Lou Charbonneau
@loucharb.bsky.social
UN director at @hrw.org. Native Detroiter, now in Queens, NYC. Recovering journalist, ex @reuters.com UN bureau chief. Formerly based in Prague, Vienna, Berlin, Hong Kong, UN HQ. @thegraduatecenter.bsky.social PhD. And more…
🚨 New from @hrw.org: #Russia's authorities & military forces have systematically tortured and ill-treated Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Such abuses constitute grave violations of Geneva Conventions that apply in international armed conflict & are war crimes. www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...
Such abuses constitute grave violations of Geneva Conventions that apply in international armed conflict & are war crimes. www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...
December 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
🚨 New from @hrw.org: #Russia's authorities & military forces have systematically tortured and ill-treated Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Such abuses constitute grave violations of Geneva Conventions that apply in international armed conflict & are war crimes. www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...
Such abuses constitute grave violations of Geneva Conventions that apply in international armed conflict & are war crimes. www.hrw.org/news/2025/12...
🚨 @hrw.org reaction to reports of a successful Canadian-US troop-pledging conference for a new #Haiti force: “Pledges from multiple countries to commit personnel for the Gang Suppression Force are a welcome step toward providing Haitians with the protection they urgently need." 1/x
December 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
At launch of @civicusalliance.bsky.social report on shrinking civic space around the world, @hrw.org @amnesty.org @aclu.org join CIVICUS in warning of crackdowns on free speech, right to protest in US, Germany, France, Israel & elsewhere.
December 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
At launch of @civicusalliance.bsky.social report on shrinking civic space around the world, @hrw.org @amnesty.org @aclu.org join CIVICUS in warning of crackdowns on free speech, right to protest in US, Germany, France, Israel & elsewhere.
Drug smuggling is a serious issue, but executing people at sea without any trial? Unlawful, ineffective, violation of due process — not to mention abhorrent. Canada, UK, France, Netherlands, etc need to call this out & assess risks of complicity in these US extrajudicial killings.
US: Other Countries Should Push Back on Lawless Executions at Sea
Governments that partner with the United States on counternarcotics efforts should join other nations that have publicly objected to the Trump administration’s unlawful strikes against alleged drug sm...
www.hrw.org
December 9, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Drug smuggling is a serious issue, but executing people at sea without any trial? Unlawful, ineffective, violation of due process — not to mention abhorrent. Canada, UK, France, Netherlands, etc need to call this out & assess risks of complicity in these US extrajudicial killings.
🚨 @hrw.org urges other countries to push back on lawless US executions at sea.
Canada, UK, France, Netherlands, etc should take steps to determine if their intel sharing with the US risks making them complicit in the #Trump administration's unlawful strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats.
Canada, UK, France, Netherlands, etc should take steps to determine if their intel sharing with the US risks making them complicit in the #Trump administration's unlawful strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats.
US: Other Countries Should Push Back on Lawless Executions at Sea
Governments that partner with the United States on counternarcotics efforts should join other nations that have publicly objected to the Trump administration’s unlawful strikes against alleged drug sm...
www.hrw.org
December 9, 2025 at 2:33 PM
🚨 @hrw.org’s reaction to the Israeli raid on @unrwa.org’s compound in East Jerusalem.
December 8, 2025 at 10:04 PM
🚨 @hrw.org’s reaction to the Israeli raid on @unrwa.org’s compound in East Jerusalem.
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
“Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem.”
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini’s statement:
www.unrwa.org/newsroom/off...
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini’s statement:
www.unrwa.org/newsroom/off...
December 8, 2025 at 1:38 PM
“Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem.”
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini’s statement:
www.unrwa.org/newsroom/off...
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini’s statement:
www.unrwa.org/newsroom/off...
🚨 @hrw.org @aclu.org & other groups urge US to close Fort Bliss immigration detention site. Documented abuses at this site include:
* Beatings & sexual abuse
* Coercive threats to compel deportation to 3rd countries
* Medical neglect, hunger & insufficient food
* Denial of proper access to counsel
* Beatings & sexual abuse
* Coercive threats to compel deportation to 3rd countries
* Medical neglect, hunger & insufficient food
* Denial of proper access to counsel
US: Close Fort Bliss Immigration Detention Site
Human rights groups today urged U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end immigration detention at Camp East Montana, a massive tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas
www.hrw.org
December 8, 2025 at 3:16 PM
🚨 New from @hrw.org on #Syria: One Year Since Assad’s Fall
@adamcoogle.bsky.social: This "created an unprecedented opportunity for Syrians to break with decades of tyranny and build a rights-respecting country." But he adds that "the window of opportunity may be closing."
@adamcoogle.bsky.social: This "created an unprecedented opportunity for Syrians to break with decades of tyranny and build a rights-respecting country." But he adds that "the window of opportunity may be closing."
