• US/Burma: Don’t Lift Sanctions Too Soon
    Press release
    May 15, 2012
    The US government should not ease sanctions on business activities in Burma until adequate safeguards are in place to prevent new investment from fueling human rights abuses.
  • Justice Cheated
    Commentary
    May 6, 2012
    As I sat in the Guantánamo courtroom this weekend for the arraignment of the five leading suspects, the alleged masterminds of the September 11th attacks, I couldn’t help but feel cheated.
  • US: ‘Targeted Killing’ Policy Disregards Human Rights Law
    Written statement
    May 1, 2012
    Human Rights Watch responded to a statement made by chief US counterterrorism advisor John Brennan on April 30, 2012, that sought to clarify and justify the US use of aerial drones in targeted killings in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.
  • Uzbekistan: End Forced, Child Labor in Cotton Fields
    Press release
    Apr 25, 2012
    US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should urge the Uzbek government to take immediate steps to end forced labor, including the state-sponsored mobilization of children, in the cotton sector, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations said today in a letter to Clinton.
  • Uzbekistan: Joint Letter to Secretary Clinton regarding State-Sponsored Forced Labor and Child Labor
    Letter
    Apr 24, 2012
    We write to ask that, as part of your ongoing advocacy on behalf of human rights around the world, you urge the government of Uzbekistan to immediately take the appropriate steps to abide by its international commitments to end state-sponsored forced labor and child labor, beginning with an invitation to the International Labour Organization (ILO) to monitor the 2012 cotton harvest.
  • US: Transfer CIA Drone Strikes to Military
    Press release
    Apr 20, 2012
    Remarks by a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official suggesting the agency is not legally bound by the laws of war underscore the urgent need for the Obama administration to transfer command of all aerial drone strikes to the armed forces.
  • US: Follow Up Rebuke to Syria on Landmines
    Press release
    Apr 4, 2012

    The United States should act on its recent condemnation of Syria’s use of antipersonnel landmines by joining the international ban on these weapons.

  • Getting children off the battlefield
    Commentary
    Feb 13, 2012
    The experience of the last decade, shows that the governments and groups still using child soldiers are increasingly considered pariahs, and that strategic pressure and the new consensus of international law can protect children from war. The challenge now is to build on the momentum that exists, and to make better use of the existing tools — including sanctions, prosecutions, and UN negotiations — to persuade the remaining outliers that children have no place in war.
  • US: Wrong Time for Bahrain Arms Deal
    Press release
    Feb 8, 2012
    The Obama administration’s decision to move forward on a $1 million arms sale to Bahrain sends the wrong signal to a country that is engaged in serious human rights abuses.
  • US: End CIA Drone Attacks
    Press release
    Dec 19, 2011
    The US government should transfer Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) command of aerial drone strikes to the armed forces and clarify its legal rationale for targeted killings, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Barack Obama and in a questions and answers document. A dramatic increase in the use of CIA drone strikes underscores the need for the US to demonstrate that the CIA adheres to international legal requirements for accountability, Human Rights Watch said.