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“The Breath of the Government on My Back”

Attacks on Women’s Rights in Poland

This report documents how, since coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice government has targeted women’s rights groups through raids and defunding, often with little warning and no clear rationale. Human Rights Watch found that government agencies have dragged employees who support women’s rights protests or collaborate with women’s rights groups before disciplinary hearings and threatened their jobs. The government has failed to counter – and sometimes appeared to support – public smear campaigns by ruling party and other politicians and church-backed groups that mischaracterize women’s rights organizations and their work as dangerous to families and so-called “traditional values.”

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  • “What Hell Feels Like”

    Acid Violence in Cambodia

    This report documents the use by private actors of nitric or sulfuric acid to inflict pain and permanently scar victims, and efforts by survivors to get justice and medical care. After several highly publicized acid attacks in Cambodia, the government in 2012 passed the Law on Regulating Concentrated Acid to curb the availability of acid used in attacks and to provide medical care and legal support to victims. Since passage of the law, acid attacks have dropped and regulations have reduced the availability of acid in the capital, Phnom Penh. However, Human Rights Watch found that many survivors of these attacks are unable to get adequate health care and meaningful compensation as the law requires, and that those responsible for attacks are rarely prosecuted.

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  • Dashed Hopes

    The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Myanmar

    This report documents the use of broad and vaguely worded laws against activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy-led government. While discussion of a wide range of topics now flourishes in the media and online, those speaking critically of the government, military, or their officials, as well as abuses in Rakhine or Kachin States, are frequently subject to arrest and prosecution.

  • “No Room to Bargain”

    Unfair and Abusive Labor Practices in Pakistan

    This report documents a range of violations in Pakistan’s garment factories. They include a failure to pay minimum wages and pensions, suppression of independent labor unions, forced overtime, insufficient breaks, and disregarded regulations requiring paid maternity and medical leave. Human Rights Watch also identified problems in the government’s labor inspection system. Pakistan authorities should revamp labor inspections and systematically hold factories accountable for abuses. Domestic and international apparel brands should take more effective measures to prevent and correct labor rights abuses in the factories that produce clothing for them.

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  • No Escape from Hell

    EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya

    This report documents severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and lack of adequate health care. Human Rights Watch found violent abuse by guards in four official detention centers in western Libya, including beatings and whippings. Human Rights Watch witnessed large numbers of children, including newborns, detained in grossly unsuitable conditions in three out of the four detention centers. Almost 20 percent of those who reached Europe by sea from Libya in 2018 were children. 

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  • Unmet Needs

    Improper Social Care Assessments for Older People in England

    For this report, Human Rights Watch spoke with older people and their relatives in 12 cities and towns across England. Some said that assessors appeared not to understand their disabilities and support needs. In other cases, before beginning an assessment, assessors announced that services would be cut regardless of an individual’s actual need. In some cases, services were denied or cut significantly, affecting older people’s health and wellbeing.

  • “Creating Panic”

    Bangladesh Election Crackdown on Political Opponents and Critics

  • “They Just Want to Silence Us”

    Abuses Against Environmental Activists at Kenya’s Coast Region

    This report describes the context for activism around The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport corridor project (LAPSSET) and associated development projects, and documents the obstacles activists face in speaking out publicly about their concerns. At least 35 activists campaigning against the region’s mega infrastructure and transport projects have faced threats, beatings, arbitrary arrests, and detentions.

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  • Recycled Violence

    Abuses by FARC Dissident Groups in Tumaco on Colombia’s Pacific Coast

    This report shows how flaws in the demobilization of FARC guerrillas – and in their reincorporation into society – helped prompt the formation of these new dissident groups. These groups, including United Guerrillas of the Pacific and the Oliver Sinisterra Front, now batter urban neighborhoods and rural hamlets of Tumaco. These groups have engaged in scores of killings in Tumaco, contributing to a dramatic spike in homicide rates.

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  • No Support

    Russia’s “Gay Propaganda” Law Imperils LGBT Youth

    This report documents how Russia’s “gay propaganda” law is having a deeply damaging effect on LGBT children. Human Rights Watch interviewed LGBT youth and mental health professionals in diverse locations across Russia, including urban and rural areas, to examine the everyday experiences of the children in schools, homes, and in public, and their ability to get reliable and accurate information about themselves as well as counseling and other support services. 

  • The Coal Mine Next Door

    How the US Government’s Deregulation of Mountaintop Removal Threatens Public Health

    This report finds that Congress failed to mitigate health risks associated with this form of mining when it voted to roll back a modest regulation to protect streams from mining pollution. In reversing the regulation, Congress made it easier for the coal industry to destroy mountains and bury the waste rock in streams without monitoring or addressing the environmental impacts, while relying on a deeply flawed industry-funded study that was not subject to peer review. In addition, the Trump administration abruptly withdrew funding from a study that could have established broad consensus around the practice’s health impacts in an apparently deliberate effort to prevent important information regarding the health risks of mountaintop removal mining from coming to light. 

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  • “We Used to Be Brothers”

    Self-Defense Group Abuses in Central Mali

    This report documents communal attacks by armed groups against 42 villages and hamlets in Mopti region, particularly near the Burkina Faso border, and the town of Djenne, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The violence has led to widespread displacement, hunger, and looting of livestock, affecting civilians from various communities. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita should ensure that Mali’s security forces impartially protect all civilians at risk from attacks by militias and Islamist armed groups. Judicial authorities should investigate and prosecute groups responsible for abuses.

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  • “Sink or Swim”

    Barriers for Children with Disabilities in the European School System

    This report found that while European Schools are paying increasing attention to inclusion, children with disabilities continued to face problems. They are rejected, pressured into changing schools, or are not provided with appropriate accommodations and support to allow them to learn and thrive in an inclusive environment. 

  • It Should Not Happen

    Alabama’s Failure to Prevent Cervical Cancer Death in the Black Belt

    This report documents how state and federal policies contribute to a treacherous reproductive health environment in Alabama, where women are dying from cervical cancer at rates higher than in any other US state. The report presents the experiences of women mostly from the Alabama Black Belt, a largely rural region of Alabama that is primarily African American and has high rates of poverty and poor physical health. Human Rights Watch found that governments are not doing enough to facilitate access to reproductive health care services and provide information to prevent these deaths.

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