• A young boy sits on a stack of ore sacks in the mining processing site in Bagega village.
    © 2011 Marcus Bleasdale/VII for Human Rights Watch
    Nigeria: Funds Released for Lead Cleanup

    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to immediately release funds to clean up lead-contaminated villages in Nigeria will save untold lives. Releasing the funds clears the way for at least 1,500 children in urgent need of life-saving medical treatment in northern Nigeria to receive care.

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Environment

  • Letter from Human Rights Watch to Governments in Countries with Artisanal Gold Mining
    Jun 19, 2013
  • Letter from Human Rights Watch Urging Governments to Financially or Technically Assist Countries with Artisanal Gold Mining
    Jun 19, 2013
  • Ghana: Mine Accident Highlights Risk to Children
    Jun 13, 2013
    A recent mining accident that killed 16 people at an unlicensed artisanal gold mine in Ghana underscores the need for tougher measures to end child labor and protect the safety of adult artisanal miners. HRW visited the site of the mine collapse between May 31 and June 2, 2013.
  • World Environment Day: a day like any other for Abigail Chombo
    Jun 5, 2013
    When basic human rights, like the rights to life, health, food, information, justice, participation and assembly are not respected, the global environmental movement loses a critical ally -- citizens around the world for whom the protection of rights and the environment are one and the same. In violating their rights, the marginalization of many of these people limits their ability to affect positive environmental change.
  • Dubai's child labor complicity
    May 3, 2013

    Dubai confirmed its position as an international trade hub for gold in April. At a precious metals conference in the city, the United Arab Emirates’ government announced that the gold traded in the country in 2012 exceeded $70 billion, more than a quarter of the world’s global gold demand that year. Gold refiners and traders like Dubai as a tax-free, business-friendly, well-functioning location.

  • World Bank: Commit to Rights in 2030 Vision
    Apr 19, 2013
    The World Bank’s “vision” statement will be undermined if it fails to recognize the importance of human rights, nine organizations warned. The human rights and development groups called on President Jim Kim to make a firm commitment to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights in all of its activities.
  • World Bank: Uphold Rights to End Poverty, Economic Exclusion
    Apr 19, 2013
    The World Bank Group should uphold human rights as it works to create a world free of poverty and economic exclusion, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Group’s president, Dr. Jim Kim.
  • Letter to President Kim Re. a Human Rights Agenda for the World Bank
    Apr 19, 2013
    Human Rights Watch recognizes that the World Bank operates in countries and environments where there are many human rights challenges. A commitment to human rights would greatly enhance the impact of the Bank’s efforts to reduce poverty and promote inclusive and sustainable development.
  • Polluting Tanneries in Bangladesh Face Fines
    Apr 18, 2013
    For probably the first time, Bangladesh’s government has leveled pollution-related fines against two leather tanneries in Hazaribagh, a Dhaka neighborhood so polluted with waste from its roughly 150 tanneries that residents and workers are plagued by serious health problems.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Bangladesh
    Apr 18, 2013
    Bangladesh’s human rights situation has seen little improvement since its first UPR review in 2009. A key undertaking in the 2009 UPRwas to take a “zero tolerance” stand against abuses by security forces, and bring an end to impunity. Yet extrajudicial killings by the country’s security forces continue with impunity.
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