Human Rights Watch: World Report 2021

Human Rights Watch has issued its 31st annual world report, dedicated to the development in human rights practices and trends around the globe in 2020.

The report includes overviews of the situation around human rights in more than 100 countries, based on investigative work that Human Rights Watch staff and its advocacy team, usually in close partnership with human rights activists in the countries in question.

As for the situation with human rights in Italy, the report focuses on such topics as COVID-19, migrants and asylum seekers, racism and Intolerance, women’s rights, sexual orientation and gender identity. The key findings of the report include concerns about the efficiency of justice, political independence of media, and smear campaigns against some civil society groups, particularly those working on migration. Although the coalition government in power since September 2019 reversed some of the most problematic migration and asylum policies implemented by the previous government, it nevertheless continued to obstruct non-governmental rescue organisations. Hate crimes remained a serious problem, while women faced obstacles to exercising reproductive rights and an increase in violence during the lockdown.