Human Rights Watch

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Saint Lucia High Court Decriminalizes Same-Sex Conduct

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In a landmark victory for human rights, Saint Lucia has decriminalized consensual same-sex conduct. The High Court’s decision strikes down laws that criminalized intimacy between same-sex partners, which are discriminatory and inconsistent with international human rights standards. Until this ruling, Saint Lucia’s Criminal Code punished “buggery” and “gross indecency” with up to 10 years in prison. Although rarely enforced, this vague law and similar ones in other Caribbean countries enabled discrimination and legitimized social stigma and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. These statutes were imposed during British colonization, yet post-independence governments have been loathe to repeal them. A 2018 Human Rights Watch report documented […]

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World Cup: A Year Out, Growing Attacks on Rights

 The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) should take immediate and demonstrable steps to safeguard human rights for all people involved in the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. With just one year until the monumental event kicks off across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and only days until the Club World Cup kicks off on June 14, 2025, escalating attacks on human rights and civil freedoms threaten to undermine FIFA’s human rights commitments and responsibilities. “In 2018, the US, Mexico, and Canada provided clear human rights commitments in their bid documents to host the 2026 FIFA Men’s World […]

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Japan Should End Abusive Detention Conditions for Transgender People

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Tomoya Asanuma, a prominent transgender activist in Tokyo, faced the triple abuses of Japan’s “hostage justice” system, hostile detention conditions, and mistreatment trans people face in the absence of meaningful legal protections. For Asanuma, March 14, 2024, was supposed to be another Thursday at work. At around 7 a.m., he woke up to the sound of someone repeatedly ringing his doorbell. Through the intercom, Asanuma saw three men wearing dark-colored clothes, this time pounding his front door. When he opened the door, the men identified themselves as police officers and showed him an arrest warrant. This was the beginning of […]

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Bans on Gender-Affirming Care Harm Trans Youth

Laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth in the United States are inflicting severe harm on young people and their families, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Since 2021, 25 states have enacted sweeping bans targeting this best-practice medical care, replacing gradual, evidence-based treatments with blunt and politically driven restrictions. The 98-page report, “‘They’re Ruining People’s Lives’: Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in the US,” documents the devastating consequences of these bans for transgender youth, including increased anxiety, depression, and, in seven reported instances, suicide attempts. Human Rights Watch found that these laws contribute to an increasingly […]

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Uganda: Anti-LGBT Law Unleashed Abuse

(Nairobi, May 26, 2025) – Ugandan authorities have perpetrated widespread discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, their families, and their supporters in the two years since the Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted on May 26, 2023, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 69-page report, “‘They’re Putting Our Lives at Risk’: How Uganda’s Anti-LGBT Climate Unleashes Abuse,” documents the actions by Ugandan parliament members, government institutions, and other authorities that culminated in the enactment of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. Human Rights Watch found that the law has ramped up already existing abuse and discrimination against […]

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Nepali Lesbians Harassed While Registering Marriage

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After two years together, Ramita and Shilu—both pseudonyms to protect their identities—traveled to Sindhuli this month to register their marriage under Nepal’s June 2023 Supreme Court ruling which allows for same-sex marriages. But instead of recognition, the couple reportedly faced harassment, delays, rejection, and were forcibly separated, with police complicity and family hostility exacerbating their ordeal. As local officials stalled the registration process, citing uncertainty about legal procedures, Ramita’s family reported her “missing.” Despite Ramita’s insistence that she felt unsafe with her family and wanted to marry Shilu, police handed her over to relatives she described as abusive. According to both women, police […]

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Peru: New Law Threatens Free Speech, Trans Rights

 A law enacted in Peru on May 12 purports to combat sexual violence against children and adolescents, but instead undermines freedom of expression and access to information and discriminates against transgender people, Human Rights Watch said today. The law’s vague and overly broad provisions could also be used to suppress expressions of identity, artistic content, and educational materials while failing to effectively address pervasive sexual violence against children and adolescents in the country. The law, the stated aim of which is to “safeguard the right to sexual integrity of children and adolescents,” also mandates that public restroom access be restricted based on “biological sex,” effectively barring […]

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Ugandan Mothers Stand by Their LGBT Children

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The passage of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023 made life significantly more dangerous for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and those who support them. The law, which includes the death penalty for so-called “aggravated homosexuality” and lengthy prison sentences for the “promotion of homosexuality,” has fueled a wave of arrests, raids on shelters, evictions, and public outings. Many LGBT people have gone into hiding. Amid this repression, a small group of Ugandan mothers—some for the first time—began speaking publicly in support of their LGBT children. In April 2023, eight of them signed an open letter to President Yoweri […]

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Trans Rights in Mexico: Progress and Challenges

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March 31 marks the International Day of Transgender Visibility, a moment to celebrate the achievements and resilience of trans people around the world, while acknowledging the ongoing challenges they face in enjoying the full range of their human rights. Today, Human Rights Watch is publishing a map that tracks some of these gains in Mexico, and highlights areas where there is still work to be done. The map shows that 22 out of Mexico’s 32 states have legislated to create an administrative procedure for legal gender recognition for trans people. This allows them to modify their identity documents to accurately reflect their […]

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Instead of Addressing Child Abuse Prevention, Trump Attacks Trans Youth

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In his proclamation for National Child Abuse Prevention Month, rather than addressing real threats to children like the federal government should do, United States President Donald J. Trump focused almost exclusively on attacking supporters of transgender youth. He declared broadly defined “gender ideology” as “one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse” and labeled gender-affirming care as “evil”. Gender-affirming care is recognized as the gold standard of medical care for transgender youth by major medical associations. This care consists of social practices (changes to one’s name, wardrobe, etc.) to mental health counseling to medical interventions, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapies. In all, the care […]

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