• Press release
    Apr 22, 2013
    Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan’s highly repressive policies are coming up for rare international scrutiny on April 22 and 24, 2013. United Nations member countries gathering at the Human Rights Council in Geneva under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure should seize the opportunity to expose and denounce the ongoing repression in both countries and press for concrete steps to end abuses.
  • Press release
    Apr 18, 2013
    The Malian government should take immediate action to address child labor in mining instead of denying it. Human Rights Watch published an in-depth report on the issue in December 2011, but Malian authorities attacked this research at a news conference earlier in April 2013 and rejected well-documented evidence that child labor is used in the country’s mines.
  • Commentary
    Apr 16, 2013
  • Press release
    Apr 16, 2013
    The Ukrainian parliament should reject two draft laws that would discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and infringe on their free expression rights.
  • Commentary
    Apr 11, 2013
  • Letter
    Apr 5, 2013
    Human Rights Watch urged the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee to oppose Senate Bill (SB) 1350, Criminal Penalties. HRW believes that this bill is in violation of international human rights law.
  • Commentary
    Apr 4, 2013
    Last June, the Philippine delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council was an embarrassing no-show during an important vote on human rights abuses in Syria.
  • Press release
    Apr 2, 2013
    President François Hollande of France should press for further human rights reforms in Morocco during his first state visit to this longtime French ally. Hollande is expected to meet with King Mohammed VI in Rabat and address the parliament while in the country on April 3 and 4, 2013. Several French ministers are scheduled to accompany the president, including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Najat Vallaud Belkacem, the minister of women’s rights and government spokesperson.
  • Commentary
    Mar 31, 2013
    This week’s high-level ministerial meeting about gender equality in international development assistance should promote the rights and needs of women with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said today. Specifically, governments should address the marginalization of women with disabilities in the declaration to be adopted on July 1, 2010.
  • Press release
    Mar 28, 2013
    The Sri Lankan government should act on the call by a government deputy minister to investigate war crimes by examining his own role in serious abuses.
  • Press release
    Mar 25, 2013
    The United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda should be grounded in human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
  • Letter
    Mar 24, 2013
    Human Rights Watch welcomes the High-level Panel’s efforts to advance a Post-2015 Development Agenda that seeks to learn from and build on the progress achieved through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Post-2015 consultations have revealed a strong international consensus for placing human rights at the center of the Post-2015 framework. The human rights framework unites the core aims of economic development, equality, and environmental sustainability, and its use will ensure accountability for the new agenda by anchoring it in existing international human rights obligations.
  • Press release
    Mar 22, 2013
    The Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda is on a plane to The Hague, where he will face justice at the International Criminal Court, almost seven years after the court issued its first arrest warrant against him.
  • Impact
    Mar 14, 2013
    Suzanne, an 11-year-old who lives in Mali, eagerly explained how she handles deadly mercury to mine gold to help support her family.
  • Press release
    Mar 13, 2013
    Sailors from Thailand’s navy shot at ethnic Rohingya “boat people,” causing at least two deaths, Human Rights Watch said today. The Thai government should immediately investigate the incident, and direct the navy to abide by international standards on the use of force.
  • Letter
    Mar 11, 2013
    Human Rights Watch submitted an expert letter on the incarceration of youth offenders in adult prisons in the United States. We commend the commission for holding a hearing on this issue and engaging in a productive dialogue with the United States on this topic of grave importance to the human rights of children.
  • Commentary
    Mar 10, 2013
    Aguet, from South Sudan, was forced at age 15 to marry a 75-year-old man. Her family received 80 cows as dowry in exchange. “I resisted the marriage,” she told Human Rights Watch. But her uncles beat her and the marriage went ahead. Aguet dropped out of school and went to live with her husband, who now also beats her.
  • Press release
    Mar 8, 2013
    President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi of Yemen should immediately halt the scheduled execution of a man who may have been under 18 at the time of the alleged crime, Human Rights Watch said today. Mohammad Abd al-karim Mohammad Haza`a is due to face a firing squad on the morning of March 9, 2013.
  • Commentary
    Mar 7, 2013
    The Yemen donors meeting in London this week have plenty of issues to focus on, but they should speak up about one forgotten group in Yemen – youth offenders on death row.
  • Press release
    Mar 7, 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.
  • Commentary
    Mar 7, 2013
    To be forced into marriage and pregnancy as a child--when your own life has barely begun--is a serious violation of human rights. Far from creating a nurturing and safe space, child marriage is a driver of poor maternal health, violence, poverty, and pain.
  • Commentary
    Mar 6, 2013
    I met Hind in a prison in Yemen almost a year ago. Nineteen years-old, she wore an orange hooded sweatshirt, a long denim skirt, and the sullen expression of a teenager who trusts that no one is on her side. “Hind doesn’t want to talk to anyone,” a social worker told me.
  • Press release
    Mar 4, 2013
    King Abdullah and Interior Minister Prince Naif should immediately intervene to halt the executions of seven young men scheduled for March 5, 2013. The seven include at least two child offenders, sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under 18.
  • Press release
    Mar 4, 2013
    Yemen’s government should stop seeking and carrying out the death penalty for child offenders, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi should immediately reverse execution orders for three alleged juvenile offenders on death row who have exhausted all appeals and could face a firing squad at any moment.
  • Press release
    Feb 26, 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, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks killed more than 141 people, including 71 children, and caused immense physical destruction.