Syria: One Year Since Assad’s Fall
Syrian transitional authorities have taken positive steps on justice, transparency and rights but failed to prevent continued violence and atrocities.
www.hrw.org
December 8, 2025 at 3:04 PM
🚨 New from @hrw.org on #Syria: One Year Since Assad’s Fall
@adamcoogle.bsky.social: This "created an unprecedented opportunity for Syrians to break with decades of tyranny and build a rights-respecting country." But he adds that "the window of opportunity may be closing."
@adamcoogle.bsky.social: This "created an unprecedented opportunity for Syrians to break with decades of tyranny and build a rights-respecting country." But he adds that "the window of opportunity may be closing."
🚨 @hrw.org reacts to #FIFA scoring a tremendous own goal by giving President #Trump a new “FIFA Peace Prize”.
@minkyworden.bsky.social dubs it FIFA’s “so-called peace prize” for someone responsible for violent mass detentions of immigrants, military deployments in US cities, etc…
@minkyworden.bsky.social dubs it FIFA’s “so-called peace prize” for someone responsible for violent mass detentions of immigrants, military deployments in US cities, etc…
US President Donald Trump was just awarded the newly created “FIFA Peace Prize.”
But his administration’s appalling human rights record certainly does not display “exceptional actions for peace and unity.”
Learn more: https://bit.ly/4qbQiu7
But his administration’s appalling human rights record certainly does not display “exceptional actions for peace and unity.”
Learn more: https://bit.ly/4qbQiu7
December 5, 2025 at 11:29 PM
🚨 @hrw.org reacts to #FIFA scoring a tremendous own goal by giving President #Trump a new “FIFA Peace Prize”.
@minkyworden.bsky.social dubs it FIFA’s “so-called peace prize” for someone responsible for violent mass detentions of immigrants, military deployments in US cities, etc…
@minkyworden.bsky.social dubs it FIFA’s “so-called peace prize” for someone responsible for violent mass detentions of immigrants, military deployments in US cities, etc…
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
🚨The Russian government has banned us as an “undesirable” foreign organization. Our work hasn’t changed. But what’s changed is Russia’s full-throttled embrace of dictatorial policies, its staggering rise in repression & the scope of the war crimes its forces are committing in Ukraine.
bit.ly/48mvicJ
bit.ly/48mvicJ
November 28, 2025 at 6:03 PM
🚨The Russian government has banned us as an “undesirable” foreign organization. Our work hasn’t changed. But what’s changed is Russia’s full-throttled embrace of dictatorial policies, its staggering rise in repression & the scope of the war crimes its forces are committing in Ukraine.
bit.ly/48mvicJ
bit.ly/48mvicJ
🚨 New from @hrw.org: UN leadership & member states should preserve the UN's long underfunded human rights pillar
Independent mechanisms responding to grave crises need to be saved. Cutting or merging them won't solve the UN's funding crisis caused by US, #China & others not paying their dues.
Independent mechanisms responding to grave crises need to be saved. Cutting or merging them won't solve the UN's funding crisis caused by US, #China & others not paying their dues.
UN Should Protect its Long Underfunded Human Rights Pillar
The United Nations leadership has launched a major reform plan to make the cash-strapped world body more efficient and cost-effective. Unfortunately, it has offered little on how this will impact the ...
www.hrw.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:23 PM
🤔 This week the US Dept of Homeland Security announced termination of Temporary Protective Status for people fleeing #Myanmar. Why? They claim it's safe to return.
Yet last week the US cited atrocities by the junta as it supported a UN resolution that declared it's unsafe for returns. @hrw.org 👇
Yet last week the US cited atrocities by the junta as it supported a UN resolution that declared it's unsafe for returns. @hrw.org 👇
Myanmar is Safe?
Is it safe to return to a country wracked by an abusive armed conflict, widespread atrocities, and targeted ethnic violence, including war crimes and crimes against humanity?
www.hrw.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:12 PM
On Nov 20 the executive director of Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, Yuli Novak, and field research chief Kareem Jubran held a UN press conference to discuss their #Gaza report "Our Genocide" & their US visit. The press conf is here for all those who missed it. youtu.be/32v4H1x43OI
UNCA Press Conference with Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem.
YouTube video by UNCAJournalists
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
On Nov 20 the executive director of Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, Yuli Novak, and field research chief Kareem Jubran held a UN press conference to discuss their #Gaza report "Our Genocide" & their US visit. The press conf is here for all those who missed it. youtu.be/32v4H1x43OI
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
In Feb 26, it will be 80 years since the UN selected its first secretary-general, a man. Since then, eight others have had that job, all men. Surely it’s long past time a woman held the post. In these perilous times we cannot afford an all-men’s club at the top of the UN.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
Seventy-Nine Years Without a Woman Leader at the UN
In February 2026, it will be 80 years since the United Nations selected its first secretary-general, a man. Since then, eight other people have had that job, all men.
www.hrw.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:59 AM
In Feb 26, it will be 80 years since the UN selected its first secretary-general, a man. Since then, eight others have had that job, all men. Surely it’s long past time a woman held the post. In these perilous times we cannot afford an all-men’s club at the top of the UN.
www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
"[These Palestinian refugees] are the refugees that were forcibly displaced and expelled in 1948, and their descendants [...] And now they've been forced to move once again and been denied return."
