Since September 2011, Sudanese government forces have bombed indiscriminately across Blue Nile State, spreading palpable fear among civilians who live there. Government bombardments and ground attacks have killed and maimed scores of civilians, and displaced tens of thousands of women, men and children. Women have been forced from their villages into the bush, where they no longer have access to hospitals or health care providers -- even for childbirth. Women and girls who are able to flee the country have had to walk for days and weeks carrying their children and property, while under threat of attack from government forces and militias. Once the women and girls reach the refugee camps in South Sudan, their struggle continues. With limited means to support themselves, women and girls are at risk of sexual violence from soldiers and other men in host communities when collecting firewood outside the camps to cook food.

Workers in many leather tanneries in the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, including children as young as 11, become ill because of exposure to hazardous chemicals and are injured in horrific workplace accidents. The tanneries, which export hundreds of millions of dollars in leather for luxury goods throughout the world, spew pollutants into surrounding communities. Human Rights Watch documents an occupational health and safety crisis among tannery workers, both men and women, including skin diseases and respiratory illnesses caused by exposure to tanning chemicals, and limb amputations caused by accidents in dangerous tannery machinery. Residents of Hazaribagh slums complain of illnesses such as fevers, skin diseases, respiratory problems, and diarrhea, caused by the extreme tannery pollution of air, water, and soil. The government has not protected the right to health of the workers and residents, has consistently failed to enforce labor or environmental laws in Hazaribagh, and has ignored High Court orders to clean up these tanneries. Under international law, the government is required to take reasonable steps to protect the right to health of everyone in its territory.

Hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in Bahrain face exploitation and abuse despite government reforms intended to protect them. Human Rights Watch documented the many forms of abuse and exploitation suffered by migrant workers in Bahrain and details the government's efforts to provide redress and strengthen worker protections. Human Rights Watch found that authorities enforce some safeguards, but have not adequately carried out several other worker protections, such as those against withholding wages, charging recruitment fees, and confiscating passports. All of these practices make it harder for workers to leave abusive work situations. Bahrain has just over 458,000 migrant workers. Most are employed in low-skill, low-wage jobs in construction, trade, manufacturing, and domestic work.

Government forces and other armed groups deployed in schools in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, are putting tens of thousands of students at risk and undermining education. The troops and armed groups were deployed during the 2011-2012 uprising, which ended the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Forces on both sides used schools as barracks, bases, surveillance posts, and firing positions. Combatants also stored weapons and ammunition, detained prisoners, and in some cases tortured or otherwise abused detainees on school grounds or in school buildings, in some cases as teachers and students looked on. In some instances, the forces inside schools came under attack while students and teachers were present. Yemen, which already has the lowest rates of literacy in the Middle East and some of the lowest rates of school enrollment in the world, should prohibit the deployment of armed forces and groups in schools where it violates international law and endangers the lives of students, teachers and school administrators throughout the country.