• Yemen: Ensure Rights Progress Follows Leadership Change
    Feb 22, 2012

    Yemen’s incoming president, Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi, should take immediate steps to ensure Yemen’s transition to the rights-respecting democracy that thousands of protesters have sought.

  • Libya: Displaced People Barred from Homes
    Feb 21, 2012
    Authorities in and around Misrata are preventing thousands of people from returning to the villages of Tomina and Kararim and have failed to stop local militias from looting and burning homes there.
  • Somalia: Warring Parties Put Children at Grave Risk
    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.
  • Morocco: Drop Prosecutions Over Vote Boycott
    Feb 19, 2012
    Morocco is prosecuting activists who campaigned peacefully for a boycott of elections held three months ago. These prosecutions contradict statements by Moroccan officials that authorities arrested no one for advocating a boycott.
  • Nepal: Ensure Truth, Reparation and Justice
    Feb 17, 2012

    (Kathmandu) – The government of Nepal should take immediate steps, with the full cooperation of the Nepal Army, to ensure truth, reparation, and justice for human rights abuses during the country’s decade long conflict, Advocacy Forum and Human Rights Watch said today. The organizations called on the Nepal government, eight years after the still-unpunished torture and killing of 15-year-old Maina Sunuwar, to take immediate steps to end the deepening trend of impunity in Nepal.

  • EU: Keep Sanctions on Mugabe’s Inner Circle
    Feb 17, 2012

    The European Union should maintain its travel restrictions and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle until Zimbabwe carries out concrete human rights and institutional reforms, ahead of this year’s national elections. The EU is conducting its annual review of its sanctions policy toward Zimbabwe and is scheduled to announce a decision on February 17, 2012. 

  • Azerbaijan: Illegal Evictions Ahead of Eurovision
    Feb 17, 2012
    Azerbaijani authorities have begun the forcible eviction of residents to demolish the last standing building in the neighborhood of the capital, Baku, where the 2012 Eurovision song contest is to be.
  • Belgium/Senegal: World Court to Hear Habré Trial Dispute
    Feb 16, 2012

    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has set arguments to begin on March 12, 2012, in a case between Belgium and Senegal over the fate of the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré. The case could result in a binding legal order compelling Senegal to extradite Habré to Belgium if it does not prosecute him.

  • China: End Crackdown on Tibetans Who Visited India
    Feb 16, 2012

    The Chinese government should immediately release Tibetans who have been detained by local police and are being forced to undergo political re-education after travelling to India to listen to religious teachings there.

  • Uganda: Minister Shuts Down Rights Workshop
    Feb 16, 2012
    A Ugandan minister illegally shut down a leadership training workshop organized by activists advocating for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The February 14, 2012 raid on a peaceful gathering violates rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.