Human Rights Watch Australia

Human Rights Watch Australia Our researchers investigate human rights abuses in some 90 countries around the world. Their work has led to significant change.

Human Rights Watch is a leading international human rights organisation dedicated to defending and promoting human rights around the world. Our rigorous investigations and strategic advocacy expose human rights abuses and lay the necessary groundwork to create meaningful, lasting change. By shining a spotlight where human rights are violated, our work gives a voice to victims and holds abusers accountable for their crimes.

NEW: The United States has sent more than 500 people whom it cannot deport to their own countries, often because of the ...
09/10/2026

NEW: The United States has sent more than 500 people whom it cannot deport to their own countries, often because of the danger they would face, to various countries in Africa where they have no connections.

Some of the people have been detained upon arrival.

Many, if not most, have been left with no practical option but to return to their home countries regardless of the harm they face there.

The US should stop deporting asylum seekers and refugees to third countries that lack the capacity to provide full and fair asylum procedures, and these countries should refuse to receive people under these conditions.

Read more here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/10/08/us-deportations-to-african-countries-not-their-own

07/10/2026

Nearly 5,700 men and boys —including 13 Australians—held as alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members and transferred to Iraq in early 2026 are at risk of abuse including imminent prosecution for adults in unfair trials, followed by ex*****on.

Governments should stop outsourcing responsibility for their nationals and ensure they are afforded their full rights to humane treatment, whether abroad or at home.

Letta Tayler, senior counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch, speaks to ABC about the situation.

25 years on, and still no genuine justice or redress for war crimes and other grave abuses in Afghanistan since the war ...
06/10/2026

25 years on, and still no genuine justice or redress for war crimes and other grave abuses in Afghanistan since the war began on October 7, 2001. Successive US administrations have swept grave abuses under the rug, leaving those most affected with neither compensation nor justice. The United States and other countries that took part in the war in Afghanistan should properly investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes by their forces and provide appropriate redress to the victims of abuses and their families.

Nearly 5,700 men and boys held as alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members and transferred to Iraq in early 2026 are at risk...
06/10/2026

Nearly 5,700 men and boys held as alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members and transferred to Iraq in early 2026 are at risk of abuse including imminent prosecution for adults in unfair trials, followed by ex*****on.

This includes Australian citizen, Yusuf Zahab, 22, who was taken by relatives to live under ISIS in Syria when he was 12.

Dozens of countries are stalling on repatriating and providing aid to their nationals detained in Iraq amid allegations of torture, as well as grave illnesses and several deaths in custody.

“The thousands of boys and men sent to Iraq deserve humane treatment and due process, just as the thousands of survivors of ISIS crimes deserve genuine justice,” said Letta Tayler, senior counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch. “The international community shouldn’t leave Iraq to manage this immense responsibility on its own.”

Read more here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/10/05/iraq-dire-prospects-for-alleged-isis-linked-men-boys

S*x in the absence of consent = r**e. Consent must be clear and freely given. Comprehensive sexuality education teaches ...
02/10/2026

S*x in the absence of consent = r**e. Consent must be clear and freely given. Comprehensive sexuality education teaches young people about consent, respect, and healthy relationships, helping to prevent sexual violence before it happens.

Six journalists. One newsroom. All detained.Egyptian authorities have arrested the entire team behind investigative outl...
02/10/2026

Six journalists. One newsroom. All detained.
Egyptian authorities have arrested the entire team behind investigative outlet Matsadaash, marking a dangerous escalation in the country’s assault on independent media. Authorities should immediately reveal the journalists’ whereabouts, release them from custody, and stop targeting independent journalism in Egypt.

Fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions erupted on September 22 between the Ethiopian military ...
25/09/2026

Fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions erupted on September 22 between the Ethiopian military and forces aligned with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. This follows reported clashes and airstrikes in Tigray since August.
Civilians must be protected.

24/09/2026

Women who have been detained as political prisoners in Myanmar paint a deeply disturbing picture of a prison system in which suffering and neglect are both deliberate and routine.

In a new report, HRW documents how the Myanmar military junta subjects women political prisoners to torture, sexual violence, and life-threatening denial of medical care.

The junta should urgently and unconditionally release all women political prisoners and their children.

Read more via the link in bio.

The UK government has said it will renegotiate its agreement with Mauritius over the future of the Chagos Islands. Decis...
23/09/2026

The UK government has said it will renegotiate its agreement with Mauritius over the future of the Chagos Islands. Decisions about the Chagos islands need to be centered on the Chagossian people, still forcibly displaced from their homeland by the UK and US.

📢MELBOURNE EVENT: Conversations at the Crossroads.In a world increasingly shaped by conflict, displacement and political...
22/09/2026

📢MELBOURNE EVENT: Conversations at the Crossroads.

In a world increasingly shaped by conflict, displacement and political instability, the protections designed to uphold human rights are being put to the test.

What happens when international law is ignored, accountability is weakened and those with power act without consequence? And how do we protect human dignity when the systems created to safeguard it are under growing pressure?

Protecting Human Rights in a Time of Global Conflict brings together leading voices in human rights and international law to explore these urgent questions.

Join the conversation as we consider what can be done now—and how we can work towards a stronger future built on accountability, justice and peace.

WITH
- Daniela Gavshon — Australia Director, Human Rights Watch
- Kate Gilmore — Former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Caitlin Reiger — CEO, Human Rights Law Centre
- Emeritus Professor Spencer Zifcak — International human rights law scholar
- Moderator: Emeritus Professor Joseph Camilleri

📍 The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne — or join online
📅 Wednesday 30 September
⏰ 6:00–8:30pm

👉 Book your ticket: https://www.trybooking.com/DPEZA

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