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Tibet Since 1950: Silence Prison or Exile Introduction by Elliot Sperling Essays by Orville Schell and Steve Marshall Interviews with Tibetan exiles and former prisoners by Mickey Spiegel The bleak reality of Tibet under Chinese control, as never before seen in print. Through photographs, history, personal interviews and stories, Tibet Since 1950 looks beyond Tibet’s Shangri-la image to the impact of Chinese political repression on Tibetan lives. Fifty years of direct Chinese government control has altered every aspect of the culture, politics, economy, and religion in Tibet. The manifestations of repressive rule are evident in the extensive prison network used to detain those perceived as challenging the Chinese government, and in the often-extreme measures used to keep protests in check. Tibet Since 1950 contains rare photographs of Chinese crackdowns on Tibetan demonstrations and first-hand accounts from Tibetans living in exile of why they chose to leave. It looks at the destruction of Tibetan religious institutions in the past and the more subtle damage still being done today. The volume includes a discussion of Tibetan prisons by Steve Marshall and a consideration of Tibet as myth and reality by Orville Schell, renowned journalist and China scholar. Produced in cooperation with Aperture Foundation. ISBN 089381-794-5, 5/00, 184 pages plus 2 eight-page gatefolds, $40.00 Order online Uzbekistan -- "And it Was Hell All over Again...": Torture in Uzbekistan December 2000 (D1212) Widespread torture of detainees is common in criminal investigations in Uzbekistan, and has become an unmistakable feature of the government's crackdown against independent Islam. Uzbekistan's government refuses to hold police and security forces accountable for acts of torture, and even tacitly encourages torture though its broadcasting of political prisoners' public "confessions" as tools of political propaganda. Instituting legal and judicial reform to halt torture, and ending impunity for it, should be a matter of priority for the government of Uzbekistan and for all parties interested in human rights and the security and stability of the region. Persons detained by police in Uzbekistan are routinely subjected to physical and psychological abuse, often from the initial moments of their arrest. Mounting numbers of deaths in pre- and post-conviction detention facilities over the past two years attest to the brutality of the treatment meted out against detainees and prisoners. Although Uzbek law criminalizes torture, few law enforcement officers are held accountable for it. Uzbek courts routinely rely on evidence extracted under torture, despite rulings barring the admissibility of this evidence. (253X), 12/00, 62pp., $7.00 Order online Russia--"Welcome to Hell": Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Extortion in Chechnya October 2000 (253X) This report details the cycle of torture and extortion faced by thousands of Chechens whom Russian forces have detained in Chechnya. The rights group called on European states to file a case against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights, for these and other abuses during the war in Chechnya. The 99-page report, entitled "Welcome to Hell," describes how Russian troops have detained thousands of Chechens on suspicion of collaboration with rebel fighters. Many of them were detained arbitrarily, with no evidence of wrongdoing. Guards at detention centers systematically beat Chechen detainees, some of whom have also been raped or subjected to other forms of torture. Most were released only after their families managed to pay large bribes to Russian officials. Russian authorities have launched no credible and transparent effort to investigate these abuses and bring the perpetrators to justice. "Welcome to hell" is how guards at the Chernokozovo detention facility would greet detainees, before forcing them to undergo a hail of blows by baton-wielding guards. Chechens who do not have proper identity papers, who share a surname with a Chechen commander, who are thought to have relatives who are fighters, or who simply "look" like fighters, continue to be detained and abused on a daily basis in their communities or at Chechnya's hundreds of checkpoints. Many "disappear" for months as Russian officials keep them in incommunicado detention. Some are eventually released when relatives pay a bribe. Others never come back. (253X), 10/00, 99pp., $10.00 Order online South Africa -- Question of Principle: Arms Trade and Human Rights October 2000 (A1205) South Africa is not living up to its own high standards with respect to arms exports, Human Rights Watch charged today. In this report, "A Question of Principle: Arms Trade and Human Rights," Human Rights Watch charged the South African government with selling weapons to countries with serious human rights problems, where an influx of weaponry could significantly worsen ongoing abuses. Human Rights Watch noted that after 1994, South Africa announced more restrictive policies