The SRA and over 100 organizations called on the IOC to abandon these plans

A brief reflection on the potential and possibility of the @coe.int's recent Chișinău Declaration on social rights to help build democratic resilience. Citing @aoifenolan.bsky.social's op-ed and the joint statement by @commissionerhr.coe.int & @deschuttero.bsky.social. www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

Anchored in the story of Muang, a Rohingya refugee now living in New York, HRW’s new podcast season traces his journey of rebuilding at a moment when more people are forcibly displaced than at any point since WWII. 🎙️The Great Unrooting EP1 out now: https://bit.ly/4bLG8M5

An Istanbul court has imposed arbitrary restrictions on lawyers, journalists, & members of the public seeking to follow the trial of the jailed Istanbul Mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, @hrw.org says. The court should ensure hearings are open to the public www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

The arrest of human rights activist, Tommy Olsen, by Norwegian authorities on March 16, 2026, is based on a groundless extradition request by Greece, @hrw.org says. Norwegian authorities should refuse to extradite him on human rights grounds. www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

Want to hear rare good news? A Belgian court opened a criminal trial against a former Belgian official for his alleged involvement in the killings of Lumumba, the DRC's first PM, & two senior officials during decolonization. Justice delayed shouldn't be justice denied. www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

@hrw.org shares this concern

A strong statement by @commissionerhr.coe.int Michael O'Flaherty and UN Special Rapporteur @deschuttero.bsky.social on social rights and the fight against poverty (in advance of the Council of Europe High-Level Conference on Social Rights in Chișinău this week) www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

The German government’s social security bill has its second reading in the Bundestag today. The plans run counter to Germany’s human rights obligations, and will leave more people, including children in low-income families and single mothers, at risk of poverty. @hrw.org www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

Valuable reflections on the parlous state of media freedom in Europe by the coordinator of the Council of Europe's Platform on Journalists Safety, @jpmarthoz.bsky.social

#EU leaders should never belittle role of int'l law or apply it selectively - as they've done since #USA/#Israel's strikes on #Iran & retaliatory strikes on neighboring countries. It goes against #EU values & its long-term interests. Our take 👇 www.hrw.org/news/2026/03... @eudiplomacy.bsky.social

The trial of jailed mayor and opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu, which starts today, follows more than a year of the authorities weaponizing the criminal justice system against the opposition CHP party and its elected officials, harming democracy, @hrw.org research finds www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

A Greek court has found spyware company executives guilty of illegal surveillance activities. The case is an important step towards justice in the "Predatorgate" surveillance scandal. Now those who ordered the surveillance must be held to account, @hrw.org says www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

EU Court has rebuked Hungary's government over its decision to cancel the license of a leading independent radio station. The Orban government's efforts to force Klubrádió off air is part of a wider crackdown on media freedom in the country, @hrw.org says www.hrw.org/news/2026/03...

Three years ago, at least 94 people, including 35 children, died near Italy in what is known as the Cutro shipwreck. Humane and rational migration policies are possible, and there is now a rare chance for accountability. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3OwsMud

The acquittal of 24 humanitarian workers by a Lesbos court in Lesbos should have been a turning point in the Greek govt's assault on civil society. Instead, it has doubled down, @evacosse.bsky.social explains, with a surge in state-led intimidation of civil society www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

On the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, my colleague Yulia Gorbunova reflects on the horrific ongoing impact on civilians and the need for accountability www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“EU ‘caving into the floodgates of anti-migrant rhetoric’ warns Human Rights Watch”, @philippedam.bsky.social and I speak to @euobserver.com about migration fixation warping EU foreign policy and eroding asylum rights at home euobserver.com/201254/eu-ca...

How Europe Dies

1/n Today @hrw.org publishes its World Report 2026. The full text, the introductory essay, and individual chapters can be accessed here: www.hrw.org/world-report... What follows below in this thread are links to relevant parts on Europe, produced by the team of which I am part. #Rights2026

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe today called on member states to adopt legislation to “prohibit conversion practices, providing for criminal sanctions and based on a clear and comprehensive definition of the proscribed practices”. pace.coe.int/en/news/1018...

