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  • UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Syria
    Oral statement
    Jun 4, 2013
    Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by the escalating level of violence in Syria.In particular, we express grave concern for the safety of the remaining civilian population in al-Qusayr as well as wounded and captured fighters on all sides. Local opposition activists told Human Rights Watch that recent government attacks on fleeing civilians, including a reported attack on May 31, have made it difficult to escape and put remaining civilians, including many wounded, at great risk.
  • Tunisia: Bystanders Shot in Clash with Police
    Press release
    Jun 3, 2013
    Several apparent bystanders were shot as police used force to suppress violent protests in Tunis on May 19, 2013. One person was killed and at least three were severely injured.
  • Prevent 'Killer Robots' Deciding When to Kill on Battlefield
    Commentary
    May 30, 2013
    It is clear that many countries are moving toward systems that would give full combat autonomy to the high-tech machines of the future.
  • US: Take Lead Against Lethal Robotic Weapons
    Press release
    May 28, 2013

    The United States should endorse the call by a United Nations (UN) special rapporteur to halt fully autonomous robotic weapons.

  • Yemen: Investigate, Respond to Landmine Use Reports
    Press release
    May 27, 2013

    The government of Yemen should investigate and respond to allegations that the Republican Guards laid banned antipersonnel landmines at a location north of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2011.

  • Compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty
    Oral statement
    May 27, 2013

    Steve Goose, arms division director, delivered a statement on compliance at the Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Standing Committee Meetings in Geneva.

  • Yemen: Letter to Defense Minister Calls on Government to Investigate, Respond to Landmine Use Reports
    Letter
    May 21, 2013

    On May 21, 2013, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Minister of Defense of Yemen to request information regarding allegations indicating that Republican Guard forces emplaced antipersonnel landmines in 2011 around military camps they maintain in the Bani Jarmooz area near Sana’a and have since resisted the removal of these prohibited munitions although they have caused civilian casualties, including children. 

  • Israel: Strengthen White Phosphorus Phase-Out
    Press release
    May 18, 2013
    Israel should strengthen an announced reduction of its military use of white phosphorus munitions by banning all use of “air-burst” white phosphorus munitions in populated areas without exception. Human Rights Watch has also urged all countries to make white phosphorus illegal when used as an incendiary weapon.
  • Arms/US: Endorse Recommendations of Heyns Report on Lethal Autonomous Robotics
    Letter
    May 14, 2013

    Human Rights Watch calls on the United States to welcome the Heyns report on lethal autonomous robotics and endorse its four recommendations, which in effect urge all states to take steps similar to those the United States is already committing to take on fully autonomous weapons.

  • Syria: New Air, Missile Strikes Kill Civilians
    Press release
    Apr 26, 2013
    New Syrian government air and missile strikes are causing high civilian casualties in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo in violation of the laws of war. A Human Rights Watch team in northern Aleppo province has investigated recent attacks that killed scores of civilians and destroyed dozens of civilian homes without damaging any apparent opposition military targets.
  • US: Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on "Targeted Killing"
    Testimony
    Apr 23, 2013
    On April 23, 2013, the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights held a hearing entitled “Drone Wars: The Constitutional and Counterterrorism Implications of Targeted Killing”. Letta Tayler, Senior Researcher in the Terrorism/Counterterrorism Division submitted the following testimony for the record.
  • Arms: New Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
    Press release
    Apr 23, 2013

    Civil society will lead the way to press governments to ban fully autonomous weapons

  • Why So Many Syrians Wish For Rain
    Commentary
    Apr 16, 2013
    Life in Aleppo is not easy. People here have suffered from shortages of food, electricity and running water, and there has been little humanitarian assistance. The long, cold winter months were particularly rough. The only possible consolation was that there were fewer air strikes because of the cloudy, rainy weather. The government’s jets only seem to fly – and drop bombs – when the sky is blue.
  • US: Ban Fully Autonomous Weapons
    Press release
    Apr 16, 2013

    Temporary US restrictions on lethal fully autonomous weapons should be strengthened and made permanent.

  • Review of the 2012 US Policy on Autonomy in Weapons Systems
    Backgrounder Briefing
    Apr 15, 2013

    On November 21, 2012, the US Department of Defense issued its first public policy on autonomy in weapons systems. Directive Number 3000.09 (the Directive) lays out guidelines for the development and use of autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems by the Department of Defense.

  • Syria: Aerial Attacks Strike Civilians
    Press release
    Apr 10, 2013
    The Syrian Air Force has repeatedly carried out indiscriminate, and in some cases deliberate, air strikes against civilians. These attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war), and people who commit such violations with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes.
  • US: Move Drone Strike Program to Military
    Press release
    Mar 21, 2013
    A reported plan to transfer the United States targeted killing program from the Central Intelligence Agency to the Defense Department could improve transparency and accountability, though a number of other concerns with the program would remain.
  • Syria: Mounting Casualties from Cluster Munitions
    Press release
    Mar 16, 2013

    Syrian forces’ use of cluster munitionsin residential areas is causing mounting civilian casualties. An initial review of available information has identified at least 119 locations across Syriawhere at least 156 cluster bombs have been used in the past six months.  

  • Time for US to embrace ban on landmines
    Commentary
    Mar 4, 2013

    The US is already acting like it has given up antipersonnel landmines – so why doesn't Nobel peace laureate Barack Obama turn it into formally declared policy by ratifying the Mine Ban Treaty?

     

  • United States: The Time has Come to Ban Landmines
    Press release
    Mar 1, 2013

    The Obama administration, which is poised to make a decision on future US policy on landmines, should at long last embrace the ban on antipersonnel landmines.

  • A Dangerous Model
    Commentary
    Feb 1, 2013
    The US should reveal its legal rationale for drone attacks.
  • Joint letter to protest the use of cluster bombs in Syria
    Letter
    Feb 1, 2013
    We, the citizens of Japan, deeply regret that a large number of Syrian citizens have been victimized in the recent conflict that has been escalating since March 2011. We hope the conflict to end promptly without further sacrifice in our friendly nation of Syria.
  • The gruesome toll of deadly cluster bombs in Syria
    Commentary
    Jan 16, 2013

    It was cloudy the afternoon of January 3 when residents say the cluster bombs fell on the Syrian town of Latamneh. Three rockets containing the cluster munitions fell in nearby fields, apparently doing no harm, but a fourth landed on the street between residential buildings. Its impact was devastating.

  • Syria: Army Using New Type of Cluster Munition
    Press release
    Jan 14, 2013

    Syrian forces are using notoriously indiscriminate rockets that contain explosive submunitions. Evidence indicates that Syrian forces used BM-21 Grad multi-barrel rocket launchers to deliver cluster munitions in attacks near the city of Idlib in December 2012 and in Latamneh, a town northwest of Hama, on January 3, 2013.