• People & Power: The 2014 Sochi Olympics
    Feb 8, 2013
    In February and March 2014, Russia will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the city of Sochi. With the awarding of the Olympics, Sochi has undergone a transformation that will turn it into what Russian officials describe as a "premier winter sports destination," with gleaming new Olympic venues being built both in Sochi and the nearby Caucasus Mountains. But this transformation has also come at a cost to many Sochi residents and many of the migrant workers who have arrived in Russia to help build the new Sochi. In undertaking to host the Olympic Games, Russia committed to uphold the Olympic Charter's principles of "human dignity." Russian authorities should not allow the Olympic preparations to become a source of repression.
  • HRW's Ben Ward on the Rise of Europe's Far Right
    Feb 7, 2013

    Europe's far right ideologues aren't just marginalized skinheads -- these days they're members of parliament and players in mainstream politics. Hear Ben Ward, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, discuss how fringe groups are no longer on the fringes, on the The Voice of Russia.

  • People and Power: The 2014 Sochi Olympics
    Feb 1, 2013
  • Uzbekistan: Labor Abuses in the Cotton Fields
    Jan 22, 2013
    Uzbek authorities have increased the use of forced labor by adults and older children in the cotton sector during the past year in an effort to shift the burden away from younger children in response to public scrutiny and international pressure. Human Rights Watch found that for the 2012 harvest, the Uzbek government forced over a million of its own citizens, children and adults – including its teachers, doctors, and nurses – to harvest cotton in abusive conditions on threat of punishment. Uzbek authorities refused to allow international monitors into the country for the fourth year in a row, and arrested and intimidated local activists and independent journalists who attempted to report on the forced labor situation.
  • Italy Sends Kids Back to Bad Conditions in Greece
    Jan 22, 2013
    Italy is summarily returning unaccompanied migrant children and adult asylum seekers to Greece, where they face a dysfunctional asylum system and abusive detention conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. Stowaways on ferries from Greece, including children as young as 13, are sent back by Italian authorities within hours without adequate consideration of their particular needs as children or their desire to apply for asylum.
  • HRW's Ben Ward on the Rise of Europe's Far Right
    Jan 10, 2013

    Europe's far right ideologues aren't just marginalized skinheads -- these days they're members of parliament and players in mainstream politics. Hear Ben Ward, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, discuss how fringe groups are no longer on the fringes, on the The Voice of Russia.