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  • Mozambique: Protect the Rights of Farmers Resettled for Coal Mines
    May 22, 2013
    Many of the 1,429 households resettled to make way for Vale and Rio Tinto’s international coal mining operations in Tete province, Mozambique have faced serious disruptions in their access to food, water, and work. The Mozambican government’s speed in approving mining licenses and inviting billions of dollars in investment has outstripped the creation of adequate safeguards to protect directly affected populations.
  • Cameroon: Abuses in 'Homosexuality' Prosecutions
    March 21, 2013
    Cameroon prosecutes people for consensual same-sex conduct more aggressively than almost any country in the world, four human rights organizations said in a report released today. The organizations -- Alternatives-Cameroun, Association for the Defense of Gays and Lesbians (ADEFHO), the Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), and Human Rights Watch -- found that at least 28 people have been prosecuted for same-sex conduct in Cameroon since 2010. Most cases are marked by grave human rights violations, including torture, forced confessions, denial of access to legal counsel, and discriminatory treatment by law enforcement and judicial officials.
  • Child Marriage: South Sudan
    March 6, 2013
    The government of South Sudan should increase efforts to protect girls from child marriage. The country's widespread child marriage exacerbates South Sudan's pronounced gender gaps in school enrollment, contributes to soaring maternal mortality rates, and violates the right of girls to be free from violence, and to marry only when they are able and willing to give their free consent.
  • Syria: Missiles Kill More Than 140
    February 28, 2013
    The Syrian government launched at least four ballistic missiles that struck populated areas in the city of Aleppo and a town in Aleppo governorate during the week of February 17, 2013. The attacks killed more than 141 people, including 71 children, and caused immense physical destruction.
  • Indonesia: Violence Against Religious Minorities
    February 27, 2013
    The Indonesian government is failing to protect the country's religious minorities from growing religious intolerance and violence, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should respond much more decisively and adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for attacks on religious minority communities.
  • Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil Detainees
    February 26, 2013
    Sri Lankan security forces have been using rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). While widespread rape in custody occurred during the armed conflict that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch found that politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present.
  • Cameroon: Stop Threats to Lawyers
    February 14, 2013
    The government of Cameroon should immediately take action against a series of death threats made over the last four months to two lawyers who represent clients accused of homosexual conduct. Alice Nkom and Michel Togué, Cameroonian human rights lawyers, began receiving death threats in October 2012, in the form of emails and text messages, assailing the lawyers for their work defending clients charged with homosexuality. Nkom and Togué are among the only lawyers courageous enough to take up these cases in a country where homophobia is pervasive.
  • Yemen: Unpunished Massacre
    February 12, 2013
    The Friday of Dignity massacre, in which gunmen in civilian clothing opened fire with military assault rifles on a largely peaceful protest rally, was the single deadliest attack on demonstrators of Yemen's 2011 uprising. The attack killed at least 45 protesters, three of them juveniles, and wounded up to 200 others. It marked a turning point in the movement against President Saleh, prompting the defection of dozens of government officials and diplomats, and assumed symbolic importance within the protest movement because of the brazen character of the shootings and the high death toll. Investigators never questioned top officials in the criminal investigation by Yemen's previous government into the shooting of demonstrators during the attack, which took place on March 18, 2011.
  • People & Power: The 2014 Sochi Olympics
    February 8, 2013
    In February and March 2014, Russia will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the city of Sochi. With the awarding of the Olympics, Sochi has undergone a transformation that will turn it into what Russian officials describe as a "premier winter sports destination," with gleaming new Olympic venues being built both in Sochi and the nearby Caucasus Mountains. But this transformation has also come at a cost to many Sochi residents and many of the migrant workers who have arrived in Russia to help build the new Sochi. In undertaking to host the Olympic Games, Russia committed to uphold the Olympic Charter's principles of "human dignity." Russian authorities should not allow the Olympic preparations to become a source of repression.
  • Facing Justice
    February 8, 2013
    The inauguration of a special court in Senegal marks a turning point in the long campaign to bring to justice the former dictator of Chad Hissène Habré. Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture during his presidency, from 1982 to 1990. He has been living in exile in Senegal for more than 22 years.