Corrections

The June 2011 report "My Children Have Been Poisoned" summarized in the background section previously published research on the prevalence and level of elevated blood lead among children in Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Shaanxi province. The unit of measurement for blood lead levels were misstated: values provided were in μg/L but labeled μg/dL, leading to an overstatement of average blood lead levels among children tested in these studies. These figures have been corrected and are reported in μg/dL, which is the international standard measure for blood lead testing. The prevalence of elevated blood lead among children in these studies was reported correctly, and is unchanged.

The June 14 report, A Costly Move, stated in the summary that “over 46 percent of detainees were transferred at least two times, with 3,400 people transferred 10 times or more.” The corrected version reads that “over 46 percent of transferred detainees were moved at least two times, with 3,400 people transferred 10 times or more.”

The June 2011 report, "Darfur in the Shadows" misleadingly stated that the eight-year war in Darfur has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced two million more. The corrected version states that the war in Darfur has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than two million.

The May 2011 report, “Justice Compromised: The Legacy of Rwanda's Community-Based Gacaca Courts," was revised to correct certain factual errors. We amended page 40 to indicate that Dr. Pascal Habarugira was a doctor in the gynecology department and not the head of this department as previously reported. We also amended page 53, footnote 208, to reflect the correct name of the Rwandan Interior Minister as Abdul Karim Harelimana. Page 59 has been revised to reflect that the two victims traveling with Munyangabe’s father were intercepted on foot and not while traveling in a vehicle. The report was also revised to remove a sentence on page 51 that stated that a gacaca court convicted Odette Uwimana of involvement in the death of a Tutsi woman and that the decision was overturned on appeal. In fact, the gacaca court acquitted her and the decision was affirmed on appeal. The report incorrectly stated that Rwandan lawyer and former ICTR defense investigator Léonidas Nshogoza remained in prison in Rwanda until January 2008. Page 57 now states that Nshogoza remained in prison for more than 5 months and was released in November 2007. In addition, a sentence on page 63 has been changed to reflect that a presidential guard officer was held in the cell coordinator’s office pending trial and not the district coordinator’s office. A sentence has been removed on page 101 to reflect the fact that Béatrice Nirere had not been a member of parliament since 2003. Nirere was elected to parliament in 2008. On page 102, a sentence has been revised to read: “An RPF member who had been lower down on the RPF nominee list than Nirere (and who had therefore not been selected), instigated the case and took over Nirere’s parliamentary seat after her conviction.” Two spelling errors were also corrected in the French version of the report.

The English version of the Guinea report of May 2011 entitled “We Have Lived in Darkness” contained an error in the description of ECOWAS. The correct spelling of the description of ECOWAS is “Economic Community of West African States”. (May 31, 2011)

In the English and French versions of the report, the name of the author of the article published in the Journal of Modern African Studies, Still Standing: neighborhood wars and political stability in Guinea, was misspelled. The correct spelling her name is Alexis Arieff. (July 15, 2011)

The May 9, 2011 press release incorrectly stated that, "the Convention was the first legally binding instrument that creates a comprehensive legal framework to combat violence against women through prevention, protection, prosecution, and victim support." The first legally binding international Convention specifically addressing violence against women was the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women (The Convention of Belem do Para), which was adopted in 1994. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence is, however, the first in the region and is the most comprehensive legal document to date on violence against women. This was corrected in the updated version, which reads, "The convention is the first legally binding instrument in the region that creates a comprehensive legal framework to combat violence against women through prevention, protection, prosecution, and victim support."

This 10 April 2011 press release was updated to correct the name of a victim's family, a doctor's place of employment, and minor details. Dr. El-Fortia works at the Misrata Hospital, not the Polyclinic. The original press release stated that Dr. El-Fortia told Human Rights Watch about the 15 injured people, but the information came from another doctor. Additionally, the family name Suaib was misspelled as Sueib.

The April 7, 2011 press release quoted language from a final draft of the Action Plan circulated by the White House on April 6.  The public version of the plan published on April 7 did not include this language. The press release was updated by removing the quotes from around the phrases, "improve the handling of crimes against union members" and "accelerate action on outstanding labor violence cases." 

The March 31 news release stated that Maher al-Gerief and two friends, Walid al-Thaib and Khalid al-Mansuri went missing while driving "with weapons" to the front line in Brega. Human Rights Watch has since confirmed that they were travelling without weapons.

The February 13 version of this news release used the term “taser.” That was meant as a generic term for stun gun and did not intend to suggest that Taser-brand products were being used. (February 14, 2011)