Raúl Castro's government has locked up scores of people for exercising their fundamental freedoms and allowed scores more political prisoners arrested during Fidel Castro's rule to languish in detention. Rather than dismantle Cuba's repressive machinery, Raúl Castro has kept it firmly in place and fully active.

The United States should ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is supported by nearly every other nation in the world, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have failed to ratify the Convention, which was adopted 20 years ago, on November 20, 1989

An Italian court’s conviction of 23 agents of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for kidnapping is an historic repudiation of the CIA’s crimes. The Milan court also found that two Italian officials illegally collaborated in CIA abuses.

Yesterday the US Congress gravely insulted hundreds of civilians who were wounded or killed in the most recent war in the Middle East.

The verdict expected Wednesday in a landmark case may present a historic legal challenge to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) rendition program.

We are writing to urge the United States to participate in the Second Review Conference of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which opens in Cartagena, Colombia on November 30, 2009. Human Rights Watch recommends that the United States initiate a review of US policy on joining the Mine Ban Treaty and reengage on this issue by participating in the Cartagena Summit. We urge the US to fulfill its long-held intention to join the Mine Ban Treaty.

The United States should participate in a milestone meeting of the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines and make a commitment to the join the agreement.

The Obama administration's new Sudan policy, announced this morning, represents a positive step toward improving human rights and securing justice in Sudan. The policy aims to end conflict in Darfur and ensure implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.