NEW: Women in South Korea face systemic gender discrimination at every stage of their working lives. These adverse impacts accumulate as women get older. In a new report, HRW found that the older women get, the fewer work opportunities they have. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4xowIhq

Ecuador 🇪🇨 muestra cómo el miedo a la “ideología de género” puede usarse para justificar discriminación y convertir a una minoría en chivo expiatorio. Comparto algunas reflexiones con @elespectador.com : www.elespectador.com/genero-y-div...

Ecuador restringe derechos LGBTIQ+ mientras crecen medidas similares en la región

Ley de adopción en Ecuador restringe derechos LGBTIQ+ y fuentes expertas señalan un patrón regional.

elespectador.com

Not every kid is safe coming out at home. That reality matters. Schools should be able to protect a trans student’s privacy when disclosure could expose them to rejection or abuse. Turning that protection into the subject of a federal lawsuit is cruel. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/u...

Justice Department Sues Kansas City Schools Over Gender Policy

In the first such lawsuit, the Trump administration accused the district of hiding students’ gender transition from their parents against federal law.

nytimes.com

Authoritarianism doesn’t stop at elections, protests or the press. In Putin’s Russia🇷🇺, the state is increasingly deciding what literature should be, and what a writer is allowed to say. Controlling culture is another way of controlling society. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/o...

Opinion | Putin Is Coming for Russian Literature

The Kremlin is redefining what it means to be a writer in Russia.

nytimes.com

La nueva ley de adopción de Ecuador 🇪🇨 profundiza la discriminación contra las personas LGBT y amenaza a familias con hijos e hijas trans. La Asamblea aprobó restricciones amplias sin evidencia y sin consultar de forma significativa a quienes sufrirán sus consecuencias. www.hrw.org/es/news/2026...

Ecuador: nueva ley de adopción profundiza la discriminación

Una nueva ley de adopción en Ecuador contiene disposiciones discriminatorias dirigidas contra personas lesbianas, gays y bisexuales y amenaza con privar de la patria potestad a numerosos padres y madr...

hrw.org

🇪🇨Ecuador’s new adoption law entrenches discrimination against LGBT ppl and threatens families with trans children. Lawmakers passed sweeping restrictions without evidence, and without meaningful consultation with the people whose lives they will affect. www.hrw.org/news/2026/08...

Ecuador: New Adoption Law Entrenches Bias

A new adoption law in Ecuador contains discriminatory provisions targeting lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and threatens to strip many parents of transgender children of their parental rights.

hrw.org

Rights defenders report enforcement of Belarus’s new “LGBT propaganda” law, alongside arbitrary detentions, phone searches, and a sharp rise in requests from LGBT people seeking to leave the country. This is not “protecting values.” It’s repression. euroradio.fm/ru/pravozasc...

Правозащитники зафиксировали первые преследования по статье "пропаганда ЛГБТ" в Беларуси

Резко выросло число запросов на эвакуацию из Беларуси людей ЛГБТК+.

euroradio.fm

Bolivia’s first same-sex marriage is historic. But equality cannot stop with one couple. International human rights standards are clear: same-sex couples and their families are entitled to the same rights and protections as everyone else. www.hrw.org/news/2026/08...

Bolivia’s First Same-Sex Marriage Is a Historic Step Forward

Bolivia celebrated on August 7 its first civil marriage between two women. This is a historic milestone for the rights of same-sex couples in a country where marriage equality is still not guaranteed ...

hrw.org

A historic first for Bolivia: the country has celebrated its first same-sex civil marriage. A hard-won victory after nearly four years of litigation, and an important step toward marriage equality nationwide. www.hrw.org/news/2026/08...

Bolivia’s First Same-Sex Marriage Is a Historic Step Forward

Bolivia celebrated on August 7 its first civil marriage between two women. This is a historic milestone for the rights of same-sex couples in a country where marriage equality is still not guaranteed ...

hrw.org

Un hito histórico: Bolivia celebró su primer matrimonio civil entre personas del mismo sexo. Una victoria conseguida tras casi cuatro años de litigio y un paso importante hacia el matrimonio igualitario en el país. www.hrw.org/es/news/2026...