on arms transfers. But the report charges that those policies are not always being followed. In 1994, a scandal erupted involving the sale by Armscor, the apartheid-era governmental arms export agency, of weapons to Yemen for probable on-shipment to the former Yugoslavia, then under U.N. embargo. The Human Rights Watch report cited examples of weapons sales since 1994 to governments engaging in repression against their own people or to countries involved in their own or others' civil wars. These sales clearly violated South Africa's own stated policies. Purchasers of South African arms include Algeria, Angola, Colombia, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), India, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. (A1205), 10/00, 48pp., $5.00 Order online Israel, the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and The Palestinian Aurthority Territories:Investigation into Unlawful use of Force in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Northern Israel, October 4 through October 11 October 2000 (E1203) Human Rights Watch today released results of a week-long investigation that condemns Israeli police and security forces for a pattern of using excessive, lethal force in clashes with demonstrators over the past two weeks. In the report, Human Rights Watch also strongly criticized the failure of the Palestinian police to act consistently to prevent armed Palestinians from shooting at Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from positions where civilians were present and thus endangered by the Israeli response. Human Rights Watch said its week-long investigation of clashes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and northern Israel showed repeated use by Israeli security forces of lethal force in situations where demonstrators posed no threat of death or serious injury to security forces or others. In situations where Palestinians did fire upon Israeli security forces, the IDF showed a troubling proclivity to resort to indiscriminate lethal force in response. At least 100 Palestinians have been killed and 3,500 injured in clashes with Israeli security forces. Human Rights Watch also expressed concern at the IDF's use of medium caliber munitions, which are meant for penetrating concrete and other hard surface barriers, against unarmed demonstrators in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The military munitions were particularly devastating when they hit civilians. (E1203), 10/00, 13pp., $3.00 Order online Kuwait: "Promises Betrayed: Denial of Rights of Bidun, Women, and Freedom of Expression" October 2000 (E1202) Human Rights Watch today called on Kuwait to revoke laws that discriminate against women and long-term non-citizens of Kuwait. In a report issued before the opening of the Kuwaiti National Assembly on October 28, Human Rights Watch also called on Kuwait to amend its Penal Code and Printing and Publications Law to protect freedom of expression. The 38-page report, "Promises Betrayed: Denial of Rights of Bidun,Women, and Freedom of Expression," details Kuwaiti laws and practices which systematically discriminate against women and stateless Bidun, and laws which criminalize free expression by journalists, academics, and writers. These laws contravene Kuwait's international treaty obligations, including the six human rights treaties that Kuwait has signed since 1968. Human Rights Watch said that Kuwaiti women face severe discrimination in both public and private life. Under Kuwaiti penal law, men who kill female relatives in so-called "honor crimes" serve a maximum three-year sentence and are not prosecuted for murder. Women are banned from voting and standing for election, cannot contract their own marriage or divorce without the agreement of a male guardian or judge, and are barred in practice from many public positions, including serving as judges. (E1202), 10/00, 43pp., $5.00 Order online Georgia--Backtracking on Reform: Amendments Undermine Access to Justice October 2000 (D1211) In a report released today, Human Rights Watch documents Georgia's repeal of reforms that would have widened access to the courts to hear torture and other complaints of abuses by the police, procuracy, and security forces.The Georgian parliament repealed these important reforms just weeks after Georgia was voted into the Council of Europe in April 1999. Since then, Georgia's abysmal record on torture has shown no improvement, and the report shows how the backtracking on legal reforms last year has contributed to continuing widespread, unchecked abuses. The reforms affected the criminal procedure code, which governs criminal investigations and trials. Council of Europe experts had reviewed and the Georgian parliament had adopted the reformed criminal procedure code prior to Georgia's April 1999 admission to the organization. (D1211), 10/00, 64pp., $7.00 Order online Seeking Protection": Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps September 2000 (2483) Burundian refugee women confront daily violence in Tanzanian refugee camps, Human Rights Watch