Racism and Human Rights

Middle East and North Africa

Human Rights Watch publications that address issues of discrimination based on race, caste, ethnicity, and other forms of descent.


Iran

Religious and Ethnic Minorities: Discrimination in Law and Practice, September 1997
The situation of religious and ethnic minorities is a neglected aspect of the human rights picture in Iran. With the exception of the persecution of the Baha'i religious minority, little has been written about human rights problems experienced by minorities. Yet, as this report shows, ethnic and religious differences underlie some of the most persistent and serious human rights problems in Iran today. (E907) 36 pp., £5.00/£2.95


Iraq

Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds, July 1993
A narrative account of the Iraqi government's organized attempt to eradicate the Kurds living in northern Iraq, this report captures in riveting detail the multiple phases of the Anfal campaign. Over almost two years, Human Rights Watch analyzed tons of captured Iraqi government documents and carried out field interviews with more than 350 witnesses, most of them survivors of the 1988 campaign. As a result of this painstaking work, we conclude that the Iraqi regime committed the crime of genocide. (1088) 400 pp., $20.00/£14.95


Israel

A License to Kill:Israeli Undercover Operations Against "Wanted" and Masked Palestinians, August 1993
Undercover units of the Israeli army have been responsible for over 120 killings in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1988. Many of the victims were shot while posing no serious imminent threat to soldiers or others. Human Rights Watch charged that unjustified killings by undercover units were not aberrations; rather they constituted a pattern that could only continue with the complicity of the Israeli government. (1096) 288 pp., $15.00/£12.95

Isolation of Jerursalem: Restrictions on Movement Causing Severe Hardship in Occupied Territories, April 1993
The hardships caused by Israel's indefinite ban on the entry of nearly all the 1.8 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel and annexed East Jerusalem included the abrupt loss of income for some 100,000 Palestinians; lack of access to hospitals, mosques, and other vital institutions; the division of the occupied territories into four sectors; and a drastic reduction in visits by lawyers to Palestinians incarcerated in Israel. (E501) 9 pp., $3.00/£1.95


Kuwait

The Bedoons of Kuwait: "Citizens without Citizenship", August 1995
Kuwait practices a system of institutionalized discrimination against its residents known as Bedoons, longtime inhabitants who have been denied Kuwaiti citizenship and are now being rendered stateless. Barred from employment, denied education for their children, restricted in their movements, and living under the constant threat of arbitrary arrest and deportation, Bedoons are a community of "have nots" in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. (1568) 120 pp., $10.00/£8.95

Punishing the Victim: Rape and Mistreatment of Asian Maids in Kuwait , June 1992
(E408) 44 pp., $5.00/£2.95


Syria

The Silenced Kurds, October 1996
Kurds are the largest non-Arab ethnic minority in Syria. This report documents the situation of stateless Syrian-born Kurds, who have been denied the right to Syrian nationality in violation of international law. These Kurds, who have no claim to a nationality other than Syrian, are literally trapped in Syria: not only are they treated in a discriminatory fashion in the land of their birth, but also they do not have the option of relocating to another country because they lack passports or other internationally recognized travel documents. (E804) 63 pp., $7.00/£5.95



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