Content in Other Languages

February 1, 1994

The War Crimes Tribunal One Year Later

On February 22, 1993, the U.N. Security Council promised to create an international tribunal to try accused war criminals in the former Yugoslavia, but a year later the tribunal appeared to be part of a pattern of empty threats and broken promises.
February 1, 1994

Final Justice

Police and Death Squad Homicides of Adolescents in Brazil

Despite the considerable attention that has been brought to homicides of adolescents, impunity for those responsible for these abuses has in most respects, continued to prevail.
February 1, 1994

Venezuela: Prison Massacre in Maracaibo

On January 3, 1994, a massacre in a Venezuelan prison left more than one hundred inmates dead and scores injured. While security personnel stood by, a group of prisoners set fire to a prison building, then shot and stabbed prisoners who tried to escape the inferno.
February 1, 1994

A Ruling Inspired by US Anti-Pornography Activists is Used to Restrict Lesbian and Gay Publications in Canada

A campaign to curb pornography has backfired dangerously in Canada, leading not toward its ostensible goal of gender equality, but to a weakening of fundamental liberties for women and gay men. The cornerstone of this campaign is R. v. Butler, an anti-pornography decision issued by the Canadian Supreme Court in 1992 that sets forth a litmus test for determining obscenity and has been used to prosecute a lesbian magazine, to destroy books intended for gay consumers, and to confiscate an array of political and erotic works.
February 1, 1994

Cuba: Stifling Dissent in the Midst of Crisis

This report provides an update on the human rights situation in Cuba. Again this last year, Human Rights Watch/Americas (formerly Americas Watch) has been handicapped in monitoring Cuba because of the regime's refusal to allow us to visit the country, to conduct inquiries and talk to victims, and to engage in a dialogue with the authorities.
January 31, 1994

Trafficking of Burmese Women and Girls into Brothels in Thailand

The Thai government is guilty of complicity in the trafficking of Burmese women and girls into Thailand for forced prostitution, according to A Modern Form of Slavery, released today by Human Rights Watch. The 160-page report documents the direct involvement of Thai police and border guards in the illicit sex trade, and the Thai government's routine failure to punish its own officials and others who engage in or profit from this abuse. It concludes that in 1993 alone the Royal Thai Government, rather than punishing officials and other traffickers, has wrongfully arrested and deported hundreds of Burmese victims, in clear violation of Thailand's obligations under national and international law. Human Rights Watch urges the Chuan administration to investigate and prosecute officials and other traffickers, to stop the unwarranted arrest and deportation of trafficking victims and to ensure the women and girls' safe return to Burma.
January 1, 1994

Human Rights in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Facing serious problems, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is making the difficult transition from communism to democracy and a free market economy. It also faces the possibility of the Bosnian war overtaking the region.
January 1, 1994

Indonesia: New Developments on Labor Rights

Even as the Indonesian government repealed a controversial decree and stated it's concern for the welfare of workers, we continued to receive reports of labor rights violations. These violations include the harassment of union members and reports of bonded labor in Irian Jaya.
January 1, 1994

Human Rights Abuses in Algeria

No One Is Spared

The Algerian government and the armed Islamist opposition it is fighting are each responsible for a severe deterioration in human rights conditions.
January 1, 1994

Arming Rwanda

The Arms Trade and Human Rights Abuses in the Rwandan War

On October 1990, the Rwandese Patriotic Front launched an invasion from neighboring Uganda, aimed at overthrowing the Rwandan government. While the war has stopped in an uneasy peace, an estimated 4,500 people died in the conflict and nearly one million civilians are refugees.