charges in a new report released today. Wide-spread sexual and domestic abuse have left many of these women physically battered, psychologically traumatized, and fearful for their lives. Although the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (unhcr) has taken significant steps to address this violence, the international monitoring organization states that the measures are insufficient. The 151-page report, "Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps," documents unhcr's and the Tanzanian host government's failure to address violence against women refugees in a timely and effective manner, despite ample evidence that women's lives were in danger in their homes and in the general camp community. (2483), 10/00 151pp, $10.00 Order online Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan September 2000 (2521) Thousands of Thai women are "trafficked" every year into Japan, where many of them endure slavery-like conditions in the Japanese sex industry, Human Rights Watch said in a this new report. According to the 227-page report, "Owed Justice: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan," the women are typically promised lucrative jobs by traffickers in Thailand, but arrive in Japan to find themselves trapped in "debt." To repay these exorbitant sums - usually US$25,000 to US$40,000 - they must work for months, or even years, without pay, under highly coercive and abusive conditions. Japanese officials have publicly expressed their concern for the victims of trafficking. But over the course of a six-year investigation in both Japan and Thailand, Human Rights Watch found that the Japanese government has taken no concrete steps to stamp out the practice.The report notes that both the Japanese and Thai governments are participating in the drafting of a United Nations anti-trafficking protocol that will influence governments' response to trafficking in persons worldwide. The negotiations resume next month, and Human Rights Watch calls on the Japanese and Thai governments, as well as all other participating states, to ensure that the protocol includes strong provisions for the protection of the human rights and physical safety of trafficking victims. (2521) 9/00, 228pp., $15.00 Order online Landmine Monitor Report 2000: Toward a Mine-Free World September 2000 (2505) More than 22 million antipersonnel mines have been destroyed from the arsenals of at least fifty nations, and the number of new landmine victims is dropping sharply in heavily mined countries like Cambodia, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Mozambique, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said in a report released today simultaneously in about 20 countries. The ICBL's 1,100-page Landmine Monitor Report 2000: Toward a Mine-Free World was edited and produced by Human Rights Watch, a founding member of the ICBL, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. The report provides new details on mine use, production, trade, stockpiling, demining and mine victim assistance in every country of the world in the period from the March 1999 entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty to mid-2000. The report states that since March 1999 it appears that antipersonnel mines were used in twenty conflicts by eleven governments and numerous rebel groups. Angola, which has signed the treaty, continued to use mines, and it is likely that Burundi and Sudan, which are also signatories, used mines. The most extensive use of antipersonnel mines in this period occurred in Chechnya, especially by Russian forces, and Kosovo, especially by Yugoslav forces. (2505) 9/00, 1125pp., $45.00 Order online Turkey: Human Rights and the European Union Accession Partnership September 2000 (D1210) At its summit in Helsinki in December 1999, the European Union (E.U.) recognized Turkey as a candidate for membership in the union, subject to the understanding that actual negotiations for membership will not commence until Turkey meets the political criteria for E.U. membership established in Copenhagen in 1993. Once adopted by the Commission and the E.U. Council of Ministers in late 2000, the Accession Partnership document, which will also include economic and institutional requirements, will become the E.U.'s formal list of tasks that Turkey must complete in order to accede to the union. Turkey will then produce a national program for accession that mirrors the Accession Partnership, and progress will be monitored by means of the annual 'Regular Report from the European Commission on progress towards accession' on the basis of the Copenhagen criteria, as is done for all applicant states. Turkey's history of gross and widespread human rights violations has been thoroughly documented by non-governmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch, and by international governmental organizations including the United Nations (U.N.) and the Council of Europe. As a consequence of Turkey's persistent failure to follow the recommendations of such bodies, serious violations persist today. (D1210) 9/00, 