HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH-CALIFORNIA

Human Rights Watch-California was formed in April 1987 by a group of concerned Californians who sought to mobilize their state'sunique resources to help people whose human rights were being violated. The Los Angeles office, which opened in 1989, is responsible for Americas Watch's research and advocacy on Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border area; investigation and campaign tasks for all aspects of Human Rights Watch; and litigation and other legal work to support cases in U.S. courts that raise international human rights questions.

Human Rights Watch-California places a high priority on human rights education and community outreach. During 1993, public education program events addressed, among other topics, the incipient U.N. crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, United Nations operations in Somalia and Haiti, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and womens' rights. In October, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival was screened in Los Angeles.

Development also was a priority in 1993. In addition to expanding our advisory board, members of Human Rights Watch-California hosted private informational meetings to introduce potential new supporters to our work. In August, with foundation support, a regional development director joined the Los Angeles office staff.

At the same time, the Los Angeles office continued its research and advocacy on human rights conditions in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexico border. A chapter on prison conditions in Mexico was included in the Human Rights Watch Global Report on Prisons, and reports were written or edited on the intimidation of activists in Mexico, police abuse in Mexico City, and human rights abuses along the border by the U.S. Border Patrol and the Customs Service. Work continued on a forthcoming Human Rights Watch-Yale University Press book on human rights in Mexico and on a joint Human Rights Watch-Natural Resources Defense Council report on intimidation of environmentalists and interference with environmental due process rights in Mexico.

In addition, the Los Angeles office staff gave frequent speeches and press interviews concerning human rights on both sides of the border. They helped prepare testimony on human rights in Mexico for the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee, and the Subcommittee on International Security, Human Rights, and International Organizations of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. They also met with key senior government officials in both countries including Mexican Attorney General Jorge Carpizo and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

The Los Angeles office continued to provide legal and campaign support to other divisions of Human Rights Watch. For example, the California director participated in a working group organized by the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities special rapporteur that drafted proposed basic principles and guidelines concerning reparation to victims of gross violations of human rights; assisted in the preparation of a Human Rights Watch amicus brief to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Doe v. Karadzik; drafted a letter to Secretary of State Christopher urging U.S. ratification of the major human rights treaties; participated in the Stanley Foundation conference on Global Changes and Domestic Transformations: Southern California's Emerging Role; spoke at theAmerican Public Health Association conference on the legal aspects of prevention and treatment of torture; and consulted with attorneys representing inmates at California's Pelican Bay State Prison regarding international human rights norms relevant to litigation on prisoner mistreatment.

The group's co-chairs took part in missions for Human Rights Watch (to the former Yugoslavia and Cuba) and in work against the death penalty in the United States, including addressing state legislatures and speaking at vigils for death row inmates.

In December 1992 we brought to Los Angeles the international human rights monitors invited to the United States by Human Rights Watch. As part of that visit, the human rights monitors toured those Los Angeles neighborhoods most heavily impacted by the disturbances that followed the acquittal in the state trial of the police defendants accused of beating Rodney King, where they had an opportunity to exchange personal experiences with community activists. They also met with the mayor's office, the senior staff of the Los Angeles Times, and other senior community leaders. A similar program was planned for December 1993.