• The enormous US prison population, the world's largest, partly reflects harsh sentencing practices contrary to international law, such as disproportionately long prison terms and mandatory sentencing without parole. Those behind bars include a growing number of elderly people, whom prisons are ill-equipped to handle, and youth under age 18 held in adult prisons. Unauthorized immigrants and their families in the United States are vulnerable to abuses stemming from an outdated, ineffective immigration system that deprives them of basic rights, and increasing numbers are held in detention facilities. A number of abusive counterterrorism policies have continued under President Barack Obama, including detentions without charge at Guantanamo Bay.

  • Photos of Snowden, a contractor at the NSA, and U.S. President Obama are printed on the front pages of local English and Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong.
    The United States should protect people who use classified or other sensitive government information to expose what appear to be serious human rights violations and other government wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch said in a statement released today.

Reports

United States

  • Jun 28, 2013
  • Jun 27, 2013
    A landmark immigration reform bill that grants legal status to millions of people and reduces their vulnerability to human rights abuses has passed an important hurdle. The US Senate approved the bill by a vote of 68-32 on the afternoon on June 27, 2013.
  • Jun 26, 2013
    The US Supreme Court’s rulings on June 26, 2013, in two cases – United States v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry – have invalidated two of the most egregious anti-LGBT initiatives in the country.
  • Jun 25, 2013

    When President Obama visits Senegal this week, he will have the opportunity to show his support for a bold initiative to bring to justice the dictator responsible for torturing me and thousands of my countrymen.

  • Jun 25, 2013
    (New York) – The New York State Assembly enacted a bill to end the use of condoms as evidence of prostitution-related offenses on the final day of the 2013 legislative session. Assembly bill 2736 was approved by a vote of 80 to 48 on June 21, 2013, and was delivered to the New York State Senate.
  • Jun 21, 2013
    The immigration reform bill now being debated on the floor of the US Senate, while not perfect, would bring millions of undocumented immigrants and their families out of the shadows, and deserves to be passed into law.
  • Jun 20, 2013
  • Jun 20, 2013
    (New York) –The New York State Assembly should enact a bill that would prohibit the use of condoms as evidence of prostitution-related offenses. Assembly bill 2736 was voted out of the New York State Assembly Rules Committee on June 20, 2013 and could be passed by the full assembly before the session ends on June 21.
  • Jun 20, 2013
    The United States government’s decision to downgrade Uzbekistan in a human trafficking ranking based on its use of forced and child labor sends a powerful message of support to the millions of Uzbeks forced to pick the country’s cotton crop. Moving Uzbekistan to the lowest category is one of the strongest efforts in years to hold Uzbekistan accountable for its atrocious record on forced labor
  • Jun 19, 2013