Reports

Underwater

Human Rights Impacts of a China Belt and Road Project in Cambodia

The 137-page report, “Underwater: Human Rights Impacts of a China Belt and Road Project in Cambodia,” documents economic, social, and cultural rights violations resulting from the Lower Sesan 2 dam’s displacement of nearly 5,000 people whose families had lived in the area for generations, as well as impacts on the livelihoods of tens of thousands of others upstream and downstream. Cambodian authorities and company officials improperly consulted with affected communities before the project’s start and largely ignored their concerns. Many were coerced into accepting inadequate compensation for lost property and income, provided with poor housing and services at resettlement sites, and given no training or assistance to secure new livelihoods. Other affected communities upstream and downstream of the dam received no compensation or assistance.

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  • Tiger Chairs and Cell Bosses

    Police Torture of Criminal Suspects in China

    This 145-page report is based on Human Rights Watch analysis of hundreds of newly published court verdicts from across the country and interviews with 48 recent detainees, family members, lawyers, and former officials.

    A “tiger chair” specially designed to restrain detainees. Former detainees say that police often strap them into these metal chairs for hours and even days, depriving detainees of sleep, and immobilizing them until their legs and buttocks were swollen.

  • Under China’s Shadow

    Mistreatment of Tibetans in Nepal

    The 100-page report shows that Tibetan refugee communities in Nepal are now facing a de facto ban on political protests, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion, and routine abuses by Nepali security forces.

  • Whose Development?

    Human Rights Abuses in Sierra Leone’s Mining Boom

    This 96-page report documents how the government and London-based African Minerals Limited forcibly relocated hundreds of families from verdant slopes to a flat, arid area in Tonkolili District.

  • “As Long as They Let Us Stay in Class”

    Barriers to Education for Persons with Disabilities in China

    This 75-page report documents the struggles of children and young people with disabilities to be educated in mainstream schools in their communities.

  • “They Say We Should Be Grateful”

    Mass Rehousing and Relocation Programs in Tibetan Areas of China

    Since 2006, under plans to “Build a New Socialist Countryside” in Tibetan areas, over two million Tibetans have been “rehoused” – through government-ordered renovation or construction of new houses – in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), while hundreds of thousands of nomadic herders in the eastern part of the Tibetan pl

  • "Swept Away"

    Abuses against Sex Workers in China

    This 51-page report documents abuses by the police against female sex workers in Beijing, including torture, beatings, physical assaults, arbitrary detentions, and fines, as well as a failure to investigate crimes against sex workers by clients, bosses, and state agents.

  • Hear No Evil

    Forced Labor and Corporate Responsibility in Eritrea’s Mining Sector

    The 29-page report describes how mining companies working in Eritrea risk involvement with the government’s widespread exploitation of forced labor.

  • Torture in the Name of Treatment

    Human Rights Abuses in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Lao PDR

    More than 350,000 people identified as drug users are held in compulsory drug "treatment" centers in China and Southeast Asia. Detainees are held without due process for periods of months or years and may be subjected to physical and sexual abuse, torture, and forced labor.

  • Isolated in Yunnan

    Kachin Refugees from Burma in China’s Yunnan Province

    This 71-page report describes how at least 7,000 to 10,000 ethnic Kachin refugees have fled war and abuses in Burma since June 2011, seeking refuge in southwestern China. The report is based on more than 100 interviews with refugees, displaced persons in Burma, victims of abuses, relief workers, and others.

  • "Beat Him, Take Everything Away"

    Abuses by China’s Chengguan Para-Police

    This 76-page report documents abuses by the chengguan Urban Management Law Enforcement (城管执法) forces, including assaults on suspected administrative law violators, some of which lead to serious injury or death, illegal detention, and unlawful forceful confiscation of property.

  • “You’ll Be Fired if You Refuse”

    Labor Abuses in Zambia's Chinese State-owned Copper Mines

    This 122-page report details the persistent abuses in Chinese-run mines, including poor health and safety conditions, regular 12-hour and even 18-hour shifts involving arduous labor, and anti-union activities, all in violation of Zambia’s national laws or international labor standards.

  • “My Children Have Been Poisoned”

    A Public Health Crisis in Four Chinese Provinces

    This 75-page report draws on research in heavily lead-contaminated villages in Henan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Hunan provinces.

  • Promises Unfulfilled

    An Assessment of China’s National Human Rights Action Plan

    This 67-page report details how despite the Chinese government's progress in protection of some economic and social rights, it has undermined many of the key goals of the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) by tightening restrictions on rights of expression, association, and assembly over the past two years.

  • “I Saw It with My Own Eyes”

    Abuses by Chinese Security Forces in Tibet, 2008-2010

    This 73-page report is based on more than 200 interviews with Tibetan refugees and visitors conducted immediately after they left China, as well as fresh, not previously reported, official Chinese sources.

  • "Where Darkness Knows No Limits"

    Incarceration, Ill-Treatment and Forced Labor as Drug Rehabilitation in China

    This 37-page report based on research in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, documents how China's June 2008 Anti-Drug Law compounds the health risks of suspected illicit drug users by allowing government officials and security forces to incarcerate them for up to six years.