  • Commentary
    Feb 26, 2013
    Children make up nearly 30 per cent of the world's 50 to 100 million domestic workers, working long hours for little or no pay and at risk of exploitation – but now governments have a chance to do something about it.
  • Press release
    Feb 25, 2013
    Ten leading international organizations called on ministers of labor around the globe in a letter released today to protect child domestic workers and to ratify the ILO Domestic Workers Convention (Convention 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers). The convention, adopted in June 2011, will help eliminate child domestic labor and improve the lives of an estimated 15 million child domestic workers.
  • Press release
    Feb 20, 2013

    Mexico’s security forces have participated in widespread enforced disappearances, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Virtually none of the victims have been found or those responsible brought to justice, exacerbating the suffering of families of the disappeared, Human Rights Watch found. 

  • Press release
    Feb 14, 2013

    Separatist insurgents in Thailand’s southern border provinces should immediately end deadly attacks oncivilians.

  • Press release
    Feb 13, 2013
    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in northern British Columbia has failed to protect indigenous women and girls from violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Women and girls Human Rights Watch interviewed also described abusive treatment by police officers, including excessive use of force, and physical and sexual assault.
  • Press release
    Feb 12, 2013
    Investigators never questioned top officials in the criminal investigation by Yemen’s previous government into the shooting of demonstrators during the so-called Friday of Dignity Massacre on March 18, 2011, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh dismissed his attorney general when he demanded that government officials be questioned in the shooting deaths of 45 protesters – three of them children – and wounding of 200 others. It was the deadliest attack on protesters of Yemen’s uprising
  • Press release
    Feb 7, 2013

    The Indian government should improve protections for children from sexual abuse as part of broader reform efforts following the gang rape and murder of a student in New Delhi in December 2012.

  • Press release
    Feb 5, 2013
    The United States government should promptly carry out the recommendations of a United Nations committee of experts to improve protection of children abroad from armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report and recommendations to the US government on February 5, 2013.
  • Press release
    Feb 5, 2013
    M23 rebels and Congolese army soldiers raped scores of women and committed other war crimes during the rebels’ occupation of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in late 2012. Ongoing talks among parties to the conflict, countries in the region, and the United Nations should ensure that any agreements include holding those responsible for war crimes to account and that rebel commanders with abusive records do not serve in the Congolese army.
  • Press release
    Jan 29, 2013

    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to immediately release funds to clean up lead-contaminated villages in Nigeria will save untold lives. Releasing the funds clears the way for at least 1,500 children in urgent need of life-saving medical treatment in northern Nigeria to receive care.