El primer matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo en Bolivia marca un avance histórico

Bolivia celebró el 7 de agosto su primer matrimonio civil entre dos mujeres. Se trata de un hito histórico para los derechos de las parejas del mismo sexo en un país donde el matrimonio igualitario aú...

hrw.org

Kansas says forcing trans ppl to carry IDs that don’t match who they are makes identification more “accurate.” The predictable result? Confusion, forced outing, and greater risk of discrimination. Cruelty dressed up as bureaucracy is still cruelty. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/o...

Opinion | What’s Happening in Kansas Should Alarm Us All

Is Kansas just the beginning?

nytimes.com

This week marks fives year of the Taliban silencing voices in Afghanistan — but we must not stay silent. Brave Afghans spoke with Human Rights Watch about the abuses they’ve faced. Justice should not be further delayed. Governments should support accountability efforts for crimes past and present.

A suspended prison sentence for publishing books with LGBT+ themes. That's today's Russia🇷🇺. Literature isn't a threat, but censorship always is. Freedom of expression shouldn't depend on whether the state approves of the people in the story. www.reuters.com/world/russia...

Women have every right to safety, privacy and dignity in single-sex services. Yet protecting those rights shouldn’t require treating every trans person as a potential threat. Safeguards should target harmful conduct, not identity. www.bbc.com/news/article...

New guidance on single-sex spaces comes into force

The code covers spaces open to the public, such as toilets and changing rooms in England, Wales and Scotland.

bbc.com

In August 2020, police committed dreadful abuses during a weeks-long operation in Brazil's Amazon. This was not the work of a few “bad apples.” A community leader said that a military police commander watched as officers tortured him. No one has been held accountable. www.hrw.org/news/2026/08...

Terror in the Amazon

A nightmare for Indigenous people and other communities on the Abacaxis riverbanks in the Brazilian Amazon began on August 3, 2020. That day, three private boats arrived in the town of Nova Olinda do ...

hrw.org

Cuando un gobierno deja de hablar de seguridad, salud o economía para hablar de “ideología de género”, probablemente no está resolviendo los problemas del país. Está buscando un chivo expiatorio. Mi artículo de opinión en @elpais.com: elpais.com/america-futu...

Los derechos de las personas LGBT se han vuelto un arma política en América Latina

En lugar de desviar la atención hacia enemigos imaginarios como la “ideología de género”, los mandatarios deberían dirigir sus propuestas hacia problemas económicos y sociales reales

elpais.com

LGBT+ Afghans experienced heightened threats and abuse following the Taliban takeover. Many tried to flee the country. @hrw.org documented threats, beatings, and sexual violence against LGBT people, as well cases of arbitrary detention by Taliban forces. www.hrw.org/news/2022/01...

Afghanistan: Taliban Target LGBT Afghans

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Afghans and people who do not conform to rigid gender norms in Afghanistan have faced an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safet...

hrw.org

Fereshta Abbasi@fereshtaabbasi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Taliban have entrenched one of the worst human rights crises and systematically dismantled the rights of women and girls since taking power five years ago. Afghanistan is also facing a humanitarian crisis with 40% of the population in need of assistance. www.hrw.org/news/2026/08...

🚨 The French Govt is expected at any moment to unveil a deeply troubling "entryism" bill. By expanding powers dissolve NGOs by decree, this upcoming legislation risks further suffocating an already shrinking civic space in France. My latest for @hrw.org: www.hrw.org/news/2026/07...

Worrying developments on civic space in France, where the govt is set to introduce a bill to address so-called "entryism." If adopted, it would further erode the country’s already shrinking civic space, giving authorities greater powers to dissolve NGOs and freeze assets www.hrw.org/news/2026/07...

Proposed Law in France Threatens Civic Space

The French government is expected at any moment to unveil troubling draft legislation to address so-called entryism: the idea that certain groups seek to infiltrate state institutions to influence and...

hrw.org

Georgia is using repressive laws, funding restrictions & criminal investigations to dismantle independent civil society. www.hrw.org/news/2026/07... This includes LGBT+ organizations. Here are some examples from @hrw.org's recent analysis & documentation of these measures:

Georgia: New Laws Devastate Independent Civic Groups

Georgian authorities’ use of increasingly repressive laws and politically motivated criminal investigations is decimating independent civil society and silencing critical voices, Human Rights Watch sa...

hrw.org

As debates over gender-affirming care intensify, we risk becoming trapped in the wrong question: is there enough evidence to justify treatment? The key question is what frameworks we employ when evidence is incomplete and uncertainty is unavoidable? www.jurist.org/commentary/2...

