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Africa Child Soldier Global Report 2008 Summary The Child Soldier Global Report documents military recruitment legislation, policy and practice in more than 190 countries worldwide – in conflict and in peacetime armies – as well as child soldier use by non-state armed groups. This summary provides an overview of facts and figures. May 20, 2008 Printer friendly version Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence Child soldiers are often compelled by their commanders to engage in combat operations, participate in human rights abuses against civilians, and carry out punishments against fellow soldiers under threat of severe punishment or execution. In this backgrounder, Human Rights Watch describes methods of coercion and intimidation used against child soldiers serving in armed conflicts in Angola, Burma, Colombia, Liberia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. April 16, 2008 Ten Steps for Darfur – Implementation Report On December 11, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) is due to consider the final report of the Group of Experts (GOE) appointed on Darfur. As the GOE’s report demonstrates, Sudan has not yet made significant progress in any of the following ten critical, time-sensitive steps. The HRC should extend the mandate of the GOE to continue to urge and monitor Sudan’s implementation of the recommendations. December 5, 2007 Printer friendly version Ten Steps for Darfur Indicators for Evaluating Progress in the HRC Group of Experts Process On September 24, 2007, the Human Rights Council will consider an interim report by the Group of Experts (GOE) appointed on Darfur. The GOE compiled existing recommendations on Darfur in its June report, and has been working with the government of Sudan to foster their implementation. Human Rights Watch urges that the Council look at a number of concrete actions which could contribute to immediate changes on the ground in Darfur. Many of these steps are actions the government of Sudan has said it is already taking or is committed to take. The Human Rights Council should hold Sudan to those commitments, and should specifically call on Sudan, in the context of its work with the GOE, to take the following ten steps before the HRC’s December session. September 24, 2007 Down to Business The Human Rights Council’s Backlog of Work As it enters its second year, the Council must take hold of the many situations that “require the HRC’s attention,” and take action of some sort to address them. The HRC’s efforts to address these situations will provide an important indication of its ability to fulfil the purpose for which it was created. The Council must seize this opportunity to demonstrate its relevance and responsiveness to human rights victims in these countries and beyond. September 10, 2007 Printer friendly version A Call to Action: The Crisis in Zimbabwe SADC’s Human Rights Credibility on the Line This 13-page briefing paper highlights priority areas of concern on human rights and proposes a number of actions to help tackle the crisis in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe has used methods against critics that range from intimidation, threats and harassment to physical attacks and torture. Hundreds of civil society activists – including human rights defenders, independent journalists and members of the political opposition – have been arbitrarily arrested and beaten by police and other security agents. August 14, 2007 Off the Record U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the “War on Terror” This 21-page briefing paper, published by six leading human rights organizations, includes the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody abroad and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves arrested and detained, including children as young as seven. The list of missing people includes nationals from countries including Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Spain. They are believed to have been arrested in countries including Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan, and transferred to secret US prisons operated by the CIA. June 7, 2007 Statement to the DRC Parliamentary Commission Investigating Events in Bas Congo Human Rights Watch issued a statement to the DRC Parliamentary Commission investigating events in Bas-Congo on April 12, 2007. April 12, 2007 Also available in 
Election or “Selection”? Human Rights Abuse and Threats to Free and Fair Elections in Nigeria In 1999, Nigeria made a definitive break with a post-independence history dominated by three decades of abusive and unaccountable military rule. That year, the country returned to civilian government under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo and since then has enjoyed its longest stretch of uninterrupted civilian rule since independence in 1960. April 4, 2007 A Human Rights Agenda for Nigeria’s 2007 General Elections and Beyond This briefing paper outlines some of the key questions that candidates should consider if they are to tackle the human rights situation in the country: corruption; ethnic and political violence; reform of the security services; and reform of the electoral machinery. February 26, 2007 Ensuring Civilian Protection in Chad The Proposed UN Mission An increased international presence in eastern Chad is urgently needed to protect civilians threatened by worsening insecurity and brutal militia violence. Civilians in eastern Chad have long suffered the consequences of living across the