  • Press release
    Jan 28, 2013
    The bipartisan framework for immigration reform released by eight United States senators on January 28, 2013, includes helpful language but needs more work on the details to protect basic rights.
  • Written statement
    Jan 28, 2013
  • Commentary
    Jan 27, 2013
    Every year, hundreds of boys travel alone, at great risk, from Afghanistan to Italy. They‘re looking for refuge, for an education, for an opportunity to escape the war zone in their country. And yet Italy turns away many of them, barring their entrance and taking no steps for their protection or care.
  • Press release
    Jan 25, 2013
    Uzbek authorities have increased the use of forced labor by adults and older children in the cotton sector during the past year. The move was apparently made to shift the burden away from younger children in response to public scrutiny and international pressure.
  • Press release
    Jan 22, 2013
    Italy is summarily returning unaccompanied migrant children and adult asylum seekers to Greece, where they face a dysfunctional asylum system and abusive detention conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. Stowaways on ferries from Greece, including children as young as 13, are sent back by Italian authorities within hours without adequate consideration of their particular needs as children or their desire to apply for asylum.
  • Commentary
    Jan 21, 2013
    This weekend, more than 140 governments agreed on the text for a new legally binding convention on mercury, a highly toxic metal. It has taken three years and many compromises to get here. What often seemed like a dry and bureaucratic process – delegates arguing over nuance during long night sessions – has very real implications for millions of people around the globe.
  • Press release
    Jan 21, 2013
    The Kenyan authorities should halt their plan to forcibly move 55,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers from cities to overcrowded and underserviced refugee camps. Citing a number of grenade attacks in 2012, the authorities contend the move will improve Kenyan national security and lead to the return of Somali refugees to Somalia.
  • Impact
    Jan 19, 2013
    The international mercury treaty just agreed sends an important signal that governments must do more to address the threat of mercury to the right to health, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 19, 2013, 140 governments created the treaty after five rounds of intense talks, which began in 2010.
  • 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.

  • Commentary
    Jan 16, 2013
    When the new Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took office in September, the United States encouraged him to “usher in a new era of governance that is responsive, representative, and accountable.” This week, President Hassan Sheikh is in Washington to discuss how to get this done.
  • Press release
    Jan 15, 2013
    Islamist armed groups occupying northern Mali should immediately release all child soldiers within their ranks and end the military conscription and use of those under 18. With France carrying out aerial bombardment since January 11, 2013, to block the Islamists from advancing farther south, rebel groups should remove children immediately from training bases in or near Islamist military installations.
  • 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.

  • Commentary
    Jan 11, 2013
    Despite recognition in the Millennium Declaration of the importance of human rights, equality, and non-discrimination for development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) largely bypassed these key principles. The fundamental human rights guarantees of equality and non-discrimination are legally binding obligations and do not need instrumental justifications. Discrimination can both cause poverty and be a hurdle in alleviating poverty. Even in countries where there have been significant gains toward achieving the MDGs, inequalities have grown. The MDGs have supported aggregate progress—often without acknowledging the importance of investing in the most marginalized and excluded, or giving due credit to governments and institutions which do ensure that development benefits these populations. Recognition of this shortcoming in the MDGs has brought an increasing awareness of the importance of working to reverse growing economic inequalities through the post-2015 framework, and a key element of this must be actively working to dismantle discrimination.
  • Commentary
    Jan 10, 2013
    Rizana Nafeek was a child herself -- 17 years old according to her birth certificate -- when a four-month-old baby died in her care in Saudi Arabia. She had migrated from Sri Lanka only weeks earlier to be a domestic worker for a Saudi family.
  • Commentary
    Jan 10, 2013
    Aminata D. is a self-confident, energetic 11-year-old girl who lives in southern Mali. When I meet her at the Worognan gold mine, she tells me that she never goes to school. Instead, she works in gold mining, using toxic mercury on a daily basis. She describes her work to me: "Once the ore is panned, you put a bit of mercury in. You rub the ore and the mercury with your two hands. Then, when the mercury has attracted the gold, you put it on a metal box and burn it."
  • Press release
    Jan 10, 2013
    A proposed international treaty to address the damaging effects of mercury should include specific provisions to protect the health of children and other vulnerable populations, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments are to meet in Geneva beginning January 13, 2013, for a fifth and final round of talks for the treaty. Mercury is a toxic metal that attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.
  • Press release
    Jan 8, 2013
    On January 9, 2013, the Saudi Ministry of Interior announced the execution of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan domestic worker convicted of killing a baby in her care in 2005 when she was 17 years old. Human Rights Watch strongly condemns the execution.
  • Written statement
    Jan 4, 2013
    Human Rights Watch submitted this statement to inform the Human Rights Committee’s understanding of the US government’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
  • Press release
    Jan 2, 2013

    The Thai government should immediately halt its plan to deport 73 ethnic Rohingya back to Burma.

  • Commentary
    Jan 2, 2013
    On Nov. 19, armed men from a rebel group called the M23 were looking for a prominent civil society leader in a village outside Goma, a provincial capital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He'd been in hiding for several weeks after receiving text messages threatening him for his public denunciations of M23 abuses. When the rebels didn't find him, they shot his colleague, killing him.