Video

  • A Heavy Price: Lead Poisoning and Gold Mining in Zamfara State
    February 6, 2012
    Thousands of children in northern Nigeria need immediate medical treatment and dozens of villages remain contaminated two years into the worst lead poisoning epidemic in modern history, Human Rights Watch said today while releasing a video on the issue. Four hundred children have died, according to official estimates, yet environmental cleanup efforts have not even begun in numerous affected villages.
  • Burma Releases Political Prisoners
    January 20, 2012
    Burma's government has finally heeded international calls to release political prisoners. Photographer James Mackay was at the Rangoon airport on January 13 to document the homecoming of some of the country's most prominent activists. Human Rights Watch's Elaine Pearson reports.
  • Mexico's 'War on Drugs'
    December 27, 2011
    Through in-depth research in five states, Human Rights Watch documented scores of cases of disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture carried out by security forces. Virtually none of these cases is being adequately investigated—not in the military or civilian justice systems. Nor is the government investigating most of the 45,000-plus homicides allegedly tied to organized crime. And the impunity for these crimes has contributed to an environment of lawlessness in many parts of the country, making for a counterproductive public security strategy.
  • Syria - "Shoot to Kill" Orders
    December 15, 2011
    Researcher Anna Neistat and an army defector talk about the Syrian military's attacks on civilians, which HRW believes constitute crimes against humanity.
  • Russia: A Voice of Discontent
    December 13, 2011
    On December 10, 2011, over 50,000 people assembled for a protest rally in central Moscow, just a bridge away from the Kremlin. The scope of this demonstration was unprecedented for "Putin's Russia." Overwhelmed by the dramatic rise in protest mood following the December 4, 2011 parliamentary election, the authorities did not interfere with the event. Demonstrators wore white ribbons on their coats and carried white flowers to symbolize peaceful protest. Democrats, communists, anarchists, radical lefties, and people with no political convictions came together to assert their right to make an electoral choice and their fundamental democratic liberties. Thousands of Russians made it clear that they would no longer tolerate being ignored.
  • Homs, Syria - Update
    November 10, 2011
    Human Rights Watch's Nadim Houry says Homs, Syria, has emerged as a center of opposition to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. A new report from Human Rights Watch focuses on violations by Syrian security forces, including the deaths of at least 587 civilians, the highest number of casualties for any single governorate in Syria.
  • Rights Groups Urge Rejection of Indefinite Detention Legislation
    October 21, 2011
    The US Congress should reject provisions in a defense spending bill that would permit long-term indefinite detention without trial of terrorism suspects. Human Rights Watch, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First, released this video today showing that such legislation would repeat broadly recognized mistakes of the past.
  • Laos: Inside a Drug Detention Center
    October 10, 2011
    The Somsanga Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Laos has received a decade of international support from the United States, the United Nations, and other donors. But inside the center, detainees are held without due process, and many are locked in cells inside barbed wire compounds. Joseph Amon, director of health and human rights at Human Rights Watch, reports.
  • The Rehab Archipelago: Abuses in Vietnam Drug Detention Centers
    October 4, 2011
    Human Rights Watch has found that tens of thousands of people in government-run drug detention centers in Vietnam are held without due process for years, forced to work for little or no pay, and suffer torture and physical violence. Government-run drug detention centers, mandated to “treat” and ”rehabilitate” drug users, are little more than forced labor camps where drug users work six days a week processing cashews, sewing garments, or manufacturing other items. Refusing to work, or violating center rules, results in punishment that in some cases is torture.
  • Philippines: Extrajudicial Killings
    September 8, 2011
    Philippines President Benigno Aquino III was elected on a human rights platform. He said he'd end extrajudicial killings and hold the military accountable for abuses. But as HRW's Jessica Evans reports, that's not what's happened.