• Somalia: Warring Parties Put Children at Grave Risk
    Press release
    Feb 21, 2012
    Somalia’s warring parties have all failed to protect Somali children from the fighting or serving in their forces, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab has increasingly targeted children for recruitment, forced marriage, and rape, and attacked teachers and schools.
  • Syria: Stop Torture of Children
    Press release
    Feb 3, 2012
    Syrian army and security officers have detained and tortured children with impunity during the past year. Human Rights Watch has documented at least 12 cases of children detained under inhumane conditions and tortured, as well as children shot while in their homes or on the street. Human Rights Watch has also documented government use of schools as detention centers, military bases or barracks, and sniper posts, as well as the arrest of children from schools.
  • Yemen Could Seize Moment to Ban Child Marriage
    Commentary
    Dec 20, 2011
    Yemen's version of the Arab Spring has eclipsed urgent social concerns both in debates within Yemen and with donor countries. One of these issues is the widespread forced marriage of girls; very young girls in some cases.Now that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has agreed to cede power, there may be an opportunity to press for social reform as part of the transition process.
  • Yemen: Child Marriage Spurs Abuse of Girls and Women
    Press release
    Dec 8, 2011
    Widespread child marriage jeopardizes Yemeni girls’ access to education, harms their health, and keeps them second-class citizens.
  • Philippines: Soldiers on the School Grounds
    Press release
    Nov 30, 2011
    During a recent eight-day investigation in the Cordillera Autonomous Region on northern Luzon island, Human Rights Watch found five cases in which the military, in violation of Philippine and international law, had used parts of functioning schools as barracks or bases for military detachments since 2009. This military use of schools lasted for periods ranging from three months to more than a year.
  • UN: Expose Iran’s Appalling Rights Record
    Press release
    Sep 21, 2011
    Member states of the United Nations should use President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s appearance before the UN General Assembly to highlight the Iranian government’s gross and systematic human rights violations against its own people. Member states should press the Iranian leader to allow the newly appointed UN special envoy on Iran and independent human rights organizations to visit the country. The Iranian president is scheduled to address the Assembly in New York on September 22, 2011.
  • Iraqi Kurdistan: Law Banning FGM a Positive Step
    Press release
    Jul 25, 2011

    A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) law that bans female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crucial step in eradicating the practice. The Family Violence Bill, approved by the Kurdistan parliament on June 21, 2011, includes several provisions criminalizing the practice, recognized internationally as a form of violence against women. Several studies by the government and non-governmental organizations estimate that the prevalence of FGM among girls and women in Kurdistan is at least 40 percent.

  • ILO: Adopt New Treaty to Combat Child Labor
    Press release
    Jun 9, 2011
    Governments, trade unions, and employers' organizations should combat child labor by adopting a new international treaty on the rights of domestic workers.
  • Domestic workers' conditions 'akin to slavery'
    Commentary
    Jun 9, 2011
    Jo Becker demonstrates why the convention for domestic workers being negotiated by members of the International Labour Organisation is long overdue
  • Liberia: Protect Refugees Against Sexual Abuse
    Press release
    Apr 20, 2011
    Dozens of Ivorian refugee women and girls recently arrived in eastern Liberia say they have had to engage in sex to get adequate food, shelter, or money, Human Rights Watch said today. The Liberian government, the police, and United Nations agencies should take urgent measures to protect and assist vulnerable women and girls, including rapidly building protected shelter and helping them get sufficient and appropriate food, Human Rights Watch said.