What did you learn from Human Rights Watch’s videos this year? Whether you clicked on a feature about devastation in Ukraine or watched our reels on the United States election, we hope you learned about how human rights are being violated – and defended – in 2024. This year, many of our most-watched videos covered grave violations in Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel. Overall, HRW’s video work was viewed several million times in 2024. We’re looking back at our work across languages and platforms as the year ends, and here are our 10 most viewed videos of the year.
Israel's use of white phosphorus in south Lebanon has put civilians at risk and contributed to displacement. HRW verified the use of white phosphorus munitions by Israeli forces in at least 17 municipalities in south Lebanon since October 2023.
Watch the video here.
2. Trump Presidency Poses Major Threat to Human Rights
When Donald Trump won reelection in November, this video documented his track record of human rights abuses during his first term as president.
3. Ethnic Cleansing in West Darfur
Civilians in Sudan faced ethnic cleansing by the Rapid Support Forces and its allied militias in the city of El Geneina in West Darfur. This video – watched by several hundred thousand people in Arabic and English – features Sudanese human rights defender Jamal Abdullah Khamis, who, together with his colleagues, documented these abuses.
4. Widespread racist and Islamophobic riots continue to spread across the UK
Racist and Islamophobic riots spread across the United Kingdom in mid-2024 that targeted Muslim communities.
5. Omar Shakir on Israel's Crimes Against Humanity
HRW’s Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir, explained how years of impunity for Israel’s crimes against humanity facilitated abuses in the hostilities since 2023.
Watch the video here.
6. Incendiary Weapons: New Use Calls for Immediate Action
The use of incendiary weapons has increased in 2024, with reports of their usage in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Ukraine, and Syria. HRW has called for the international community to restrict the usage of these harmful and indiscriminate weapons.
7. Israel’s Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza
Israeli authorities have caused the massive, deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since October 2023 and are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Our reporting examines how Israeli authorities’ conduct has led to the displacement of over 90 percent of the population of Gaza—1.9 million Palestinians—and the widespread destruction of much of Gaza over the last 13 months.
8. India: Arundhati Roy prosecution
India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been used to stifle dissent within the country, including the prosecution of novelist and activist Arundhati Roy.
9. The Devastation of Mariupol, Ukraine
HRW’s findings on Russia’s attacks on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol spotlight the civilian suffering and damage to thousands of residential buildings and critical infrastructure.
10. Guanajuato in Mexico Should Legally Recognize Trans Identities
HRW and Amicus DH released a video featuring Ivanna and Kaheli, two transgender women from Guanajuato, Mexico, who have battled against local legislation seeking an easier path to gender recognition. In June, the Guanajuato state congress announced it would comply with a court ruling to create a procedure for transgender people to change their legal documents to reflect their gender identity.
