• Greece: Hate On The Streets
    Jul 5, 2012
  • Burma: Isolated in Yunnan
    Jun 25, 2012
    Several thousand ethnic Kachin refugees from Burma are isolated in Yunnan, China, where they are at risk of return to a conflict zone and lack needed humanitarian aid. Human Rights Watch documented how 7,000 to 10,000 ethnic Kachin refugees are scattered across more than a dozen makeshift settlements lacking adequate shelter, food, potable water, sanitation, and basic health care. Most children have no access to schools, while adults are vulnerable to abuses by local employers and have been subject to arbitrary drug testing and prolonged and abusive detention by the Chinese authorities. While the government of China has allowed most of the refugees to stay in Yunnan, some have been forced back to the conflict zone or denied entry into China at the border. Many Kachin originally fled severe abuses by the Burmese army ­– including attacks on villages, killings, rape, and the use of abusive forced labor. Most of the displaced fled to makeshift camps in Burma, where international humanitarian aid has been minimal, and the only assistance has come from private and local Kachin aid networks.
  • Qatar: Abuse of Migrant Workers
    Jun 8, 2012
    Hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant construction workers in Qatar risk serious exploitation and abuse, sometimes amounting to forced labor, Human Rights Watch urges both the government and the The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to make sure that their commitments to respect workers’ rights in preparation for the 2022 World Cup are carried out. Human Rights Watch examined an employment system that effectively traps workers in their jobs. The problems include exorbitant recruitment fees, which often take workers years to pay off, coupled with Qatar’s restrictive employer sponsorship system and the employers’ routine confiscation of worker passports, granting employers inordinate control over the workers. Workers’ high debts and the restrictions they face if they want to change employers often leave them to accept jobs or working conditions they did not agree to in their home countries, or to continue work under conditions of abuse. Workers face obstacles to reporting complaints or seeking redress, and the abuses often go undetected.
  • Alabama: Immigrant Law Fuels Abuses
    Dec 19, 2011

    Residents of Alabama speak out on the state's new punitive immigrant law. With HRW's Grace Meng.

  • Hijab Bans and Forced Veiling
    May 6, 2011

    From France's ban on the niqab -- a face covering worn by some Muslim women -- to a call for all Chechen women to wear headscarves, an increasing number of European states are trying to dictate the way women dress. With HRW's Veronika Szente Goldston and Tanya Lokshina.

  • SPECIAL REPORT: Migrant Domestic Workers
    Jan 21, 2011

    Every year, hundreds of thousands of women leave their homes in Asia and Africa for jobs as domestic workers in the Middle East. When they face exploitation and violence there is little hope for justice. Veteran public radio journalist Anne Garrels filed this report for our new series on the state of human rights in 2011.

  • 2010 in Photos
    Jan 21, 2011
  • Immigration in the US
    Jun 17, 2010

    Two films at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival take on the issue of immigration in the US. Host Amy Costello talks with filmmakers Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson.

  • FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan
    Jun 15, 2010

    Many women and girls in Iraq's Kurdish region are subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). A new report from Human Rights Watch says the local government isn't doing enough to stop this dangerous and debilitating practice. With HRW's Samer Muscati and a report from the ground.

  • Dignity Overdue: Decent Work for Domestic Workers
    Apr 27, 2010
    Millions of women and girls around the world turn to domestic work in order to provide for themselves and their families. Instead of guaranteeing their ability to work with dignity and free of violence, governments have systematically denied them key labor protections extended to other workers. Domestic workers, often making extraordinary sacrifices to support their families, are among the most exploited and abused workers in the world.