• HRW Calls on the Government of Israel to Withdraw a Draft Law
    Jul 3, 1997
    In a report issued today, Human Rights today calls on the Government of Israel to withdraw a draft law that would exempt the State and its security forces from liability for the wrongful injury and killing of Palestinians during the intifada. The law, if adopted by the Knesset, would prevent Palestinians from seeking damages in Israeli courts, and instead direct them, in a limited number of cases, to seek compensation from a government committee.
  • Human Rights Watch Calls On The Government Of The Democratic Republic Of Congo To Retract Threats Against Student Activists
    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
    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.
  • Comment on China/ MFN Vote
    Jun 24, 1997
    Today's vote by the House of Representatives (259-173) to extend MFN to China unconditionally for another year will no doubt be once again used by the Clinton Administration as a vindication of its overall policy of "constructive engagement." From a human rights perspective, the Administration's policy has been a failure.
  • International Human Rights Delegation Releases Comprehensive Report
    Jun 14, 1997
    Hong Kong is fast approaching July 1, when British colonial rule ends and the territory becomes a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. Among the people left in Hong Kong after the British depart will be some 12,000 Hong Kong prisoners, including some 800 foreign nationals. Human Rights Watch/Asia and the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, recognizing that few if any groups are more vulnerable to the impact of political change than prisoners, recently investigated conditions in the Hong Kong prison system with the intention of establishing a benchmark of prison conditions prior to the territory's reversion to China. In Hong Kong: Prison Conditions in 1997, published today, the two groups offer a comprehensive appraisal of the state of the territory's prisons.
  • East Timor: Update on Los Palos Killings
    Jun 5, 1997
    We have received new information about the killing of seven civilians at the home of Castelho, a teacher at the local elementary school in Irara, Los Palos, East Timor, that raises questions about the identity of the attackers.
  • OAS-Candidates for Inter-American Commission applauded
    Jun 4, 1997
    Human Rights Watch/Americas today congratulated the governments comprising the Organization of American States for electing three qualified and outstanding individuals from the region to form part of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
  • East Timor - Guerrilla Attacks
    Jun 4, 1997
    Human Rights Watch/Asia condemns any targeting of civilians or other non-combatants by East Timorese guerrillas as being in clear violation of international humanitarian law.
  • Shenzhen Court Sentences Chinese Labor Activists
    Jun 3, 1997
    More than six months after being put on trial in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on trumped-up charges of "conspiring to subvert the government," two Chinese unofficial labor movement activists, Li Wenming and Guo Baosheng, have been handed prison terms of three and one-half years each. Human Rights Watch/Asia condemned the sentences as a serious violation of international human rights standards.
  • Algeria--Elections in the Shadow of Violence and Repression
    May 29, 1997
    Rampant political violence is only one of the factors standing in the way of a free and fair Algerian election on June 5, Human Rights Watch/Middle East charges in a report issued today. Media censorship, restrictions on categories of parties, the hasty promotion of a new pro-government party, and widespread repression against suspected Islamists, their families and sympathizers all weigh heavily on voters as they go to the polls.