• The lobby of the Divan Hotel near Taksim Sqaure in Istanbul, Turkey after police teargassed the entrance on June 15, 2013.
    © 2013 İsmail Saymaz
    Turkey: A Weekend of Police Abuse
    The Erdoğan government’s use of force in a clampdown on protesters over the weekend has precipitated a deepening human rights and political crisis in Turkey. Human Rights Watch documented a huge wave of arbitrary detentions and police attacks on people who were on hospital premises, as well as on a hospital itself and on makeshift health clinics. With the trade union confederations declaring a strike on June 17, 2013, there were signs of further clampdown on demonstrations in the evening.
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Europe/Central Asia

  • Lithuania: Reopen Investigation Into Secret CIA Prisons
    Jun 25, 2013
    As Lithuania takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency it should lead by example, meet its legal obligations, and reopen its investigation into its own complicity in CIA secret prisons, US enforced disappearances, and alleged torture.
  • EU/China: Overhaul Human Rights Dialogues
    Jun 24, 2013
    The 32nd round of the European Union (EU)-China Human Rights Dialogue further lowers the bar for effective, principled human rights diplomacy.
  • EU: Stand Up for Human Rights in Russia
    Jun 24, 2013
    With a fierce crackdown under way in Russia, there has never been a more important time in the post-Soviet era for the European Union (EU) to articulate a clear policy on Russia’s adherence to international human rights standards and for the EU to make human rights concerns a core part of its relationship with Russia.
  • Letter on Hungary to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
    Jun 24, 2013
    Ahead of next week’s Assembly debate on the request to open a monitoring procedure in respect of Hungary, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urge PACE to support the Monitoring Committee’s recommendation to place Hungary under the Assembly’s monitoring procedure.
  • Council of Europe: Joint NGO Statement on Protocol 15 to the ECHR
    Jun 24, 2013
    On the occasion of the opening of Protocol 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights for signature by the Council of Europe member states, a coalition of 10 international NGOs stresses that the amendments to the Convention foreseen by this Protocol must not be allowed to result in a weakening of the Convention system and human rights protection in Europe.
  • Russia: Reject Discriminatory Bill
    Jun 23, 2013
    The Russian parliament’s upper chamber should reject a draft law that would discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The bill would make it an administrative offense to expose minors to information about “non-traditional sexuality.” The Federation Council, the Russian parliament’s upper chamber, is scheduled to debate the draft law on June 26, 2013.
  • The Turkish Protests – Still Standing
    Jun 21, 2013
    After the Turkish government’s forcible evacuation of Taksim Gezi Park on June 15, bringing to an end the 19-day occupation, police cordoned off the park. Regular police officers now guard its entrance from the square, seated on white plastic garden chairs in a long line at the top of the main steps. The park is sealed off with tape as though it were a crime scene.
  • Human Rights, Hashtags and the UK's Policy Towards Central Asia
    Jun 21, 2013
  • Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 20 June
    Jun 20, 2013
  • Letter to the Director General of the International Olympic Committee on Discrimination of LGBT People in Russia in Relation to 2014 Winter Olympics
    Jun 20, 2013
    In this letter I would like to raise Human Rights Watch’s concerns about the homophobic draft law that is expected to pass in the Russian parliament’s upper chamber in the coming weeks. This draft law is clearly incompatible with the Olympic Charter’s promotion of “human dignity,” as well as a blatant violation of Russia’s international legal obligations to guarantee non-discrimination and respect for freedom of expression.
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