• The United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York on October 1, 2012.
    © 2012 Reuters
    UN: Noncompetitive Elections Weaken Rights Council

    Limited competition in elections for the United Nations Human Rights Council undermines membership standards set for the body by the UN General Assembly. Although the General Assembly elected 18 countries to the Human Rights Council on November 12, 2012, only three faced challengers in their bids for a seat.  

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United Nations

  • Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan: Abuses in International Spotlight
    Apr 22, 2013
    Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan’s highly repressive policies are coming up for rare international scrutiny on April 22 and 24, 2013. United Nations member countries gathering at the Human Rights Council in Geneva under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure should seize the opportunity to expose and denounce the ongoing repression in both countries and press for concrete steps to end abuses.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Uzbekistan - Submitted in October 2012
    Apr 19, 2013
  • Universal Periodic Review: Joint HRW Submission on Turkmenistan with Freedom Now and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights - Submitted in October 2012
    Apr 19, 2013
  • 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.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Azerbaijan
    Apr 18, 2013
    Azerbaijan’s human rights record has been on a continual decline since the previous UPR in 2009, casting serious doubt on the government’s willingness to abide by its commitments and to reform. The long-repressive atmosphere for independent journalists, political activists, and human rights defenders has grown acutely hostile, with authorities using imprisonment as a tool for political retribution and clamping down on freedom of assembly, breaking up peaceful demonstrations, often violently.
  • Universal Periodic Review: Joint HRW submission on Cameroon with Affirmative Action, Alternatives Cameroun, ADEFHO, Camfaids, Evolve, Humanity First, IGLHRC
    Apr 18, 2013
    This submission, by Affirmative Action, Alternatives-Cameroun, the Association for the Defense of Gay and Lesbian Rights (ADEFHO), Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), Evolve, Human Rights Watch, Humanity First Cameroon, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), highlights shortcomings in Cameroon’s human rights record related to its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. It is based on research conducted in Cameroon in 2009 and 2010 by ADEFHO, Alternatives-Cameroun, Human Rights Watch, and IGLHRC and published in our 2010 report Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and on follow-up investigations conducted between 2010 and 2012.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Cuba
    Apr 18, 2013
    Cuba remains the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent. In 2012 the government of Raúl Castro continued to enforce political conformity using short-term detentions, beatings, public acts of repudiation, travel restrictions, and forced exile. During its first UPR review, Cuba rejected all recommendations addressing the arbitrary detentions of political prisoners, the lack of protection of human rights defenders, and restrictions on freedom of expression. Since then, Human Rights Watch has continued documenting cases of serious abuses of these rights.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Russia
    Apr 18, 2013
    Starting in June 2012, the Russian government reversed small, positive steps taken since the previous UPR, which had slightly loosened excessive government control over civil society organizations and aimed to improve pluralism in the political system. It launched a broad crackdown on freedom of assembly, association, and expression. Abuses in the counterinsurgency campaign in the North Caucasus continue. Several Russian regions have adopted homophobic laws, and preparations for the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi have been tainted by abuses.
  • Universal Periodic Review: Joint HRW Submission on Germany, with Forum Menschenrechte
    Apr 18, 2013
    Germany is State party to most of the core international human rights standards with the exception of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The German Government continues to refuse ratification. This submission further explores the respect of human rights law by the Federal Republic of Germany, ahead of its UPR.
  • UN/Western Sahara: Give Peacekeepers a Human Rights Mandate
    Apr 17, 2013
    United Nations Security Council members should task the United Nations with monitoring human rights violations in Western Sahara and in the refugee camps around Tindouf, in Algeria, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to all 15 Security Council member countries.
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