidelines authorize the use of trials in absentia and even the death penalty for anyone asserting Taiwan’s independence.

Daily Brief, July 4, 2024.

South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly on July 3, 2024 amended the law governing the National Security Service (NSS), in ways that will further undermine human rights and entrench the agency’s longstanding abuses.

The African Union Commission and its specialized agency on girls and women’s education is currently hosting a conference in Addis Ababa with government ministers, education experts, and civil society representatives to accelerate progress on girls’ and women’s education.

Here we go again. Since shortly after the beginning of Syria’s civil war, countries faced with the prospect of hosting Syrian refugees have touted the idea of “safe areas” within Syria to which refugees could be returned, despite the fact that such zones historically have frequently been unsafe, even treacherous.