• Bangladesh: Toxic Tanneries
    Oct 4, 2012
    Workers in many leather tanneries in the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, including children as young as 11, become ill because of exposure to hazardous chemicals and are injured in horrific workplace accidents. The tanneries, which export hundreds of millions of dollars in leather for luxury goods throughout the world, spew pollutants into surrounding communities. Human Rights Watch documents an occupational health and safety crisis among tannery workers, both men and women, including skin diseases and respiratory illnesses caused by exposure to tanning chemicals, and limb amputations caused by accidents in dangerous tannery machinery. Residents of Hazaribagh slums complain of illnesses such as fevers, skin diseases, respiratory problems, and diarrhea, caused by the extreme tannery pollution of air, water, and soil. The government has not protected the right to health of the workers and residents, has consistently failed to enforce labor or environmental laws in Hazaribagh, and has ignored High Court orders to clean up these tanneries. Under international law, the government is required to take reasonable steps to protect the right to health of everyone in its territory.
  • One Billion Forgotten
    Jul 20, 2012
    HIV prevention, testing, counseling and treatment should be accessible to all people with disabilities.
  • Nigeria: Mercury in Gold Mining
    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, such as those in Bagega, Nigeria. Mercury is highly toxic that attacks the central nervous system, causing tremors and twitching, memory loss, brain damage, or other neurological and behavioral disorders. It can also damage the kidneys and the lungs. Mercury is particularly harmful to children and can cause developmental problems and irreversible brain damage. Under international human rights law, work with hazardous substances and processes is classified among the worst forms of child labor. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining – gold mining without industrial equipment – is one of the largest sectors for mercury use globally and 13 million people worldwide, including children, work in artisanal gold mining and use mercury to extract gold from the ore.
  • FUKUSHIMA: One Year On
    Mar 9, 2012
  • A Heavy Price: Lead Poisoning and Gold Mining in Nigeria's Zamfara State
    Jan 31, 2012
  • US: Aging Behind Bars
    Jan 26, 2012
    Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Human Rights Watch has found that the number of state and federal prisoners age 65 or older grew at 15 times the rate of the overall prison population between 2007 and 2010. Among the reasons for the increase are long (including life) sentences that reflect “tough-on-crime” policies. Many older prisoners remain incarcerated even though they are too old and infirm to threaten public safety if released. Unless sentencing and release policies change, US prisons will increasingly resemble old age homes behind bars.
  • Harm Reduction in the US South
    Jan 10, 2012
  • Mali: Child Labor and Mercury in Gold Mining
    Dec 1, 2011

    Children as young as six are working in toxic conditions in Mali's artisanal gold mines. This gold makes into the international market with little oversight from companies or the government. HRW's Juliane Kippenberg reports.

  • Bahrain: Doctors Punished for Treating Protesters
    Oct 13, 2011

    Doctors and other medical professionals in Bahrain were sentenced to prison time after they treated protesters; the United States and other allies have said little about Bahrain's crackdown. With Dr. Zahra Al-Sammak and Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork.

  • Laos: Inside a Drug Detention Center
    Oct 10, 2011
    The Somsanga Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Laos has received a decade of international support from the United States, the United Nations, and other donors. But inside the center, detainees are held without due process, and many are locked in cells inside barbed wire compounds. Joseph Amon, director of health and human rights at Human Rights Watch, reports.