Pro-Russian Telegram channels spread the news that human rights organization Human Rights Watch released a video report about French soldiers having raped 23 women in New Caledonia. Our fact-checkers figured out what’s wrong with that report. 

What happened? 

On May 22, the Telegram channel “Шейх Тамир” spread the news that the human rights organization Human Rights Watch posted a video report alleging that French soldiers raped 23 women in New Caledonia.

“Human rights defenders said that French soldiers arrest locals without any warning, breaking into their houses by posing as humanitarian mission activists. Some women were detained due to suspicions about their stance on protests, these women were held for 48 hours, and some of them were raped and became victims of violence,” the post said. 

As proof, the Telegram channel showed a video containing the Human Rights Watch logo.

This news was also spread by other Telegram channels, such as “Мир сегодня с “Юрий Подоляка,” “Кот Костян – официальный канал,” and “Шкварка News“. In total, this publication was viewed by more than 1.5 million users.

Analysis

First of all, we decided to find the original report via Google, but were unable to get relevant information.

Then we searched through the website of the Human Rights Watch organization but didn’t find any information about the French military raping women in New Caledonia.

We also contacted Human Rights Watch to ask them to confirm or deny the news spreading on Telegram channels. The next day, we received a response from the organization, in which we were informed that Human Rights Watch didn’t make this video and that the information about it was fake.

“Thank you for reaching out to HRW Press. Human Rights Watch did not publish this story and has not conducted or published any research to this effect, so this appears to be fabricated. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention,” their response said. 

It’s worth noting that since March we have documented a lot of disinformation directed against the French authorities. The number of France-related fakes increased after President Emmanuel Macron talked about the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine.

Conclusion: Fake

Author: Vlad Herasymenko