We’re Having the Wrong Fight Over Youth Gender-Affirming Care

As debates over gender-affirming care intensify across many countries, lawmakers, physicians and human rights advocates risk becoming trapped in the wrong question. Public discussion often revolves ar...

jurist.org

Russian TV blurred out a rainbow in SpongeBob likely to avoid “LGBT propaganda.” When a cartoon rainbow becomes a threat to the state, the absurdity of censorship speaks for itself. novayagazeta.eu/en/articles/...

Russian channel blurs out rainbow in episode of SpongeBob in likely move against ‘LGBT propaganda’ — Novaya Gazeta Europe

Russian channel blurs out rainbow in episode of SpongeBob in likely move against ‘LGBT propaganda’

novayagazeta.eu

#Germany's government plans to gut 🇩🇪's Freedom of Information Act. The right to seek & receive information, incl. civil society's & the media's access to public records, is an essential democratic safeguard which ensures political transparency & accountability. @hrw.org www.hrw.org/news/2026/07...

Germany: Government Curbing Freedom of Information Act

The German government should abandon its plans to gut Germany’s Freedom of Information Act, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposed amendments will threaten core human rights essential to transpar...

hrw.org

Though the US once backed equality at the UN, the Trump administration has largely adopted an obstructionist stance, undermining women’s and LGBT+ rights and gender equality while aligning with governments like Russia. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

U.S. ‘obstructionist’ on UN efforts to advance equality, says Lametti

Canada’s UN ambassador points to climate change and gender equality as areas he’s seen pushback from the Trump administration

theglobeandmail.com

Authorities in Turkey say a gay cruise threatens “moral values.” LGBT+ people exist in Turkey, despite years of Pride bans and arrests. This isn’t about morality. It’s about silencing LGBT+ people and restricting freedom of expression and association. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Turkey blocks cruise ship carrying 2,000 LGBTQ+ passengers and a ‘furious’ Patti LuPone, citing ‘moral values’

Broadway star, who is performing on the vessel, expresses shock after authorities ban Scarlet Lady from docking in Kuşadası

theguardian.com

As NATO leaders meet in Ankara on 7-8 July, they will be greeted by a president who is using the courts to quash the main opposition party in ways that threaten democracy & human rights. That should matter to the alliance, my @hrw.org colleague Emma Sinclair-Webb explains www.hrw.org/news/2026/07...

NATO Convenes in Ankara as Erdogan Crushes Opposition

Turkey is preparing to host the July NATO summit with the Western alliance firmly focused on keeping its most eastern member on side. The increased geopolitical capital that Turkey has enjoyed since R...

hrw.org

#France : La police verbalise des infractions présumées à la tranquillité publique pour harceler des garçons et jeunes hommes perçus comme Noirs, Arabes ou Nord-Africains et les évincer de l'espace public dans leurs propres quartiers. Nouveau rapport de MCDS, (RE)CLAIM & HRW ⤵️

Prosecutors have dropped charges against the Budapest mayor and a civic activist for their roles in organizing 2025 Pride events in Budapest and Pécs, respectively. www.hrw.org/news/2026/06...

Hungarian Prosecutors Drop Pride-Related Charges

Hungarian prosecutors announced on June 4 that they had dropped charges against a mayor and a civic activist for their roles in organizing 2025 Pride events in Budapest and Pécs.

hrw.org

Legal protections on paper mean little if authorities ignore them in practice. Venezuela does not criminalize same-sex relations, yet 33 men were reportedly detained under precisely that pretext. The investigation must lead to justice. www.dw.com/es/venezuela...

Venezuela: retuvieron a hombres acusados de "homosexualidad"

Una treintena de hombres fueron retenidos por policías al ser acusados de "ejercer el delito de la homosexualidad", informan oenegés, que denuncian criminalización y acciones arbitrarias.

dw.com

33 hombres fueron presuntamente detenidos por el supuesto “delito de homosexualidad” en #Venezuela 🇻🇪. Pero la homosexualidad no es un delito en el país. La investigación a los policías es necesaria. La redada nunca debió ocurrir. www.infobae.com/venezuela/20...

Cinco policías venezolanos serán investigados tras detener a 33 hombres acusados de cometer el “delito de homosexualidad”

La Fiscalía General de la República inició el proceso después de denuncias de irregularidades durante un allanamiento en un local frecuentado por personas LGTBI, señalando presuntas violaciones a dere...

infobae.com