• China: CNMC Public Listing Needs Investor Vigilance
    Press release
    Apr 22, 2012
    Prospective investors in China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corporation’s (CNMC) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong should be aware of the company’s disturbing labor rights practices in Zambia. CNMC’s inability or unwillingness to respect worker’s rights in their Zambia operations raises critical questions about corporate behavior that potential investors should direct to the company.
  • Gold’s image tarnished by child labour in mines
    Commentary
    Dec 22, 2011
    There has been a lot of debate about corporate social responsibility. But most gold traders I interviewed showed no concern about the use of child labour.
  • Cambodia: Cut Draft Provision Allowing Prison Labor
    Press release
    Nov 28, 2011

    The Cambodian government should urge the Senate to strike a provision of the draft Law on Prisons that would permit prison labor to be used for producing goods for private firms.

  • Zimbabwe: Rampant Abuses in Marange Diamond Fields
    Press release
    Aug 30, 2011

    (Johannesburg) – Zimbabwe police and private security guards employed by mining companies in the Marange diamond fields are shooting, beating and unleashing attack dogs on poor, local unlicensed miners. 

  • EU: Freeze Assets of Syrian Oil and Gas Companies
    Press release
    Aug 16, 2011
    The European Union (EU) should freeze the assets of the Syrian National Oil Company, Syrian National Gas Company, and the Central Bank of Syria until the Syrian government ends gross human rights abuses against its citizens. On August 13, 2011, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the EU High Representative and foreign ministers of the 27 member states urging them to swiftly impose such sanctions.
  • US/Colombia: Rights Conditions Crucial for Trade Deal
    Press release
    Apr 7, 2011
    The US Congress should insist on vigorous enforcement of human rights commitments by Presidents Barack Obama and Juan Manuel Santos before moving forward on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
  • US/Colombia: Establish Benchmarks for Trade Pact
    Press release
    Mar 17, 2011
    The initiative by members of the US Congress to establish human rights benchmarks that Colombia should meet prior to US ratification of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is a critically important development.
  • Kimberley Process: Demand End to Abuses in Diamond Trade
    Press release
    Nov 1, 2010
    The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme should not allow further exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe until the government makes clear progress in ending abuses and smuggling. Participants in the scheme, an international body that oversees the diamond trade, are scheduled to meet in Jerusalem from November 1 to 4, 2010.
  • Cuba: Letter to Chairman Berman on Lifting the US Travel Ban
    Letter
    Sep 27, 2010
    Human Rights Watch would like to reiterate its strong support for the legislation, which would make it possible for all Americans to travel freely to Cuba, and remove obstacles to legal sales of US agricultural commodities to the island. Ending the travel ban is a necessary step towards ending a US policy that has failed for decades to improve human rights in Cuba. 
  • US: European Corporate Hypocrisy
    Press release
    Sep 2, 2010
    Many European companies that publicly embrace workers' rights under global labor standards nevertheless undermine workers' rights in their US operations, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today.