Myanmar has waged "a campaign of ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims, a leading rights watchdog said Monday, citing evidence of mass graves and forced displacement. The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship by the country also known as Burma, have faced crimes against humanity including murder, persecution, deportation and forced transfer, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Syria's regime are expanding its use of cluster munitions in its conflict with rebel forces, causing "mounting civilian causalities," Human Rights Watch warned on Saturday. "Syria is expanding its relentless use of cluster munitions, a banned weapon, and civilians are paying the price with their lives and limbs," Steve Goose, director of HRW's arms division, said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch raised fears Sunday of a "mockery of justice" as it urged UAE authorities to ensure a fair trial for 94 Islamists accused of plotting against the Gulf state, on the eve of the hearing. "It appears that UAE authorities will drag scores of citizens through a shamelessly unfair judicial process that makes a mockery of justice," said HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson in a statement.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged Yemen to launch an independent probe into the "massacre" of 45 protesters during the 2011 uprising against ousted autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The New York-based watchdog said an earlier investigation ordered by Saleh into the killings was flawed, calling for a new probe that is "independent, impartial and meets international standards." "Several senior former and current government officials appear to have played a role in the massacre but have not been charged," it said in a 69-page report entitled "Unpunished Massacre".