• Another Greek Crisis That Needs the EU’s Attention
    January 19, 2013
    Last year was very tough for Greece, and there are few prospects that 2013 will be easier. Millions of people have been directly affected by the sweeping austerity measures arising from the economic crisis. The country is convulsed by political tensions, with the rise of the far-right Golden Dawn party the most worrying example. And there are severe social problems, linked in part to the huge influx in recent years of irregular migrants from outside the European Union.
  • Egypt: Don’t Force Palestinians Back to Syria
    January 18, 2013
    Two Palestinians being held at the Cairo airport, apparently refused entry to Egypt, are at risk of deportation to Syria. The man and his son would face indiscriminate violence and possible persecution if returned to Syria.
  • Ghana: Ensure Justice for Key Ivorian Suspect
    January 18, 2013
    Ghanaian authorities should ensure fair, credible justice for an Ivorian militia leader arrested on January 17, 2013. The former leader of the Young Patriots militia, Charles Blé Goudé, is accused of serious crimes allegedly committed under his command during Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010-2011 violent post-election crisis.
  • Hungary’s Alarming Climate of Intolerance
    January 18, 2013
    A prominent columnist calls for a “final solution” for Hungary’s Roma population. A member of parliament calls for drawing up a list of Jewish people involved in Hungarian politics. Two-thirds of those asked in an opinion poll say they wouldn’t let their child be friends with a Romani child. Another poll suggests a similar number believe Jewish people have too much influence. One doesn’t have to be a student of history to be worried about the growing climate of intolerance in Hungary.
  • Burma: Halt Indiscriminate Attacks in Kachin State
    January 17, 2013

    The Burmese army appears to have indiscriminately shelled the town of Laiza in northern Burma’s Kachin State in violation of the laws of war.

  • Uzbekistan: Effective EU Rule of Law Programmes Depend on a Principled Human Rights Policy
    January 17, 2013
  • US: South Carolina Is Unfair to Prisoners Who Have HIV
    January 17, 2013
    On the Friday before Christmas, a federal judge in Alabama ordered an end to 25 years of segregation of HIV-positive prisoners in state prisons. District Court Judge Myron Thompson ruled that segregating HIV-positive prisoners in separate housing with unequal program opportunities, inferior mental health care and fewer work options violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. This landmark decision leaves South Carolina the only state in the Union that segregates prisoners with HIV. It is high time South Carolina abandoned this unnecessary, harmful and discriminatory policy.
  • Kenya: Discrimination Against Rift Valley Displaced
    January 17, 2013
    The Kenyan government has discriminated based on ethnicity in assisting displaced people from the Rift Valley. The discriminatory practices are stoking inter-ethnic tensions ahead of the March 2013 elections.
  • The gruesome toll of deadly cluster bombs in Syria
    January 16, 2013

    It was cloudy the afternoon of January 3 when residents say the cluster bombs fell on the Syrian town of Latamneh. Three rockets containing the cluster munitions fell in nearby fields, apparently doing no harm, but a fourth landed on the street between residential buildings. Its impact was devastating.