HRW's Nadia Hardman on our report on Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank:
HRW's Nadia Hardman on our report on Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank:
November 21, 2025 at 9:20 PM
"[These Palestinian refugees] are the refugees that were forcibly displaced and expelled in 1948, and their descendants [...] And now they've been forced to move once again and been denied return."
HRW's Nadia Hardman on our report on Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank:
HRW's Nadia Hardman on our report on Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank:
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
Learn more about Philippe:
Philippe Bolopion to Lead Human Rights Watch
Philippe Bolopion, a 13-year veteran of Human Rights Watch and a former journalist who has extensively advocated on atrocities in conflict zones, has been named the executive director of Human Rights ...
www.hrw.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Learn more about Philippe:
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
Human Rights Watch is honored to announce Philippe Bolopion as its new Executive Director. Philippe is a 13-year HRW veteran and former journalist who has advocated on atrocities globally.
We are proud to have his expertise guiding us as HRW rises to meet the challenges ahead.
We are proud to have his expertise guiding us as HRW rises to meet the challenges ahead.
November 24, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Human Rights Watch is honored to announce Philippe Bolopion as its new Executive Director. Philippe is a 13-year HRW veteran and former journalist who has advocated on atrocities globally.
We are proud to have his expertise guiding us as HRW rises to meet the challenges ahead.
We are proud to have his expertise guiding us as HRW rises to meet the challenges ahead.
🚨 Regarding #JamalKhashoggi’s 2018 murder, US President Trump claimed today in front of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the Saudi leader “knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest.”
@hrw.org’s @joeyshea.bsky.social reacts here 👇🏼
@hrw.org’s @joeyshea.bsky.social reacts here 👇🏼
November 19, 2025 at 12:13 AM
🚨 Regarding #JamalKhashoggi’s 2018 murder, US President Trump claimed today in front of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the Saudi leader “knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest.”
@hrw.org’s @joeyshea.bsky.social reacts here 👇🏼
@hrw.org’s @joeyshea.bsky.social reacts here 👇🏼
One of those headlines that unfortunately says it all -- "US and European aid cuts could result in 22.6 million deaths worldwide, study finds" - @reuters.com
www.reuters.com/business/hea...
www.reuters.com/business/hea...
November 17, 2025 at 11:22 PM
One of those headlines that unfortunately says it all -- "US and European aid cuts could result in 22.6 million deaths worldwide, study finds" - @reuters.com
www.reuters.com/business/hea...
www.reuters.com/business/hea...
🚨 The Venezuelans the United States government sent to #ElSalvador were tortured and subjected to other abuses, including sexual violence.
Read this new report by @hrw.org and @cristosal.bsky.social. 👇
Read this new report by @hrw.org and @cristosal.bsky.social. 👇
US/El Salvador: Torture of Venezuelan Deportees
The Venezuelan nationals the US government sent to El Salvador in March and April were tortured and subjected to other abuses, including sexual violence.
www.hrw.org
November 12, 2025 at 2:26 PM
🚨 The Venezuelans the United States government sent to #ElSalvador were tortured and subjected to other abuses, including sexual violence.
Read this new report by @hrw.org and @cristosal.bsky.social. 👇
Read this new report by @hrw.org and @cristosal.bsky.social. 👇
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
The Chinese government reached around the globe to shut down a film festival in New York City. This latest act of transnational repression demonstrates the Chinese government’s aim to control what the world sees and learns about China. www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
China: Authorities Shut Down Film Festival in New York
Chinese authorities harassed several dozen Chinese film directors and producers, as well as their families in China, causing them to pull films from the inaugural IndieChina Film Festival in New York ...
www.hrw.org
November 7, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The Chinese government reached around the globe to shut down a film festival in New York City. This latest act of transnational repression demonstrates the Chinese government’s aim to control what the world sees and learns about China. www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Lou Charbonneau
Trump’s travel ban inspired Ghazala Hashmi to first run for office. Today, its fighting bigotry and the “chaos” of Trump’s second term. Virginia makes history electing the state's first woman governor and the first Muslim woman ever to statewide office in U.S. history.
19thnews.org/2025/11/virg...
19thnews.org/2025/11/virg...
Virginia makes history with first Muslim woman elected to statewide office
Trump’s travel ban inspired state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi to first run for office. Years later, she said fighting bigotry and the “chaos” of Trump’s second term is top of mind.
19thnews.org
November 5, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Trump’s travel ban inspired Ghazala Hashmi to first run for office. Today, its fighting bigotry and the “chaos” of Trump’s second term. Virginia makes history electing the state's first woman governor and the first Muslim woman ever to statewide office in U.S. history.
19thnews.org/2025/11/virg...
19thnews.org/2025/11/virg...