border from Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur, but violence in Chad has recently taken on its own momentum. Amid continuing militia attacks against civilians, the Chadian state is not fulfilling its obligation to provide protection. Moreover, actions taken by the government of Chad in response to the threat posed by Chadian rebels based in Darfur, including military redeployments and reduced policing, have contributed to a rapidly deteriorating security situation and left civilians increasingly vulnerable to militia attacks and cross-border raids. February 21, 2007 The Trial of Hissène Habré Time is Running Out for the Victims In this paper, Human Rights Watch noted that Senegal had not even passed the legislation needed to try Habré. Human Rights Watch called on the African Union to name a special envoy to help Senegal prepare Habré’s trial. January 25, 2007 Also available in
Killings in Eastern Rwanda This 20-page report documents two incidents in late November 2006 in which 13 persons were killed. On November 19, genocide survivor Frederic Murasira was killed in the commercial center of Mugatwa in eastern Rwanda. Within hours, residents of a nearby village inhabited by genocide survivors killed eight Mugatwa residents who apparently had played no part in the murder. The victims included children aged three, six, eight and 13, as well as two women and a 70-year-old man. One suspect has surrendered to police and has been arrested for the killing of Murasira, and several others have been detained January 22, 2007 Also available in
UPC Crimes in Ituri (2002 – 2003) Summary The second Congo war began in 1998 and involved the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government forces of Laurent Kabila, which were supported by Angola, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, against several rebel movements backed by Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. Despite the signing of the Lusaka Peace Accords in 1999, followed by agreements for the withdrawal of Rwandan and Ugandan forces from the Congo in 2002, fighting in the northeastern province of Ituri intensified as local surrogates carried on the battles of national and international actors. November 8, 2006 Also available in
Printer friendly version The Selection of Situations and Cases for Trial before the International Criminal Court A Human Rights Watch Policy Paper The personal, temporal and territorial jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) enables it to be engaged in a number of country situations simultaneously. To date, the prosecutor of the ICC has opened investigations in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Darfur region of Sudan.In light of the court’s jurisdiction, it is essential to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, objectivity and transparency in the selection of situations and cases by the prosecutor. Such transparency enhances the ICC’s credibility and maximizes its role in the fight against impunity. October 25, 2006 Violence Beyond Borders The Human Rights Crisis in Eastern Chad This paper documents a drastic deterioration in the human rights situation on the Chad side of the Chad-Sudan border, where Sudanese government-backed “Janjaweed” militias raid at will, and Darfur rebels opposed to Khartoum forcibly recruit Sudanese refugees, including children, to serve as rebel fighters. June 22, 2006 Also available in
Printer friendly version A Long Way from Home: FNL Child Soldiers in Burundi During the thirteen years of civil war in Burundi, children were recruited and used as combatants and general help by all sides in the conflict. But the one rebel group that continues to fight against the government, the National Liberation Forces (FNL), continues to use children as combatants and for various logistical duties; the Burundian government is detaining rather than rehabilitating former child soldiers associated with FNL. June 16, 2006 Also available in
Printer friendly version Lack of Conviction The Special Criminal Court on the Events in Darfur This briefing paper examines the first year of the special court's operations, and sets out the major roadblocks to the prosecution of war crimes in Darfur. The courts were established by the Sudanese government to deal with the widespread crimes in Darfur. June 8, 2006 Printer friendly version Swept Away Street Children Illegally Detained in Kigali, Rwanda This paper documents life at the unofficial detention center in the Gikondo neighborhood of the Rwandan capital Kigali. May 14, 2006 Also available in
Printer friendly version The Case against Hissène Habré, an “African Pinochet” Case Summary In September 2005, a Belgian judge issued an international arrest warrant charging Mr. Habré with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture committed during his 1982-90 rule. Mr. Habré lives in exile in Senegal, where he was indicted in 2000 before courts ruled that he could not be tried there. Pursuant to the arrest warrant and a Belgian extradition request, Senegalese authorities arrested Mr. Habré on November 15, 2005. After a Senegalese court refused to rule on the extradition request, Senegal announced that it had asked the January 2006 summit of the African Union to recommend "the competent jurisdiction" for the trial of Hissène Habré. That summit set up a Committee of Eminent African Jurists to consider the options for Habré's trial and to report back at the July 2006 summit. May 8, 2006 Also available in
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