Human Rights Watch - The African Mirror

Jun

22

2026

France’s ticket to nowhere: how Paris turns Black and Arab boys into lifelong debtors

WORLD

AT 13 years old, a French boy guilty of nothing more than standing outside his own front door became a debtor of the French Republic. By the time he reached manhood, that first fine had multiplied into a debt he may spend his working life trying to extinguish. He is not alone. Across the housing estates ringing Paris, Lyon and Grenoble, a generation of Black and Arab boys is discovering that in France, simply existing in public space carries a price — and the bill never stops growing. A damning new report released this week by Human Rights Watch, the…

Jun

20

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Israel escalates East Jerusalem home demolitions, evictions in Silwan as discriminatory laws drive forced displacement

WORLD

ISRAELI authorities have sharply stepped up home demolitions and forced evictions of Palestinian residents in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, human rights groups say, in what critics describe as an orchestrated campaign to change the city’s demographics that may amount to international crimes. According to Human Rights Watch, the demolitions and eviction enforcement in Silwan — a cluster of neighborhoods immediately south of Jerusalem’s Old City — have accelerated since October 2023 and surged again during recent hostilities in Gaza and Israel’s 2026 confrontation with Iran. United Nations data shows 587 Palestinians have been displaced by demolitions since…

Jun

19

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

Sweden retreats on child jail plan – but Human Rights Watch urges full reversal as gang violence fuels political pressure

WORLD

SWEDEN’S right-wing government has abandoned its controversial proposal to imprison 13-year-olds for serious violent crimes, a major policy reversal triggered by insufficient parliamentary support and fierce opposition from legal experts, police authorities, and the prison service. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer announced the withdrawal on June 11, saying the government "decided to act responsibly" by withdrawing the bill when it became clear the measures lacked the votes needed to pass. Instead, officials will propose lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14- a move Human Rights Watch (HRW) says is still "the wrong move". The original proposal, part of…

May

26

2026

By The African Mirror

Russia’s ‘civic death’ plan seeks to erase exiled critics, Human Rights Watch says

WORLD

RUSSIA is moving to punish dissent far beyond its borders, with a draft law that Human Rights Watch says would amount to a “civic death” sentence for exiled critics. The proposal would strip targeted Russians of basic legal, financial, and consular rights, deepening what HRW describes as a widening crackdown on dissent. Human Rights Watch says the measure is designed to punish Russians abroad who have already been convicted under repressive laws used to silence political speech. Those laws include charges such as “discrediting” the armed forces, cooperation with “undesirable” organizations, calls for sanctions, and alleged attacks on territorial integrity.…

May

20

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

“WE ARE CIVILIANS”: M23’s reign of terror in Uvira and the long road to justice

NEWS

THEY came door to door. Armed, methodical, and merciless. When M23 rebels and Rwandan military forces swept into Uvira on 10 December 2025, they did not merely seize a city - they turned it into a killing field. One man fleeing with his family on that first terrible morning watched four relatives fall as soldiers opened fire on them. "It was chaos," he told investigators later. "We had small bags that we threw off, and we ran. I wasn't hit, so I just ran to the lake. I saw my brother, his wife, and two of his children fall." That…

May

20

2026

By The African Mirror

Arakan Army massacre leaves Rohingya survivors with no justice, no homes and no safe return

WORLD

TWO years after Arakan Army fighters killed and wounded hundreds of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, survivors remain displaced, their village destroyed, and no one held accountable, Human Rights Watch said. The rights group said the May 2, 2024, attack in Hoyyar Siri, also known as Htan Shauk Khan, exposed the scale of abuse facing Rohingya civilians caught in Myanmar’s widening conflict. According to Human Rights Watch, the assault began as villagers fled fighting near two military bases in Buthidaung township, only to come under fire from Arakan Army fighters. The group said the attack targeted unarmed civilians and…

May

13

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

SILENCE BY DECREE: How Kinshasa is criminalising dissent as DRC burns

NEWS

IN a country already bleeding from one of the continent's most devastating armed conflicts, the government of Félix Tshisekedi has chosen to open a second front - this one directed inward, against the men and women who report, protest, organise, and dissent. The Democratic Republic of Congo is silencing its own conscience. That is the damning conclusion that emerges from a comprehensive Human Rights Watch investigation covering the period between January and May 2026. Across Kinshasa, Kisangani, Bunia, Kalemie, and Matadi, the pattern is consistent and chilling: speak critically of the government, and the security apparatus will find you. The…

May

08

2026

By OWN CORRESPONDENTS

The social media pharaoh of Ouagadougou: how Traoré’s propaganda machine conceals a nation under siege

NEWS

THERE is a version of Ibrahim Traoré that his communications apparatus works overtime to project onto the world: the young, Che Guevara-capped Pan-Africanist, unbowed by France, unbeholden to the West, leading a genuine popular revolution in one of the world's poorest countries. On social media, this version of Traoré is ubiquitous. Memes are minted, anthems are uploaded, and battalions of pro-junta digital activists - organised into what Human Rights Watch has documented as 'Rapid Communication Intervention Battalions' - flood platforms with coordinated messaging designed to make the captain look like Africa's liberator. Then there is the other version - the…

May

05

2026

By The African Mirror

$334 million and a city built on conquest: Israel formalises its war crime in the Golan

WORLD

THE Israeli cabinet’s approval of a 334-million-dollar development plan for the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is not, by itself, the beginning of a new policy. It is the financial and institutional crystallisation of a dispossession that has been under construction since 1967. What is new - and what demands the world’s attention - is the scale of the ambition, the timing of the announcement, and the near-total silence of the powers best positioned to stop it. The plan, adopted by the Israeli government, earmarks funding to expand the settlement of Katzrin - founded in 1977 on Syrian land occupied in…

May

04

2026

By The African Mirror

Against the Clock: The Desperate Race to Save 65 Ethiopian Lives from Saudi Arabia’s Death Row

NEWS

ON the morning of 21 April 2026, Saudi prison guards at the Khamis Mushait detention facility in the Asir region walked into a cell holding dozens of Ethiopian men and called out three names. They told those men they were going to a court hearing. They never came back. The guards later returned - not with the men, but with a message for those still waiting behind bars: the three had been executed. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Interior confirmed it that same day, describing the dead as Ethiopian nationals convicted of "participating in smuggling hashish" into the kingdom. What the…