• UN Human Rights Council: Yemen Resolution Falls Far Short
    Oct 1, 2011
    The United Nations Human Rights Council’s weak response to the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Yemen betrays the Yemeni people. The Council, whose current session ended on September 30, 2011, adopted a resolution on Yemen that fails to push for either an international investigation into recent abuses or an ongoing human rights monitoring presence in the country.
  • UN Human Rights Council: Build on Recent Successes
    Sep 22, 2011

    The UN Human Rights Council should build on successes of the past year by continuing to improve its response to human rights violations around the world, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Since July 2010, the Council has established international investigations on Libya, Syria, and Côte d’Ivoire, appointed an expert to investigate human rights in Iran, and spoken out after years of silence on human rights abuses in Belarus. 

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Reports

HRC

  • Universal Periodic Review of Brazil
    Jan 5, 2012
    Brazil’s congress adopted a law on October 25, 2011expanding public access to government information, implementing a recommendation accepted by Brazil during the previous UPR cycle. However, other serious concerns addressed by the UPR recommendations –all of them being accepted by Brazil in 2008 – require further measures by the Dilma Rousseff administration. Faced with high levels of violent crime, some Brazilian police units throughout the country engage in abusive practices with impunity, instead of pursuing sound policing practices. Many Brazilian prisons and jails are severely overcrowded and experience high levels of violence. Torture is a chronic problem at certain detention centers and police stations in various states. There has also been little progress in prosecuting those responsible for atrocities committed by state agents during the military dictatorship period from 1964 to 1985.
  • United Nations: Landmark Report by High Commissioner for Human Rights on Discriminatory Laws and Practices and Acts of Violence Against Individuals Based on Their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
    Dec 20, 2011
    On December 15, 2011 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council documenting discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The report also shows how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • Indonesia: UPR Submission November 2011
    Nov 22, 2011

     

    Although Indonesia has made great strides in consolidating a stable, democratic government with a strong civil society and independent media since the previous UPR in 2008, serious human rights concerns remain. While senior officials pay lip service to protecting human rights, they seem unwilling to take the steps necessary to ensure compliance by the security forces with international human rights and to appropriately punish those responsible for abuses. Violence by various groups continued to rack the provinces of Papua and West Papua, with few effective police investigations to hold the perpetrators accountable.

  • Testimony of Peggy Hicks before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
    Oct 25, 2011

    A little more than two years ago Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision by the United States to seek a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. Having worked to advance human rights at the Council since its creation in 2006, we were intimately familiar with its shortcomings.

  • UN Human Rights Council: Yemen Resolution Falls Far Short
    Oct 1, 2011
    The United Nations Human Rights Council’s weak response to the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Yemen betrays the Yemeni people. The Council, whose current session ended on September 30, 2011, adopted a resolution on Yemen that fails to push for either an international investigation into recent abuses or an ongoing human rights monitoring presence in the country.
  • Statement to the UN Human Rights Council on Cambodia
    Sep 28, 2011

    Human Rights Watch would like to welcome the report of the Special Rapporteur on Cambodia. We share many of the Special Rapporteur’s concerns, particularly on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Prime Minister Hun Sen's government has used arbitrary arrests, grossly unfair trials, and the threat of abusive new laws to undermine the basic rights of dissidents, workers and farmers engaged in peaceful protest, human rights advocates, and opposition party members. 

  • Statement to the UN Human Rights Council on Somalia
    Sep 28, 2011

    The new report by the Independent Expert on Somalia highlights the need for the Human Rights Council to encourage UN member states and key human rights entities such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to step up its engagement on human rights in Somalia. 

  • UN Human Rights Council: Build on Recent Successes
    Sep 22, 2011

    The UN Human Rights Council should build on successes of the past year by continuing to improve its response to human rights violations around the world, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Since July 2010, the Council has established international investigations on Libya, Syria, and Côte d’Ivoire, appointed an expert to investigate human rights in Iran, and spoken out after years of silence on human rights abuses in Belarus. 

  • Singapore: Adopt UN Rights Recommendations
    Sep 21, 2011

    Singapore should accept recommendations from other states on crucial civil and political rights issues given during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

  • UN Rights Council: Act on Sri Lanka Report
    Sep 13, 2011
    The United Nations Human Rights Council should act on the recommendations in a report commissioned by the UN Secretary-General detailing grave abuses during the final months of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.
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