  • Six things U.S. can do to help Somalia
    January 16, 2013
    When the new Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took office in September, the United States encouraged him to “usher in a new era of governance that is responsive, representative, and accountable.” This week, President Hassan Sheikh is in Washington to discuss how to get this done.
  • Bangladesh: Find Abducted Witness
    January 16, 2013
    (New York, January 17, 2013) – The Bangladeshi authorities should immediately explain what actions they have taken to locate Shukho Ranjan Bali, a witness who defense lawyers and witnesses say was abducted from the gates of the war crimes courthouse in Dhaka on November 5, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today. More than two months after his disappearance, there is no news about Bali’s whereabouts or condition. The witnesses say he was last seen in police custody.
  • Rights group: China may not be ready for labor camp reforms
    January 16, 2013
    Did the Chinese government announce earlier this week that it would end its notorious detention system known as Re-Education Through Labor (RTL)?
  • Mali: Islamists Should Free Child Soldiers
    January 15, 2013
    Islamist armed groups occupying northern Mali should immediately release all child soldiers within their ranks and end the military conscription and use of those under 18. With France carrying out aerial bombardment since January 11, 2013, to block the Islamists from advancing farther south, rebel groups should remove children immediately from training bases in or near Islamist military installations.
  • Syria: Seeking Justice
    January 15, 2013
    In the absence of a reliable mechanism that Syrians know will bring them justice, revenge killing on a wide scale will be likely. And unless Syrian and international players move beyond promises for accountability and offer a concrete plan for justice, Syrian soldiers and armed militias would not be deterred by the possibility of standing trial for their atrocities.
  • Eritrea: Mining Investors Risk Use of Forced Labor
    January 15, 2013
    International mining firms rushing to invest in Eritrea’s burgeoning minerals sector risk involvement in serious abuses unless they take strong preventive measures. The failure of the Vancouver-based company Nevsun Resources to ensure that forced labor would not be used during construction of its Eritrea mine, and its limited ability to deal with forced labor allegations when they arose, highlight the risk.
  • UN Security Council: Heed Call for Justice in Syria
    January 14, 2013

    A letter sent to the United Nations Security Council on behalf of 57 states calling for a referral of the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) gives momentum to international efforts to stop grave abuses committed there. More countries should join the call and impress on reluctant Council members the urgency of taking up the issue of accountability.

     

  • Syria: Army Using New Type of Cluster Munition
    January 14, 2013

    Syrian forces are using notoriously indiscriminate rockets that contain explosive submunitions. Evidence indicates that Syrian forces used BM-21 Grad multi-barrel rocket launchers to deliver cluster munitions in attacks near the city of Idlib in December 2012 and in Latamneh, a town northwest of Hama, on January 3, 2013.

  • Burma: Drop Charges Against Peaceful Protesters
    January 13, 2013

    Authorities in Burma should drop charges against activists who participated in peaceful protests against government policiesAuthorities in Burma should drop charges against activists who participated in peaceful protests against government policies.

