Human Rights Watch used the 61st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council to warn of escalating dangers to civilians across the Middle East and to call for a coordinated, comprehensive, and impartial response to all violations linked to the widening regional conflict. The statement was delivered during an urgent debate held on 25 March 2026, which focused on what the Council described as a recent military attack launched by Iran against several Gulf countries—Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—on 28 February 2026. According to the debate framing, those attacks targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure and resulted in civilian deaths.
Human Rights Watch said it was deeply alarmed by the potential for grave civilian harm as the conflict spreads across the region. It specifically highlighted concerns in Gulf countries and Jordan, where it said Iran had unlawfully struck or threatened civilian targets and infrastructure. These reportedly included residential buildings, hotels, civilian airports, embassies, and financial centers. By stressing the civilian nature of these locations, the organization underscored the risk that such attacks may violate international humanitarian law, which prohibits deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects.
Beyond the Gulf, the organization described a broader regional humanitarian crisis affecting multiple populations. In Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said that sweeping Israeli evacuation orders had displaced more than one million people, raising concerns that the mass movement of civilians could amount to forced displacement, which may constitute a war crime under international law. It also warned that statements by Israeli officials had raised fears of further abuses, including the possible wanton destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure and attacks directly targeting civilians.
In Iran, Human Rights Watch said civilians were facing threats on multiple fronts. On one hand, it warned of the risk of further atrocities by Iranian authorities, who it said had shut down internet and communications channels and threatened violence against anyone who openly dissents. On the other hand, it pointed to US and Israeli strikes inside Iran, stating that some of these attacks should be investigated as possible war crimes. This reflects the organization’s broader insistence that all parties to the conflict—not only regional governments but also outside actors—must be held to the same legal standards under international human rights and humanitarian law.
The statement also highlighted the dangers facing civilians in Israel, where missile and drone attacks by Iran and Hezbollah have put civilian populations at risk. In Palestine, Human Rights Watch expressed concern that armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank were exploiting the chaos of the wider conflict to attack Palestinian communities. It argued that these attacks were contributing to what it described as the ongoing dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, indicating that the current regional crisis is also intensifying long-standing patterns of violence and displacement in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In addition to direct violence, Human Rights Watch warned of the potentially catastrophic economic and environmental consequences of attacks on major energy infrastructure. It said strikes by Iran, Israel, and the United States on some of the world’s largest oil and gas facilities in Iran and Gulf states could have severe consequences not only for civilians in the region but also for economically vulnerable communities around the world. The organization also raised concerns over Iran’s apparent targeting of civilian commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz, describing these as potential war crimes that could further disrupt global trade and drive up the cost of energy, food, and other essential goods worldwide.
At the core of its intervention, Human Rights Watch urged the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a response that is coordinated, comprehensive, and impartial, rather than selective or politically driven. It called on the Council to press all parties to the conflict to comply fully with international humanitarian and human rights law, to clearly condemn violations wherever they occur, and to support accountability measures without discrimination. The organization emphasized that civilian protection and atrocity prevention must be treated as the highest priorities, regardless of which actor is responsible for abuses.
To support this, Human Rights Watch recommended that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights convene an emergency briefing, with the participation of relevant independent experts and mandates, focused specifically on atrocity prevention and on ensuring credible investigations into all alleged violations across the conflict. The call reflects growing concern that the crisis is expanding beyond isolated hostilities into a broader regional emergency with severe humanitarian, legal, and geopolitical consequences. Overall, the statement argues that only a balanced and law-based international response can help prevent further civilian suffering and ensure accountability across the Middle East conflict.
