Over a decade of conflict has resulted in Syria being extensively contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war, a major barrier to safe return and reconstruction efforts, Human Rights Watch said today.
Israeli military forces caused deaths and unnecessary suffering of Palestinian patients while occupying hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the current hostilities, amounting to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) during an interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic held on March 18, 2025.
Summary executions and other atrocities have taken place in Syria’s coastal region following insurgent attacks on Syrian security forces and during subsequent government security operations, with the Alawite community bearing the brunt of the violence, Human Rights Watch said today.
These denials to enter Gaza exacerbate a cycle of Israeli violations of Palestinians’ right to health. Israeli authorities control both entry into and exit from Gaza, including medical evacuations.
This week, Israeli tanks rolled into the occupied West Bank for the first time in two decades as Israeli forces intensify their operations there. Focused on the northern West Bank, the campaign is already the longest and most intense there since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
Sweeping sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries are hindering the restoration of essential services in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today.
Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon between October 2023 and December 2024 destroyed vast swathes of critical civilian infrastructure and public services, preventing tens of thousands of Lebanese from returning to their homes, Human Rights Watch said today.
The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024 has created a historic opportunity to advance justice and the rule of law, ensuring accountability for years of atrocity crimes and implementing governance, judicial, and security sector reforms that protect and fulfil civil, political, and socio-economic rights.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said during a parliamentary session last week that the Japanese government was making an “earnest effort” to accept “ill or injured” people from Gaza as part of a “medical evacuation.”
