• Turkey: End Overly Broad Website Blocking
    Dec 21, 2012
    Press release
    The Turkish government should promptly stop unlawfully blocking websites. On December 18, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, in the case of Ahmet Yıldırım v. Turkey, that blocking Google Sites in Turkey violated the right to freedom of expression. A Turkish court had ordered the complete blocking of Google Sites because of one person’s post. But the European Court found that Turkey’s legal framework was inadequate and did not prevent abuses and arbitrary application of blocking measures.
  • EU: Enact Controls on Digital Weapons Trade
    Dec 11, 2012
    Press release
    The European Union should enact new controls on internet surveillance technologies that have enabled human rights violations. The European Parliament adopted a new digital freedom strategy in EU foreign policy in the plenary on December 11.
  • Equatorial Guinea: Cease Politically Motivated Arrests
    Dec 6, 2012
    Press release
    The most recent arbitrary detention of a leading opposition politician in Equatorial Guinea on December 4, 2012, raises concerns about human rights conditions in the lead-up to legislative elections in the first half of 2013. Since November 2011, the government has detained at least four high-profile members of the country’s beleaguered political opposition.
  • Burma: Investigate Violent Crackdown on Mine Protesters
    Dec 1, 2012
    Press release
    The government of Burma should promptly and impartially investigate alleged excessive force by local authorities against peaceful anti-copper mine protesters.
  • World Bank: Uphold Rights
    Nov 15, 2012
    Press release
    The World Bank should incorporate human rights in its revised policies as a key component of fulfilling its mission to eradicate poverty. A new review of the World Bank’s environmental and social policies, known as the “safeguard” policies, begins with a consultation meeting in Washington, DC on November 15, 2012.
  • Equatorial Guinea: Lawyer Detained, Denied Visits
    Oct 25, 2012
    Press release
    Authorities in Equatorial Guinea have arbitrarily detained the prominent lawyer Fabián Nsue Nguema in Black Beach prison in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, and are refusing to allow him visitors. Nsue’s wife told Human Rights Watch that she was twice refused when she asked to see her husband but that prison authorities had privately confirmed to her that he is being held there.
  • Equatorial Guinea: Human Rights Lawyer ‘Disappeared’
    Oct 24, 2012
    Press release
    The authorities in Equatorial Guinea should immediately investigate the alleged enforced disappearance of a top human rights lawyer who has been unaccounted for since the evening of October 22, 2012.
  • Bangladesh: Tanneries Harm Workers, Poison Communities
    Oct 8, 2012
    Press release
    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, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The tanneries, which export hundreds of millions of dollars in leather for luxury goods throughout the world, spew pollutants into surrounding communities.
  • Bahrain: Abuse of Migrant Workers Despite Reforms
    Sep 30, 2012
    Press release
    Hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in Bahrain face exploitation and abuse despite government reforms intended to protect them, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today.
  • Kazakhstan: Abusive Response to Oil Worker Strikes
    Sep 9, 2012
    Press release
    Repressive laws and abusive practices by the government and some oil companies violate the labor rights of thousands of workers employed in Kazakhstan’s booming petroleum sector.