Criminally Investigate Yahya Jammeh; Prosecute as Warranted

(Tokyo, May 25, 2021) – Transgender people in [hrw.org/asia/japan]Japan face continuing barriers to changing their legally recognized gender, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Japanese government should heed increasing calls from activists and experts to revise its abusive and outdated transgender recognition law. The 55-page report, “‘The Law Undermines Dignity’: Momentum to Revise Japan’s Legal Gender Recognition Process,” documents the persistent barriers transgender people face in Japan under the Gender Identity Disorder (GID) Special Cases Act. The procedure for changing one’s legally recognized gender, which requires sterilization surgery and an outdated psychiatric diagnosis, is anachronistic, harmful, and discriminatory. Many transgender people in Japan and domestic medical, legal, and academic experts, as well as international health and human rights bodies, have said that the law should be substantially revised.

The climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. All over the world, children face death, illness, hunger, and displacement due to the climate crisis. Children’s lives, and those of future generations, are at stake.

The Fight for Reparations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. May 31 marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre when a white mob killed several hundred Black people and destroyed a prosperous Black neighborhood.  The case for reparations is clear, and urgent.

Council of Europe member states should reinforce efforts to combat violence against women by swiftly ratifying and carrying out a landmark regional convention on women’s rights. Governments should take urgent steps to counter misinformation about the convention and to fight dangerous myths and discriminatory stereotypes that undermine work to curb violence against women

Protesters in Poland raise a sign that reads "Women's rights are human rights."

Dropping Donor Support Threatens Essential Services

Extrajudicial Executions, Arbitrary Arrests, Torture in Anti-Guerrilla Operation