• ICC: Congolese Rebel Leader Acquitted in Court’s Second Case
    Press release
    Dec 18, 2012

    The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) acquittal on December 18, 2012, of a Congolese rebel leader on all charges should re-energize efforts to prosecute others for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  • Cameroon: Court Upholds Unjust ‘Homosexuality’ Conviction
    Press release
    Dec 18, 2012
    A Cameroonian appeals court decision on December 17, 2012, upholding a criminal conviction for homosexuality demonstrates that basic human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are under assault in Cameroon. The court upheld the conviction and three-year prison sentence for Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, a university student charged with homosexuality, and ordered his arrest.
  • Sudan: Civilians Describe Toll of Attacks
    Press release
    Dec 11, 2012
    The Sudanese government’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment and shelling in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states has killed and injured scores of civilians since the conflict began more than a year ago, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Government forces have raided villages, burned and looted civilian property, arbitrarily detained people, and assaulted and raped women and girls.
  • Fernando Moleres Wins Tim Hetherington Grant
    Press release
    Dec 10, 2012
    The photojournalist Fernando Moreles has been awarded the second Tim Hetherington Grant, an annual visual journalism award focusing on human rights, Human Rights Watch and World Press Photo announced today.
  • Sudan: Justice Needed for Student Deaths
    Press release
    Dec 10, 2012
    Sudanese authorities should immediately investigate the deaths of four student protesters and the disappearance of two others at the beginning of December 2012, in Madani, Jazeera state, and hold those responsible to account.
  • Deadly Delays for Nigerian Children
    Commentary
    Dec 7, 2012
    In June, two weeks after I returned from Nigeria, I got a message that another child had died from lead poisoning -the 11th in the same family. I could picture the scene: the child starts convulsing; his parents rush him two hours over barely passable terrain on the back of a motorbike to the nearest town for medical treatment. By the time they reach the clinic, a temporary ward specifically for lead poisoning set up in the wake of the epidemic, it is too late, and another young life has been taken by this preventable tragedy.
  • Equatorial Guinea: Cease Politically Motivated Arrests
    Press release
    Dec 6, 2012
    The most recent arbitrary detention of a leading opposition politician in Equatorial Guinea on December 4, 2012, raises concerns about human rights conditions in the lead-up to legislative elections in the first half of 2013. Since November 2011, the government has detained at least four high-profile members of the country’s beleaguered political opposition.
  • Nigeria: Death Stalking Lead-Poisoned Children
    Press release
    Dec 6, 2012

    The Nigerian government’s failure to produce promised funding to address the worst lead poisoning outbreak in modern history is leaving thousands of children to die or face lifelong disability, the Nigerian Youth Climate Action Network (NYCAN) and Human Rights Watch said today. The organizations opened a social media campaign on December 6, 2012, urging people to post comments to President Goodluck Jonathan’s official Facebook page, asking him why he has broken his promise to release funding for the cleanup of lead-contaminated areas in Zamfara State.

  • Ask Nigeria’s President What Happened to $4 Million
    Advocacy/impact
    Dec 6, 2012
  • Joint Letter to UN Security Council on an International Military Force for Mali
    Letter
    Dec 5, 2012

    As the UN Security Council considers the authorization of an international military force for Mali, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, FIDH, and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect share concerns about the possible human rights challenges such a force could encounter if it is not accompanied by the proper safeguards for civilian protection and human rights monitoring capability.