Washington Center For Human Rights
From DC to the World
CategoriesTopicsThe situation of transgender rights in 2025 is at a crossroad. Even after decades of activism in many countries around the world and the growing public awareness, the last year was the year of legal defeat and the rise of organized resistance. Civil society is also active but there are emerging challenges of increasing legislative […]
CategoriesTopicsKamala Harris has become one of the federal leaders in formulating national transgender policy. Her policy interaction with executive agencies and legislative agenda as a Vice President under President Biden has led to an institutionalization of transgender rights amid the heightened political polarization. Her time as leader comes at a time when the restrictive state-level […]
CategoriesTopicsTransgender rights remain the products of a Chinese legal system that provides limited official acknowledgment and generally demands intrusive conditions to undergo a gender transition. By the year 2025, people who want the state to place a different gender marker on their identity documents issued by the state will undergo gender-affirming surgery (GAS) and notarized […]
CategoriesTopicsHousing has been identified as a principal human right that ought to be of basic human dignity, security, and social inclusion. This right is affirmed by international legal documents like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which argues that proper housing is beyond just shelter but rather includes affordability, accessibility and […]
CategoriesTopicsCanada is still perceived as a world leader in LGBTQ+ rights, and protections of transgenders are written in federal legislation. The country is experiencing an extremely dynamic situation of rights in 2025 that has demonstrated both a positive development trend and an increasing strain between political, legal and social changes. Legal tools that underlie transgender […]
CategoriesTopicsNorth Korea is one of the most closed and repressed states worldwide, which is ruled by absolute power and Kim Jong Un since his ascension to power in 2011. International observers have recorded increased human rights violations in the last decade characterized by increased surveillance, administration of forced labor, public executions, and deprivation of basic […]
CategoriesTopicsNational Human Rights Committee (NHRIs) have become the important institutions in the enforcement of the international human rights commitments by the states. They have extended their scope way beyond the monitoring, or complaint-handling capabilities. The character of their work has changed considerably in 2025 as a reaction to the dynamic pressures in the world and […]
CategoriesTopicsA major step in the convergence of environmental protection and human rights law is the year 2025. On January 30, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) came up with a landmark ruling in Cannavacciuolo and Others v. Italy, which further boosts the opinion that environmental degradation can come to constitute a breach of […]
CategoriesTopicsOne of the main characteristics of contemporary human rights activism has been digital rights. With the world starting to enter the further stages of technological integration in 2025, the connection between digital infrastructure and advocacy becomes more complicated. The fight to defend basic rights is being fought more on the streets, as well as in […]
CategoriesAdvocacy Country Profile Statements TopicsThe ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is one of the most significant geopolitical issues in the Middle East. The two countries have been engaged in a long-standing rivalry that has had far-reaching implications for the region and beyond. Recently, there have been reports of a potential Saudi-Iran deal, backed by China, which has […]
CategoriesTopics Country ProfileRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the worst humanitarian disaster Europe has seen in decades. With hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the escalating crisis, neighboring nations and international organizations are joining together to denounce Russia’s aggression and give assistance to the growing number of refugees. According to the UN refugee agency, 10 million […]
CategoriesCountry Profile TopicsAt least 38 businessmen or officials linked to Mr. Putin own dozens of properties in Dubai collectively valued at more than $314 million, according to previously unreported data compiled by the nonprofit Center for Advanced Defense Studies. Six of those owners are under sanctions by the United States or the European Union, and another oligarch […]
CategoriesTopicsIn a new report, “Ruling by fear and repression”, the organization details how the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly have come under increasing attack particularly over the past five years, with opposition leaders and activists jailed, independent media outlets shut down, and at least five people killed by police since 2016. Zambia’s ruling […]
CategoriesCountry Profile TopicsThe United States on Wednesday restricted exports to five Chinese companies that it said were implicated in Chinese human rights violations, including large producers of polysilicon for the solar panel industry. The companies were listed over human rights violations and abuses of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, according to a US government filing on Wednesday. The […]
CategoriesBriefs Country Profile TopicsThe UN envoy to the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), as well as diplomats from the United States and France, has accused the national security forces and their Russian paramilitary allies of wide-ranging human rights abuses. Russia helps President Faustin Archange Touadera combat rebel groups in the resource-rich country’s ongoing civil war, including fielding Russian mercenaries […]
Several human rights organizations are worried that Vice President Harris’s upcoming trip to Mexico and Guatemala risks focusing too much on immigration and not other issues such as rule of law and government corruption. The Washington Office on Latin America, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Latin America Working Group, Due Process of Law Foundation and […]
CategoriesTopicsThe Escazú Agreement came into force in April 2021 with 12 ratifications (out of a possible 33) from Latin American and Caribbean countries. Guided by a secretariat at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, it is the first environmental treaty in the region, and affirms Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, resting […]
