Pulse changelogBeta

Burkina Faso’s Council of Ministers adopted a draft law on April 24 to create a 100,000-strong military reserve by the end of 2026. Defense Minister Célestin Simporé framed the move as a way to rapidly mobilize citizens to respond to security threats and “embed Patriotic Defense within a logic of citizen participation.” On face value, adding tens of thousands of soldiers would appear to bolster national security, but in Burkina Faso it also risks accelerating an already serious human rights crisis. Burkina Faso’s military already relies on tens of thousands of civilian auxiliaries known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie, VDPs). In several reports, Human Rights Watch has documented how VDPs have committed numerous grave abuses, including summary executions, looting, and forced displacement of minority communities. Expanding this model risks replicating and multiplying these harms. The proposed reserve would include both experienced military personnel and newly trained civilians. Yet the massive scale and short timeline raise concerns about the nature an

(A decision by a court in Russia’s second biggest city to designate the Russian LGBT Network an “extremist organization” and impose a nationwide ban on its activities will only increase the marginalization of LGBTI people and their human rights, Amnesty International said today. The verdict by the St Petersburg City Court followed closed hearings as […] The post Russia: Russian LGBT Network is labelled “extremist” in escalating crackdown on LGBTI rights appeared first on Amnesty International.)

TV anchor Khatereh Ahmadi wearing a face covering as she reads the news in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 22, 2022. © 2022 Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo

While corresponding with a local journalist in Afghanistan around a recent report I had authored, I received a shocking request: “Can we please have a video clip on your new report—not from you, but from a man from Human Rights Watch?” I reread the message in anger. Although I was the report’s author as Human Rights Watch’s Afghanistan researcher, the outlet wanted a male colleague to speak in my place. Sadly, the reason behind the request is something many Afghan women around the world experience on a daily basis. I eventually learned the media outlet had been instructed by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) that any Afghan woman, no matter where she lives, must appear in a full hijab with her face covered when speaking on air. Rather than being treated as an expert on the country, I had been, like all women in Afghanistan, reduced to that identity alone and therefore could only speak in the media under conditions set by the Taliban. The implication was clear: being a woman from Afghanistan was enough to justify silencing me, even outside the country. Nearly five years

People protest the proposed Zimbabwe constitutional amendment extending the presidential term,London, April 18, 2026. © 2026 Maynard Manyowa/News Images/NurPhoto via Reuters

(Johannesburg) – Zimbabwean authorities have harassed, abducted, and arbitrarily detained student leaders protesting a proposed constitutional amendment to extend presidential terms, Human Rights Watch said today. Constitutional Amendment No 3 would extend the terms of office for the president and members of parliament from five to seven years, effectively postponing the 2028 elections until 2030. Student leaders affiliated with the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) mobilized young people to attend public consultations on the proposed amendment held across Zimbabwe. “Students who speak out to safeguard their country’s democracy should not face abduction, arrest, and ill-treatment,” said Idriss Ali Nassah, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities in Zimbabwe should reverse course and allow people to express their views freely without facing retaliation.” Human Rights Watch documented seven attacks against the student leaders. Munashe Dongonda, 25, ZINASU’s secretary general, and Denford Sithole, 22, attended a public consultation in Nketa suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabw

(Responding to news that the Commission of Inquiry’s report into the killings perpetrated during and after the 29 October 2025 general elections has been handed to Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Flavia Mwangovya, said: “Victims’ families and members of the public must have an opportunity to […] The post Tanzania: Release Commission of Inquiry report into election-related killings to kickstart accountability process appeared first on Amnesty International.)