• Human Rights Watch Calls for the Establishment of a War Crimes Commission for the Democratic Republic Of Congo
    Press release
    Jul 14, 1997
    In a letter addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and released publicly today, Human Rights Watch is calling for the establishment of a war crimes commission to investigate the alleged atrocities committed in the course of the military offensive in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). A new UN report on the human rights situation in Congo/Zaire, submitted to the General Assembly by the joint investigative mission of the Commission on Human Rights, found that some of the alleged massacres could constitute acts of genocide.
  • Human Rights Watch Calls On The Government Of The Democratic Republic Of Congo To Retract Threats Against Student Activists
    Press release
    Jul 2, 1997
    In a letter to President Laurent Kabila, Human Rightss Watch calls on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to retract threats against student activists who organized a political rally at the University of Kinshasa on June 26 that featured veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.
  • Human Rights Watch Calls on the Government of the Democratic Republic Of Congo to Retract Threats Against Student Activists
    Press release
    Jul 2, 1997
    In a letter to President Laurent Kabila, Human Rights Watch today calls on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to retract threats against student activists who organized a political rally at the University of Kinshasa on June 26 that featured veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. Government troops raided the house of Tsheskedi late on the night of the rally and arrested him along with some members of his family. He was released on the next day, after warnings to stay out of politics because he "bothers the country's new authorities." As has become widely reported, the new government has decreed a ban on all political activities in violation of international norms.
  • Congo-New Government has Opportunity to Commit to Pluralistic Transition
    Press release
    May 22, 1997
    Human Rights Watch/Africa, in a statement issued today, called on the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) to publicly proclaim its commitment to respect the binding standards of international human rights and humanitarian law upon the announcement of its interim government of what is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ADFL is now in a position to end the abuses that occurred under President Mobutu Sese Seko and must be careful to avoid mirroring the government it deposed.
  • Rwanda's Genocide: Human Rights Abuses Against Women
    Press release
    Sep 24, 1996
    During the genocide of 1994, Hutu militia groups and the Rwandan military regularly used rape and other sexual violence as weapons in their genocidal campaign against the Tutsi community.
  • Human Rights Watch Finds Mixed Government Response to High Rates of Rape and Domestic Abuse of Women in South Africa
    Press release
    Nov 23, 1995
    In Violence Against Women in South Africa, released on the eve of the international "Day of No Violence Against Women," Human Rights Watch denounces widespread violence against women in South Africa and calls on the new government to significantly step up its response to this endemic problem. South African women's organizations estimate that perhaps as many as one in three South African women will be raped and one in six South African women is in an abusive domestic relationship, yet the government routinely fails to investigate, prosecute and punish such violence.
  • Human Rights in Africa and U.S. Policy
    Press release
    Jun 30, 1994
    The White House conference on Africa came at a time when the Clinton Administration’s cautious response to the monstrous crime of genocide in Rwanda was increasingly under attack at home and abroad and offered an opportunity for it to adopt a much-needed change of course. This report offers a summary of human rights developments and U.S. human rights policy in ten African countries.