The placing of Hissène Habré, Chad’s former dictator, into police custody in Senegal on June 30 is a milestone in thelong campaign to bring him to justice.

President Barack Obama’s endorsement of Senegal’sefforts to bring to book the former Chadiandictator Hissène Habré is a recognition of the case’s importance for African justice.

Rival clan militias fighting in Kismayo, Somalia, earlier this month caused an unknown number of civilian casualties in apparently indiscriminate attacks on civilian buildings.

Indonesia detains and neglects migrant and asylum-seeking children. Each year, hundreds are detained in sordid conditions, without access to lawyers, and sometimes beaten. Others are left to fend for themselves, without any assistance with food or shelter.

 The Sierra Leone authorities should open a criminal investigation of a suspected arms supplier for his alleged involvement in international crimes during Sierra Leone’s civil war. This would be Sierra Leone’s first purely domestic prosecution in relation to war crimes or crimes against humanity committed during its 11-year armed conflict, which ended in 2002.  

Tanzanians who are most at risk of HIV face widespread police abuse and often can’t get help when they are victims of crime, Human Rights Watch and the Wake Up and Step Forward Coalition (WASO) said in a report released today.

The Somali parliament should revise the draft law establishing a national human rights commission to ensure a robust, independent body with a broad mandate and enforcement powers.

Human Rights Watch will present a photography exhibition, “Dowry – Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan,” from June 13 to 26, 2013. The exhibit, by the award-winning photographer Brent Stirton, will be at Lincoln Center during the annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Zimbabwe’s “unity government” should carry out reforms to ensure that state security forces conduct themselves in a non-partisan and professional manner before the country holds national elections in 2013, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

A Sudanese commander wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) led or participated in deadly attacks on ethnic Salamat communities in Central Darfur during April 2013. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the attackers appeared to include government forces using government weapons and equipment.

Kenyan police in Nairobi tortured, raped, and otherwise abused and arbitrarily detained at least 1,000 refugees between mid-November 2012 and late January 2013.

Many of the 1,429 households resettled to make way for Vale and Rio Tinto’s international coal mining operations in Tete province, Mozambique have faced serious disruptions in their access to food, water, and work. The Mozambican government’s speed in approving mining licenses and inviting billions of dollars in investment has outstripped the creation of adequate safeguards to protect directly affected populations.

Côte d’Ivoire’s government has made little progress in addressing root causes of the country’s decade of politico-military violence in the two years since President Alassane Ouattara’s inauguration on May 21, 2011. These problems threaten the country’s long-term stability despite a strong economic rebound.

Zambian authorities should dismiss all charges and release two men arrested for engaging in homosexual acts. The police should immediately cease forensic anal examinations, which are intrusive, invasive and constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in violation of international law.

Civil society groups from more than 30 African countries called on African Union (AU) member countries to ensure that the AU promotes justice for grave international crimes, in a letter to the foreign ministers of African Union member states which was made public by the groups today.  

Members of the Seleka rebel coalition, which ousted President François Bozizé of the Central African Republic on March 24, 2013, have committed grave violations against civilians, including pillage, summary executions, rape, and torture.

All warring parties in northern Mali are obligated to abide by the laws of war in the event of a Malian military offensive against opposition armed groups in the Kidal region. Past abuses have heightened concerns about the need for all armed forces to minimize harm to civilians and ensure the humane treatment of all prisoners, in accordance with the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law.

International donors meeting in London to discuss the new Somali government’s reform agenda should make accountability and women’s rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper sent to conference participants. On May 7, 2013, over 50 countries will convene to discuss the government’s strategic plans for justice, police, and army reform, prevention of sexual violence, and financial management.

Sudan should immediately stop censoring newspapers and end all forms of repression of media and journalists, on World Press Freedom Day.

Satellite images reveal massive destruction of civilian property from a military raid on April 16 and 17, 2013, in the northern Nigerian town of Baga, undermining the military’s claim that only 30 houses were destroyed. The Nigerian government should thoroughly and impartially investigate allegations that soldiers carried out widespread destruction and killing in the town.

Police and prosecutors in Uganda have turned a blind eye to the killings of at least nine people by security forces during protests in April 2011. Human Rights Watch issued a video in which relatives of the victims explain the impact on their families and their struggle to secure justice and compensation.

Kenya’s new administration should take urgent steps in four key areas to address longstanding human rights challenges, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The administration should ensure that abusive security forces are held to account, protect independent voices, accelerate key police and land reforms, and cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Malian government should take immediate action to address child labor in mining instead of denying it. Human Rights Watch published an in-depth report on the issue in December 2011, but Malian authorities attacked this research at a news conference earlier in April 2013 and rejected well-documented evidence that child labor is used in the country’s mines.

The adoption of a new media law by Burundi’s National Assembly on April 3, 2013, is an attempt to curtail free speech and independent journalism. The Senate and president should reject this version of the draft law, which would undermine Burundians’ hard-won struggle for fundamental freedoms.

The opening in Côte d’Ivoire on April 11, 2013, of trials against soldiers allegedly implicated in crimes against civilians is a positive development, but little progress has been made in investigating the most politically sensitive cases involving government forces.

President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, who are being sworn in April 9, 2013, should ensure full cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today. Their new government should also uphold and protect the bill of rights in Kenya’s constitution, Human Rights Watch said.  