The Greek Parliament should reject measures in a new immigration bill that explicitly link civil society groups & humanitarian workers with criminal conduct, when in reality they are simply helping people in distress trying to reach Greece, @hrw.org says www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

"They left the building. Not the truth." A powerful new documentary, 80 Angry Journalists, shows how Hungary’s once-independent news outlet Index was taken over, and how reporters resigned together rather than submit to political pressure. Trailer⤵️

The killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis offers a stark warning to the UK government of the dangers of treating civic action as a security threat rather than as a fundamental right & cornerstone of democracy, @yasmineahmed.bsky.social & @lydsg.bsky.social explain www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

The trial of 6 Italian officers for a 2023 shipwreck in which at least 94 people died is an important opportunity for justice for deaths of migrants and asylum seekers at sea, @hrw.org says www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

In Hungary, almost half a million older people receive pensions that leave them living below the poverty line. In a new report, HRW shows how the Hungarian government is failing to ensure older people’s rights to social security and an adequate standard of living. Read more: https://bit.ly/4jBH4VG

New @hrw.org research out tomorrow on inadequate pensions and older people experiencing poverty in Hungary 🇭🇺 - interview testimony from older people 👵🏻👴🏻 - difficulties affording food 🍞🥩🍓☕, gas/electricity 🔌💡, medical supplies 💊🤕 - lots of graphs and charts 📊〽️ Media queries to @kooyjan.bsky.social

When protest is criminalized, democracy weakens. My @theguardian.com op-ed on why UK protest laws should worry us all. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Freedom of assembly is not a gift or privilege governments grant their citizens, it's a right that protects citizens from their governments. @hrw.org report out today about the impact of the UK's increasingly repressive anti-protest laws. www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

UK authorities are severely restricting the right to protest, in breach of human rights obligations, creating an climate in which peaceful dissent is increasingly treated as a criminal act and the fabric of democracy is undermined, new @hrw.org research finds www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...

🚨Going out on Thursday January 8: "Silencing the Streets’: The Right to Protest Under Attack in the UK”. New, 47-page report @hrw.org. Reporters can DM me for access to embargoed report, interview requests etc.

In Memory of Gyula Balog (1959-2025), an inspiring housing rights and anti-poverty activist Here is a brief reflection on behalf of @hrw.org to express our condolences, as Gyula’s friends and colleagues lay him to rest today in Budapest. Rest in power, Gyula bacsi! www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...

Truly shocking from a party in government that previously introduced the Human Rights Act. Then it was “bringing rights home“ Now it is apparently about sending them away. We will all pay the price for this folly.

As European leaders meet to discuss the European Convention on Human Rights, here's a reminder that efforts to weaken the Convention and Court to serve the interests of states on migration will undermine the rights of everyone in the Council of Europe region www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

A new @europarl.europa.eu “Scrutiny Working Group” on funding for NGOs is painted as an effort to boost transparency. But its superfluous mandate, narrow focus and biased composition suggest the real aim is to silence and stigmatize civil society, @hrw.org says www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...

Russia’s banning of @hrw.org as an “undesirable” foreign organization, made public today, is yet another mark of the Kremlin’s repression. It only redoubles our determination to document the Russian authorities’ human rights violations and war crimes www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...

"A political deal that erases these crimes is not a peace plan. It is permission for future atrocities." - Kseniya Kvitka (@hrw.org), in must-read, published by @kyivindependent.com⤵️

Good riddance to rubbish policy. The end to the UK's "two child limit" social security policy has been announced, and it will soon be gone. We @hrw.org welcome the news, as one of many, many, many voices calling for an end to this arbitrary, cruel social security policy.

🚨 New from @hrw.org: UN leadership & member states should preserve the UN's long underfunded human rights pillar Independent mechanisms responding to grave crises need to be saved. Cutting or merging them won't solve the UN's funding crisis caused by US, #China & others not paying their dues.

RIP Jimmy Cliff Thank you for the incredible music www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmc5...

Bad politics as well as bad policy…

Oped by @yasmineahmed.bsky.social on UK govt's immigration plans: "We've seen the injustices caused by a hostile environment with the Windrush generation. Instead of learning from that shameful chapter, these proposals risk recreating the same architecture of precarity" www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...

We’re thrilled to share that Human Rights Watch’s #WithHumanity campaign has been selected as a Gold award winner at the Anthem Awards. 🙌 www.anthemawards.com/winners/list...

France is failing to provide education to all children in the French overseas department of Mayotte , @hrw.org research finds. The French government’s neglect of Mayotte is an ongoing legacy of colonialism that has left the island persistently underdeveloped www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...

This is now a familiar rubric for ideas that are hard to sell on merits. 2019: Boris Johnson’s agenda is the only way to stop Nigel Farage’s. 2024: Nigel Farage’s agenda is the only way to stop Tommy Robinson. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Among the many things wrong with Labour’s immigration strategy, this stands out: to “fight” a few thousand so-called illegal migrants, Shabana Mahmood is willing to make life hell for hundreds of thousands of people who are legally in the UK. 🔗 theconversation.com/labours-plan...

REMINDER: The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) keeps us all safe and free. Every. Single. Day.

Happening Now!

Today & tmrw, European Parliament will adopt its 1st report calling on EU & members to step up response to attacks & harassment by autocratic Govts against their nationals beyond their borders. #TransnationalRepression is a major threat to freedoms in the EU. www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/agen...