Reports

“Die Here or Go to Poland”

Belarus’ and Poland’s Shared Responsibility for Border Abuses

The 26-page report, “‘Die Here or Go to Poland’: Belarus’ and Poland’s Shared Responsibility for Border Abuses,” documents serious abuses on both sides of the border. People trapped on the Belarus border with Poland said that they had been pushed back, sometimes violently, by Polish border guards to Belarus despite pleading for asylum. On the Belarusian side, accounts of violence, inhuman and degrading treatment and coercion by Belarusian border guards were commonplace.

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  • Backgrounder on the Case of Kheda Kungaeva

    Trial of Yuri Budanov Set for February 28

    On March 27, 2000, Kheda Kungaeva, an eighteen-year-old woman, was taken from her home in Chechnya, beaten, raped, and murdered. On February 28, 2001, the Rostov District Military Court will try Col. Yuri Budanov for Kungaeva's murder.

  • Serbia: Time Ripe For Free And Fair Elections

    The Yugoslav republic of Serbia has an opportunity to hold free and fair parliamentary elections on December 23, for the first time since a multiparty system was introduced in 1990.

  • 50 Years On: What Future for Refugee Protection?

    How countries treat those who have been forced to flee persecution and human rights abuse elsewhere is a litmus test of their commitment to defending human rights and upholding humanitarian values.

  • Memorandum on Human Rights and Rule of Law Priorities in Yugoslavia

    The November 24-25 summit in Zagreb, with the participation of fifteen European Union (E.U.) states and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia, provides a unique opportunity for the E.U.

  • Azerbaijani Parliamentary Elections Manipulated

    Parliamentary elections scheduled for November 5 were to have been a test of Azerbaijan's commitment to the rule of law and to its obligations as a country seeking accession to join the Council of Europe.

  • Turkey: Draft Prison Laws Need Wider Debate

    Human Rights Watch welcomes the Justice Ministry's apparent abandonment of plans to impose a regime of isolation in its new F-type high security prisons. However, the organization believes that further work on the draft laws issued last week will be necessary in order to allay fears among prisoners and their families.

  • Municipal Elections in Kosovo

    Municipal elections in Kosovo will take place on October 28, 2000. As in Bosnia and Hercegovina, Kosovo's first post-conflict elections will have a profound impact in shaping the democratic development of the province, with ramifications for the rule of law, human rights, and the overall security situation.

  • "Welcome to Hell"

    Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Extortion in Chechnya

    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.

  • Backtracking on Reform

    Amendments Undermine Access to Justice

    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 C

  • Turkey: Human Rights and the European Union Accession Partnership

    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 thepolitical criteria for E.U. membership established in Copenhagen in 1993.

  • Russia/Chechnya -- February 5: A Day of Slaughter in Novye Aldi

    On February 5, 2000, Russian forces engaged in widespread killing, arson, rape and looting in Aldi. The victims included an eighty-two-year-old woman, and a one-year-old-boy with his twenty-nine-year-old mother, who was eight months pregnant.