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  • World Report 2013: United States
    Jan 8, 2013
    The United States has a vibrant civil society and media that enjoy strong constitutional protections. The victims of abuse are typically the weakest and most vulnerable in US society: immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, children, the elderly, the poor, and prisoners.
  • Time to Abandon the Autocrats and Embrace Rights
    Jan 22, 2012
  • World Report 2012: United States
    Jan 22, 2012
    The US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, sometimes imposing very long sentences marred by racial disparities. Increasing numbers of non-citizens—363,000 in 2010—are held in immigration detention facilities, although many are not dangerous or at risk of absconding from immigration proceedings. The federal government continues abusive counterterrorism policies, including detentions without charge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; fundamentally flawed military commissions; and effectively blocking lawsuits seeking redress for torture victims. The US Census reported in 2011 that 46 million people live in poverty, the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published. Widespread poverty, its many intersections with racial and gender inequalities, and its disproportionate impact upon children and the elderly, raises serious human rights concerns.
  • Whose News?
    Jan 24, 2011

    These are tough times for foreign correspondents. A combination of rapid technological change and economic recession has caused deep cuts in the budget for foreign reporting at many Western news organizations. Plenty of ex-foreign correspondents have lost their jobs, and many others fear for their jobs and their futures. Consumers of news, meanwhile, are watching international coverage shrink in the pages of major papers. One recent study estimated that the number of foreign news stories published prominently in newspapers in the United Kingdom fell by 80 percent from 1979 to 2009. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that 20 out of its 31 member states face declining newspaper readerships; since foreign reporting is expensive, it is often the first to be cut.

  • World Report 2011: United States
    Jan 24, 2011
    US citizens enjoy a broad range of civil liberties and have recourse to a strong system of independent federal and state courts, but continuing failures-notably in the criminal justice and immigration systems and in counterterrorism law and policy-mar its human rights record. Although the Obama administration has pledged to address many of these concerns, progress has been slow; in some areas it has been nonexistent.
  • World Report 2011: A Facade of Action
    Jan 19, 2011
    In last year's World Report, Human Rights Watch highlighted the intensifying attacks by abusive governments on human rights defenders, organizations, and institutions. This year we address the flip side of the problem-the failure of the expected champions of human rights to respond to the problem, defend those people and organizations struggling for human rights, and stand up firmly against abusive governments.
  • United States
    Jan 20, 2010
    US citizens enjoy a broad range of civil liberties and have recourse to a strong system of independent federal and state courts, but serious human rights concerns remain, particularly in criminal justice, immigration, and counterterrorism law and policy. The Obama administration has said it will address many of these concerns but, at this writing nearly one year into Barack Obama’s presidency, it had taken few concrete steps.