• Lubanga in the courtroom at the International Criminal Court.
    © 2010 Reuters
    ICC: Landmark Verdict a Warning to Rights Abusers

    The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) guilty verdict against rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for recruiting and using child soldiers in hostilities is a first step in bringing justice to the tens of thousands of children forced to fight in conflicts, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and elsewhere. The verdict highlights the need to urgently arrest Lubanga’s co-accused, Bosco Ntaganda, who is currently a general in the Congo army in Goma, eastern Congo, and continues to evade justice.

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Child Soldiers

  • Syria: Opposition Using Children in Conflict
    Nov 29, 2012
    Armed opposition groups fighting in Syria are using children for combat and other military purposes, Human Rights Watch said today. Children as young as 14 have served in at least three opposition brigades, transporting weapons and supplies and acting as lookouts, Human Rights Watch found, and children as young as 16 have carried arms and taken combat roles against government forces. Opposition commanders should make public commitments to end this practice, and to prohibit the use of anyone under 18 for military purposes – even if they volunteer.
  • Learning Under the Gun
    Nov 20, 2012
    Like many of the Somali youth I interviewed in Kenya, “Xarid M.” had braved the streets of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, for as long as he could to go to school. But that all changed the day the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab brought the war to his classroom.Like many of the Somali youth I interviewed in Kenya, “Xarid M.” had braved the streets of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, for as long as he could to go to school. But that all changed the day the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab brought the war to his classroom.
  • Philippines: Amend Draft Law on Child Soldiers
    Oct 16, 2012
    The Philippines Senate should remove a provision in a draft law that allows for the prosecution of the parents of children recruited to be soldiers. With that revision, the proposed law, the Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Bill, should be enacted into law, the groups said.
  • UN Human Rights Council: HRW's Submission for Canada's Universal Periodic Review
    Oct 10, 2012
    This submission, drawn from recent Human Rights Watch research, focuses on four areas of concern regarding Canada’s human rights record: violence against indigenous women and girls, counterterrorism, abuses related to the extractives industry, and the use of cluster munitions. It also examines Canada’s adherence to commitments made in response to its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2009.
  • UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue With the Independent Expert on Somalia
    Sep 25, 2012
    The reports on Somalia presented to this session by the Independent Expert and the Secretary-General highlight the urgent need for a significant reinforcement of the presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its activities, notably its monitoring work, on Somalia.
  • UN Human Rights Council: Yemen's Human Rights Situation; and the OHCHR Report on South Sudan
    Sep 25, 2012
    In Yemen, the transitional government has taken several bold and positive steps. Nevertheless, human rights violations continue and efforts to implement a United Nations-facilitated blueprint for the two-year political transition period have at times met with violent resistance from supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Human Rights Watch also welcomes the report of the OHCHR on South Sudan. As a new nation-state, the country has faced a number of human rights challenges.
  • Mali: Islamist Armed Groups Spread Fear in North
    Sep 24, 2012
    Three Islamist armed groups controlling northern Mali have committed serious abuses against the local population while enforcing their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. Human Rights Watch in recent weeks has interviewed some one hundred witnesses who have fled the region or remain there.
  • DR Congo: M23 Rebels Committing War Crimes
    Sep 11, 2012

    M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are responsible for widespread war crimes, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment. Thirty-three of those executed were young men and boys who tried to escape the rebels’ ranks.

  • UN Human Rights Council: Statement on the Situation of the Rohingya in Burma, and on the Situation Throughout Mali
    Sep 9, 2012
    Human Rights Watch shares the High Commissioner's concerns about serious ongoing abuses in Arakan and Kachin State in Burma. The Rohingya situation, as well as serious abuses arising out of the ethnic armed conflict in Kachin State, reinforce the need for the Government to invite the High Commissioner's office to set up an office in the country. Human Rights Watch is also concerned about the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation throughout Mali and urges the Human Rights Council to encourage OHCHR to set up a presence in the country and to continue to report on the situation in the country as a whole.
  • U.S. Must Enforce Ban on Child Soldiers
    Jun 28, 2012
    The State Department’s new list of governments using child soldiers is out. Seven countries are named this year. The list is not that surprising: It includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma and South Sudan, which have deployed child soldiers for years. What five countries have in common, however, is that they get U.S. military assistance. This puts the Obama administration’s commitment to end the use of child soldiers to the test — and the clock is ticking.
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