The prosecution of 29 Muslim protest leaders and others charged under Ethiopia’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law raises serious fair trial concerns. The trial is scheduled to resume in Addis Ababa on April 2, 2013, after a 40-day postponement.

The government of Mali should investigate allegations that Malian soldiers tortured seven suspected supporters of Islamist armed groups in Léré, near Timbuktu.

The BRICS countries should call for an end to indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian-populated areas in Syria, and insist that cluster munitions and incendiary weapons should not be used. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are meeting in Durban for the annual BRICS summit on March 26 and 27, 2013.

The Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is on a plane to The Hague, where he will face justice at the International Criminal Court, almost seven years after the court issued its first arrest warrant against him.

The government of Zimbabwe should immediately end the police crackdown on civil society groups, which has intensified as the country prepares for national elections.

The World Bank’s board should support an internal investigation into allegations of abuse linked to a World Bank project in Ethiopia. The Inspection Panel, the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism, has recommended an investigation into whether it has violated its policies in a project linked to the Ethiopian government’s resettlement program, known as “villagization.”

Israeli authorities are threatening detained Eritrean and Sudanese nationals, including asylum seekers, with prolonged detention to pressure them to leave Israel, Human Rights Watch and the Hotline for Migrant Workers said today.

An appeals court’s ruling to uphold the conviction of a journalist who interviewed a woman alleging rape by government forces is a major setback for freedom of the media in Somalia. The woman, who had also been convicted of “insulting the government” and other alleged crimes, was found not guilty.

The Angolan police have arrested dozens of people who were victims of forced eviction and the demolition of their homes in early February 2013. They had lived in Maiombe, a peripheral neighborhood in Luanda, Angola’s capital. On February 23, security forces barred a delegation of the main opposition party, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), from meeting with and providing assistance to the community, and beat some of the delegates.

The Dutch government should not deport Somalis to any part of south-central Somalia, including Mogadishu, until security improves substantially, and the UN refugee agency has issued new guidelines.

Workers in the copper mining sector in Zambia remain vulnerable to abuse. New Human Rights Watch research found that the government of President Michael Sata, who promised to prioritize labor rights when he took office in September 2011, has made some improvements in supporting the oversight of the mines, but there remains inadequate enforcement of national labor laws designed to protect workers’ rights.

The government of Cameroon should immediately take action against a series of death threats made over the last four months to two lawyers who represent clients accused of homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to President Paul Biya. Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, Cameroonian human rights lawyers, began receiving death threats in October 2012, in the form of emails and text messages, assailing the lawyers for their work defending clients charged with homosexuality. Consensual same-sex conduct is criminalized under the Cameroonian penal code’s article 347 bis, and at least 28 people have been prosecuted under the law since 2010. Nkom and Togué are among the only lawyers courageous enough to take up these cases in a country where homophobia is pervasive.

The inauguration of a special court in Senegal marks a turning point in the long campaign to bring to justice the former dictator of Chad Hissène Habré.

The European Union (EU) should require tangible human rights reforms and free and fair elections before lifting targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe. The EU is expected to review its policy toward Zimbabwe in the coming two weeks.

The United States government should promptly carry out the recommendations of a United Nations committee of experts to improve protection of children abroad from armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report and recommendations to the US government on February 5, 2013.

Malian government forces summarily executed at least 13 suspected Islamist supporters and forcibly disappeared five others from the garrison town of Sévaré and in Konna during January 2013. Islamist armed groups in Konna executed at least seven Malian soldiers, five of whom were wounded, and used children as soldiers in combat.

(Johannesburg) – In 2012, South Africa faced one of its most challenging years for protecting human rights since the birth of constitutional democracy in 1994, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013. Three worrisome developments in particular emerged. The adoption of the Protection of State Information Bill by the National Council of Provinces in 2012, that would most likely be approved by the National Assembly in 2013, threatens freedom of expression and the free exchange of information. The tragic killings at Lonmin Platinum Mine in August 2012 amounted to the failure to uphold and protect security of the person and the right to life. Thirdly, the proposed Traditional Courts bill would be a blow to the right to equality if it is promulgated into law.

Somali authorities should drop politically motivated charges against five people including a journalist and a woman who alleged she was raped by state security forces.

Somali authorities should immediately release a journalist and three others linked to the case of a woman who reported being raped by state security forces, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Human Rights Watch said today. The detainees have now been held for more than a week – one for 12 days – without charge.

The African Union (AU) should make human rights central to its discussions about crises situations in Africa at its summit meeting this week in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to the AU chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The Ordinary Summit begins on January 21, 2013, and AU heads of state are due to meet on January 27 and 28 in Addis Ababa.

The Kenyan government has discriminated based on ethnicity in assisting displaced people from the Rift Valley. The discriminatory practices are stoking inter-ethnic tensions ahead of the March 2013 elections.

International mining firms rushing to invest in Eritrea’s burgeoning minerals sector risk involvement in serious abuses unless they take strong preventive measures. The failure of the Vancouver-based company Nevsun Resources to ensure that forced labor would not be used during construction of its Eritrea mine, and its limited ability to deal with forced labor allegations when they arose, highlight the risk.

The Somali authorities should release a journalist and two other people linked to a woman who alleged being raped by state security forces. Police in Mogadishu have detained freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim without charge for prolonged interrogations since January 10, 2013.