• US: 9th Circuit Decision a Victory for Rights
    Press release
    Feb 7, 2012
    The February 7 decision by a federal appeals court to declare unconstitutional California’s Proposition 8, a successful ballot measure which banned same-sex marriage in 2008, is an important victory for human rights.
  • US: Proposed Rules Would Save Child Farmworker Lives
    Press release
    Feb 2, 2012
    The rules are intended to make paid farm work safer for the hundreds of thousands of children in the United States who labor in agriculture. They would not apply to children working on their parents’ farms.
  • Give child offenders chance at rehabilitation
    Commentary
    Feb 2, 2012
    Virginia should not move in the direction of treating child sex offenders the same as adult offenders. Instead, the state should stand by its commitment to offer young offenders a chance at rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
  • US: U-Visa Provisions in the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act
    Letter
    Feb 2, 2012
    In anticipation of the Committee’s consideration of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act tomorrow, Human Rights Watch writes to express our strongest support for expanding and improving the protections afforded to immigrant victims of crime by the U-visa.
  • US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring
    Press release
    Jan 26, 2012
    Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.
  • US: End Life Without Parole for Juvenile Offenders
    Amicus briefing
    Jan 26, 2012
    Human Rights Watch joined 25 other institutions in filing an amicus brief before the US Supreme Court in the upcoming cases of Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Arkansas. It argues that international practice, opinion, and treaty obligations support holding all life without parole sentences for juveniles unconstitutional.
  • US/New York: Discipline Police Showing Anti-Muslim Film
    Press release
    Jan 26, 2012
    New York City officials should order a full investigation into the showing of an anti-Muslim film during police training and take appropriate action against all those responsible.
  • Alabama: An Important Lesson for Presidential Candidates
    Commentary
    Jan 25, 2012
    Most Americans don’t want their country to end up like Alabama. The Republican presidential candidates should heed them, and whoever wins the election this November should work with Congress to do what is in their power: pass smart, humane, and effective immigration reform.
  • New, unneeded obstacles to abortion
    Commentary
    Jan 22, 2012
    A federal appeals court this month upheld a Texas law that requires a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram, forces doctors to describe that sonogram in detail to her and then requires that she wait 24 hours before she can undergo the procedure.
  • Written Testimony for Hearing on Prostitution-Free Zone Amendment Act of 2011
    Letter
    Jan 19, 2012