  • Sudan: End Crackdown on Civil Society
    January 13, 2013
    Sudan should immediately rescind its decision to shut down four civil society organizations in Khartoum in December 2012. The government should allow independent groups to operate freely and conduct peaceful protests.
  • Human Rights Watch Mourns the Loss of Yuri Shmidt
    January 12, 2013
  • Somalia: Free Journalist, Others Linked to Rape Allegation
    January 12, 2013
    The Somali authorities should release a journalist and two other people linked to a woman who alleged being raped by state security forces. Police in Mogadishu have detained freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim without charge for prolonged interrogations since January 10, 2013.
  • Venezuela: Halt Censorship, Intimidation of Media
    January 12, 2013
    Venezuela should end censorship and intimidation of media that challenge the official line regarding President Hugo Chávez’s health and inauguration, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • UAE/France: Hollande Should Convey Rights Concerns
    January 12, 2013
    President François Hollande of France should publicly and privately convey concerns about deteriorating human rights conditions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on his visit there. Hollande is scheduled to arrive for his first official visit to the UAE on January 15, 2013.
  • US: Zero Dark Torture
    January 11, 2013
    Viewers and critics have been shocked by Zero Dark Thirty's depiction of enhanced interrogation techniques. But, if anything, the film goes way too easy on the CIA.
  • Discrimination, Inequality, and Poverty—A Human Rights Perspective
    January 11, 2013
    Despite recognition in the Millennium Declaration of the importance of human rights, equality, and non-discrimination for development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) largely bypassed these key principles. The fundamental human rights guarantees of equality and non-discrimination are legally binding obligations and do not need instrumental justifications. Discrimination can both cause poverty and be a hurdle in alleviating poverty. Even in countries where there have been significant gains toward achieving the MDGs, inequalities have grown. The MDGs have supported aggregate progress—often without acknowledging the importance of investing in the most marginalized and excluded, or giving due credit to governments and institutions which do ensure that development benefits these populations. Recognition of this shortcoming in the MDGs has brought an increasing awareness of the importance of working to reverse growing economic inequalities through the post-2015 framework, and a key element of this must be actively working to dismantle discrimination.
  • US: Zero Dark Thirty and the Truth About Torture
    January 11, 2013
    The movie Zero Dark Thirty, which depicts the hunt for Osama bin Laden, wrongly suggests that torture was an ugly but useful tactic in the fight against terrorism.
  • A United Nations commission is needed to examine human rights abuses in North Korea
    January 11, 2013
    Earlier this week, Google’s Chairman Eric Schmidt and United Nations Ambassador Bill Richardson raised eyebrows with a private visit to Pyongyang, North Korea. The United States State Department called the trip “unhelpful.” Schmidt’s visit to Kim il-Song University, during which a student demonstrated how he uses Google to conduct internet searches, seemed like a theatric production in the Potemkin style.
  • The Trouble with Tradition
    January 11, 2013
    “Tradition!” proclaims Tevye the milkman, in his foot-stomping opening to the musical Fiddler on the Roof. “Tradition!” Tevye’s invocation rings true—what is more reassuring than the beliefs and practices of the past? Which is why the resolution passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in September 2012 seems, at first blush, so benign. Spearheaded by Russia, it calls for “promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind.”
  • Why global labor reforms are vital to protect vulnerable workers
    January 10, 2013
    Rizana Nafeek was a child herself -- 17 years old according to her birth certificate -- when a four-month-old baby died in her care in Saudi Arabia. She had migrated from Sri Lanka only weeks earlier to be a domestic worker for a Saudi family.
  • Last chance to take action on Mercury poisoning
    January 10, 2013
    Aminata D. is a self-confident, energetic 11-year-old girl who lives in southern Mali. When I meet her at the Worognan gold mine, she tells me that she never goes to school. Instead, she works in gold mining, using toxic mercury on a daily basis. She describes her work to me: "Once the ore is panned, you put a bit of mercury in. You rub the ore and the mercury with your two hands. Then, when the mercury has attracted the gold, you put it on a metal box and burn it."
  • Fixing India’s Rape Problem
    January 10, 2013
    The quick official response to the horrific gang rape and murder of a young Indian woman shouldn’t fool us. The country has a long way to go when it comes to justice for rape victims.
  • Ireland: Clarify and Reform Abortion Laws and Regulations
    January 10, 2013
    Irish legislators should take decisive action to safeguard in law the right of women and girls to terminate a life-threatening pregnancy, and explore further reforms to the countries’ near total ban on abortion. The Irish Human Rights Commission should advise the law makers on how current restrictive laws violate women’s human rights and put the lives and health of women and adolescent girls at risk.
  • Mr. Karzai Goes to Washington
    January 10, 2013

     

    President Karzai is in Washington this week to meet with President Obama and military commanders at the Pentagon. A main subject of the meetings will be the fate of peace negotiations with insurgent forces and the size of US military forces after a planned military drawdown is completed in 2014. But while the two leaders meet they may want to consider why these topics are still relevant in 2013. 

  • Zimbabwe: Rights Reforms Needed Before Elections
    January 10, 2013
    Zimbabwe’s “unity government” is failing to carry out reforms in the country’s Global Political Agreement that are vital for the country to hold credible, free, and fair elections in 2013, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
  • Mercury Treaty: Last Chance to Address Health Effects
    January 10, 2013
    A proposed international treaty to address the damaging effects of mercury should include specific provisions to protect the health of children and other vulnerable populations, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments are to meet in Geneva beginning January 13, 2013, for a fifth and final round of talks for the treaty. Mercury is a toxic metal that attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.
  • Vietnam: Release Convicted Activists
    January 9, 2013
    The conviction and prison sentences of 14 activists by the People’s Court of Nghe An province on January ­­­9, 2012, marks a sharp escalation of government attacks on critics
  • Jailers should not be the judge, too
    January 9, 2013
    Les Miserables' Inspector Javert is one of those characters who defines "blind justice." Such is the power of his symbolism that today, our laws allow just the mercy that Javert denied. However, putting mercy into practice, such as in the form of compassionate release, is a challenge.
  • Brazil: São Paulo Acts to Curb Police Cover-ups
    January 9, 2013
    A resolution by the São Paulo government on the handling of shooting victims is an important step to safeguard against unlawful killings by state police, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Saudi Arabia: Halt Execution of Sri Lankan Migrant Worker
    January 8, 2013
    On January 9, 2013, the Saudi Ministry of Interior announced the execution of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan domestic worker convicted of killing a baby in her care in 2005 when she was 17 years old. Human Rights Watch strongly condemns the execution.
  • The stigma and blame attached to rape survivors in India
    January 8, 2013
    Suggesting that women and girls "invite" sexual assault through their clothing or conduct—and therefore blaming the victim— is not uncommon in India. There is talk of legal reform and fast trials but stigma and blaming of survivors of sexual assault will unfortunately live on without concerted efforts to end it.
  • China: Fully Abolish Re-Education Through Labor
    January 8, 2013

