| | The slow humanitarian response to the earthquakes that severely affected opposition-held northwest Syria highlights the inadequacy of the United Nations Security Council-mandated cross border aid mechanism in Syria and the urgent need for alternatives, Human Rights Watch said earlier this month. On February 13, 2023, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a three-month authorization for UN aid deliveries to pass through two more border crossings to the besieged northwest from Turkey, but the decision came more than a week after the February 6 earthquakes. Millions of people in areas of northwest Syria under the control of opposition groups have been largely without access to critical search-and-rescue reinforcements and lifesaving aid since the earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northern Syria. The earthquakes and aftershocks crippled critical roads and infrastructure, warehouses, and coordination systems needed to organize deliveries of aid through the only Security Council-approved UN aid corridor from Turkey into the affected areas. | |
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| Hye Jung Han is a researcher and advocate in the Children’s Rights Division, where she specializes on children’s rights and technology.
Before joining Human Rights Watch, she worked at UNICEF, where she advised teams across the world on the ethical use of data and technologies to deliver assistance to the world’s most vulnerable children. She has also worked to deliver humanitarian aid to children and families with UNICEF South Sudan and with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, and was seconded to the World Food Progamme to support cross-border negotiations.
These experiences have given her a keen understanding of the realities of how technologies can reach, or fail to reach, the lives and rights of children. She holds a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University and a dual M.A. in conflict management and international economics from Johns Hopkins University. She speaks fluent Korean and English. |
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 | | | In a noteworthy decision, Denmark’s Refugee Appeals Board announced in a statement that it will grant asylum to all women and girls from Afghanistan “solely based on their gender.” The appeals board cited “worsening conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan” as the basis for its decision. Likewise, Sweden had announced in December that all women and girls from Afghanistan would be granted refugee status and a three-year residence permit. | |
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 | | | Judges in the US state of Florida often deny people under age 18 their right to access abortion care, Human Rights Watch said in a recent report. The state’s harmful law forcing anyone under 18 to obtain parental consent for an abortion pushes young people without a supportive parent or guardian to seek a judicial waiver through a burdensome, potentially traumatizing, and highly arbitrary court process called “judicial bypass.” | |
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 | | | Several governments and companies have taken steps, or announced future steps, to protect millions of children in their online classrooms. These moves come after Human Rights Watch uncovered children’s rights violations worldwide by governments that authorized unsafe online learning products during the Covid-19 pandemic. | |
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 | | | On April 8, 2022, at 10:28 a.m., a ballistic missile equipped with a cluster munition warhead dispersed 50 small bombs, known as submunitions, over the train tracks and station in Kramatorsk, where several hundred people were anxiously waiting for evacuation trains to take them to relative safety away from the worst fighting. At least 58 people were killed – all of them to our knowledge civilians – and over 100 others were injured. | |
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| | | A little over one year ago, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. In that time, Russian forces have carried out numerous attacks that violate the laws of war, which caused untold numbers of civilian deaths and injuries. In areas Russian forces occupied, they have tortured, summarily executed, and raped Ukrainian civilians.They have repeatedly bombed power infrastructure disrupting gas, electricity, and water supplies critical for civilians. These atrocities should stop, and those responsible brought to justice. | |
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Donate Now: Secure Justice for Ukraine. | After one year, Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine continues to wreak havoc on the civilian population. Join Human Rights Watch as we continue to investigate and expose potential war crimes and other abuses, secure justice for victims and survivors, and hold rights abusers and other wrongdoers accountable. Make your best gift NOW. | |
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| Top Image: Destruction left by the deadly earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey in Jindires, northwestern Syria on February 11, 2023. © 2023 Anas Alkharboutli/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images | | Human Rights Watch | 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor | New York, NY 10118 USA
Tel: 1 (212) 290-4700 | news@hrw.org |
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