31pp., $5.00 Order online "Nipped in the Bud": Suppression of the China Democracy Party September 2000 (C1205) In this thirty-five page report released today, Human Rights Watch called on China's President Jiang Zemin to release more than thirty people imprisoned for their role in the China Democracy Party and all others who have been detained in China for peaceful political activities. The Chinese President will be in the U.S. on September 7 to meet world leaders at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly. The new report, "Nipped in the Bud: Suppression of the China Democracy Party," documents China's systematic crushing of attempts by a group of activists to form the first legally registered opposition party since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. The activists, who announced the founding of the party on the eve of President Bill Clinton's state visit to China in June 1998, used the provisions of international human rights treaties as evidence of their right to organize. Some members had already been arrested when China finally signed – but did not ratify – one of those treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in October 1998. More arrests and harsh sentences followed. (C1205) 9/00, 36pp., $5.00 Order online Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards September 2000 (2513) Workers' basic rights are routinely violated in the United States because U.S. labor law is so feebly enforced and so filled with loopholes, Human Rights Watch said in this report. The 217-page report, "Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards," was based on field research in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Washington and other states. Human Rights Watch examined workers' rights to organize, to bargain collectively, and to strike under international norms. It found widespread labor rights violations across regions, industries and employment status. The report is being released on the eve of the annual Labor Day holiday in the United States. The U.S. government has called for "core labor standards," including workers' freedom of association, to be included in the rules of the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. But Human Rights Watch charged that the United States itself violates freedom of association standards by failing to protect workers' right to organize. (2513) 8/00, 220pp., $15.00 Order online Malaysia/Burma -- Living in Limbo: Burmese Rohingyas in Malaysia August 2000 (C1204) After fleeing systematic discrimination, forced labor, and other abuses in Burma, ethnic Rohingya in Malaysia face a whole new set of abuses in Malaysia. These include beatings, extortion, and arbitrary detention. The refugees are forced to live in poverty and constant fear of expulsion from the country. The 78-page report, "Living in Limbo: Burmese Rohingyas in Malaysia," details the treatment of Rohingya exiles in Malaysia. Denied legal recognition as refugees, Rohingya children are often not permitted to attend school, and many are denied health care. They are also at constant risk of arrest. Malaysian government officials detain and deport even those persons the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recognized as refugees. In Malaysia's immigration detention camps, out of the eye of domestic and international monitors, detainees have been robbed and beaten. Former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch claimed that food and medical care is grossly inadequate in some detention centers, and that some detainees had died as a result. Children have been detained with unrelated adults, separated from their families, and deported alone to the Thai border. From the moment of their arrest to their expulsion, the Rohingya are vulnerable to demands for bribes by government officials. (C1204), 8/00, 78pp., $7.00 Order online Emptying the Hills: Regroupment Camps in Burundi July 2000 (A12041) Although the government of Burundi has promised Nelson Mandela that it will close its squalid "regroupment" camps, that promise has not yet been fulfilled, Human Rights Watch charged in this report. The former South African president is leading a new round of the Burundi peace talks, opening tomorrow. Burundian rebel groups, who are of critical importance to any efforts to end the six-year civil war, have said they will attend the talks only if the regroupment camps are closed. The 35-page report, "Emptying the Hills," says that the Burundian government forced as many as 350,000 civilians into the camps. Although Burundi president Pierre Buyoya promised Mandela to close the camps by July 31, some tens of thousands of people are still living in them. The report also details abuses of the National Liberation Forces (Forces Nationales pour la Libération, FNL), a rebel group fighting the Burundian government. (A1204), 7/00, 38pp, $5.00 Order online |
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Human Rights Watch World Report 2001 December 2000 (2548), 570 pp., $25.00 Order online
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