    The Chinese government’s announcement today that it will sometime this year “stop using” the notorious Re-Education Through Labor (RTL) system is a rare positive response to the system’s growing unpopularity, Human Rights Watch said today. While suspending use of RTL would be an important step, the government should aspire to fully abolish the RTL system.

  • Bahrain: Highest Court Upholds Grossly Unfair Convictions
    January 7, 2013
    Bahrain’s Court of Cassation ruling on January 7, 2013, upholding lengthy prison terms of 13 prominent dissidents appears to confirm the inability of Bahrain’s judicial system to protect basic rights. A military court had convicted the dissidents solely for exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly.
  • Last of the Nuba, again?
    January 4, 2013
    Central government forces in Sudan, under the country’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir, use tactics against communities it believes support the SPLA-North that were characteristic of the conflict: indiscriminate bombing, assaults on civilians by soldiers and allied militia, and obstructing humanitarian aid.
  • Civil Society Crackdown in Ethiopia
    January 4, 2013
    On 1 January 2013, Ethiopia took up its seat on the United Nations Human rights Council. The uncontested election – Africa put forward five countries for five seats – has raised some eyebrows, given the country’s own poor rights record. Elected member countries are obliged to ‘uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights’. Yet, in Ethiopia, hundreds of political prisoners languish in jails where torture is common and a crackdown on the media and civil society is in full swing.
  • China: Renewed Restrictions Send Online Chill
    January 4, 2013

    The Chinese government’s further tightening of internet controls and mandating real name registration threaten security and privacy of internet users. On December 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, passed the “Decision to Strengthen the Protection of Online Information.” The Decision contains troubling provisions that require internet access and telecommunications providers to collect personal information about users when they sign up for internet access, landline, or mobile phone service.

  • Nepal: A Warning to Rights Abusers
    January 4, 2013
    The arrest in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2013, of a Nepali army colonel suspected of torture sends a warning to those accused of serious crimes in Nepal and elsewhere that they cannot hide from the law forever. Nepal failed to prosecute anyone for torture during the decade-long civil war in the nearly seven years since it ended.
  • Bahrain: Charges Against Rights Defender Raise Concerns
    January 3, 2013
    Bahraini authorities should provisionally release a human rights activist who faces charges over his tweet reporting about a wounded demonstrator. The activist, Sayed Yusuf al-Muhafadha, has been charged with “willfully disseminating false news” amounting to “incitement to violence.”
  • US: Defense Bill Signing Backtracks on Guantanamo
    January 3, 2013
    US President Barack Obama’s refusal to veto a defense spending bill restricting detainee transfers from Guantanamo undercuts his pledge to close the prison. Obama signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), even though his advisers had said they would recommend a veto if it contained detainee transfer restrictions.
  • Thailand: Don’t Deport Rohingya ‘Boat People’
    January 2, 2013

    The Thai government should immediately halt its plan to deport 73 ethnic Rohingya back to Burma.

  • Barack Obama: Dump These 8 Unsavory Allies
    January 2, 2013
    If Obama wants to bolster his legacy in his second term, he can and should get tough on some of the United States' most unsavory friends and allies. Here are eight leaders to start with.