Special Focus
  • Human Rights in Papua New Guinea

    Papua New Guinea’s significant oil, gas, and gold reserves are powering strong economic growth. In the last four years, the country’s gross domestic product has doubled. Yet poor governance and corruption prevent this wealth having greater impact on the economic and social rights of ordinary citizens. Large-scale extractive projects have generated environmental and human rights concerns that the government has failed to address. These extractive projects have also led to violations of landowners’ rights, with the ensuing disputes over compensating landowners triggering protests and occasional violence. Police and security forces can commit abuses with impunity and violence against women is rampant.

    Read the 2013 World Report chapter on Papua New Guinea >>


  • Mercury Treaty: Last Chance to Address Health Effects
    Jan 10, 2013
    A proposed international treaty to address the damaging effects of mercury should include specific provisions to protect the health of children and other vulnerable populations, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments are to meet in Geneva beginning January 13, 2013, for a fifth and final round of talks for the treaty. Mercury is a toxic metal that attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.
  • UN: Mark Day of Girl By Fighting Child Marriage
    Oct 10, 2012
    As the world celebrates the first International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, 2012, eliminating child marriages should be a key political priority for governments to protect the rights of girls and women.
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Papua New Guinea

  • Mercury Convention "Must Be Brought to Life"
    Jan 21, 2013
    This weekend, more than 140 governments agreed on the text for a new legally binding convention on mercury, a highly toxic metal. It has taken three years and many compromises to get here. What often seemed like a dry and bureaucratic process – delegates arguing over nuance during long night sessions – has very real implications for millions of people around the globe.
  • Mercury Treaty: Last Chance to Address Health Effects
    Jan 10, 2013
    A proposed international treaty to address the damaging effects of mercury should include specific provisions to protect the health of children and other vulnerable populations, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments are to meet in Geneva beginning January 13, 2013, for a fifth and final round of talks for the treaty. Mercury is a toxic metal that attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.
  • UN: Mark Day of Girl By Fighting Child Marriage
    Oct 10, 2012
    As the world celebrates the first International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, 2012, eliminating child marriages should be a key political priority for governments to protect the rights of girls and women.
  • Mercury Treaty: Ban Mercury Use by Child Gold Miners
    Jun 25, 2012
    Negotiations for an international treaty to limit the use of mercury should seek to protect the health rights of artisanal gold mining communities
  • Surviving Rape in Papua New Guinea
    Aug 10, 2011
    While rumors of abuses like gang rapes and beatings had long been associated with the mine, Barrick Gold – the world’s largest gold mining company in terms of production – had denied these claims as unfounded.
  • New iPad App Showcases Human Rights Multimedia
    May 9, 2011
    Human Rights Watch today launched a new issue-specific multimedia application for Apple's iPad, pioneering the first in a series of in-depth and original human rights multimedia apps through the iPad. Users can download the app for free from Apple's App store.
  • Responsible Mining: Companies Can't Go it Alone
    Feb 10, 2011

    Human Rights Watch recently released a report that details brutal gang rapes and other abuses allegedly carried out by employees of Barrick Gold in Papua New Guinea. Barrick, a Canadian firm, is the world's largest gold producer and Porgera is one of the world's largest gold mines. Now the company is scrambling to put things right, investing in new mechanisms for oversight and accountability and firing some of its private security personnel while others are being hauled away by the police.

  • Papua New Guinea: Serious Abuses at Barrick Gold Mine
    Feb 1, 2011
    Private security personnel employed at a gold mine in Papua New Guinea have been implicated in alleged gang rapes and other violent abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Porgera mine has produced billions of dollars of gold in its twenty years of operation, and  is operated and 95 percent owned by Barrick Gold, a Canadian company that is the world's largest gold producer.
  • Australia: Gillard Should Promote Rights At Home And Abroad
    Dec 8, 2010
    Human Rights Watch looks forward to working with your government in the coming months to help Australia realize its commitments to protecting and promoting human rights at home and abroad.
  • Canada: Ignatieff Has Some Explaining to Do
    Nov 4, 2010
    It was not surprising that last week Stephen Harper's government defeated a modest opposition private member's bill that offered an opportunity to improve the human rights records of Canadian oil, mining and gas companies. But the apparently ambiguous stance of opposition leader Michael Ignatieff on the bill came as a surprise to many -- and leaves him with some explaining to do.
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