Human Rights Watch and 27 human rights, religious, and civil liberties groups strongly urged President Obama to veto the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 if it impedes his ability to close Guantanamo, by restricting the Executive Branch's authority to transfer detainees for repatriation or resettlement in foreign countries or for prosecution in federal criminal court.

Human Rights Watch wrote to Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor and board of pardons, urging them to commute the death sentence of Terrance Williams. Williams was 18 years old at the time of his crime. In addition, juries in Pennsylvania are not informed that the alternative to the death sentence is a life without parole sentence (and that life with parole is not an option).

Human Rights Watch wrote in support of Amendment 548 in the proposed Massachusetts state budget, which would end to the practice of administering electric shocks as behavior modification to people with disabilities in the state. This pratice, which is used only at the Judge Rotenberg Center, fails to respect the dignity of individuals with disabilities and is tantamount to torture .

Human Rights Watch wrote to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta urging the administration to redouble its efforts to facilitate the repatriation and or appropriate resettlement of those detainees already cleared for transfer and to implement as soon as possible the Periodic Review Board (PRB) process to facilitate identification of additional detainees for repatriation or resettlement.