Reports

The Persecution of Environmentalists and Indigenous Leaders in Indonesia

The 70-page report, “Grabbed Land, Silenced Justice: The Persecution of Environmentalists and Indigenous Leaders in Indonesia,” documents how Indonesian police have responded to complaints filed by company officials or politicians by silencing Indigenous villagers who demand their customary land rights and the activists who defend them. The authorities have targeted environmental and Indigenous community defenders using the criminal code and other laws to bring charges ranging from defamation to “spreading communism” to silence protest over environmental harm.

An Indigenous Dayak villager shows pictures of her rubber plantation destroyed by an industrial logging company
A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" in front of a line of soldiers

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  • May 5, 2010

    Child Labor in US Agriculture

    In this 99-page report Human Rights Watch found that child farmworkers risked their safety, health, and education on commercial farms across the United States. For the report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 59 children under age 18 who had worked as farmworkers in 14 states in various regions of the United States.

  • May 3, 2010

    The Human Rights Consequences of Criminal Defamation Law in Indonesia

    This 91-page report documents recent cases in which criminal libel, slander, and "insult" laws have been used to silence public criticism.
  • May 2, 2010

    Increased Threats to Freedom of Expression in Uganda

    This 60-page report documents multiple recent cases in which Ugandan journalists have faced increasing threats from government officials and NRM party members, intimidation, harassment, and in some instances, government-inspired criminal charges.
  • April 28, 2010

    State Control and Civil Society in Burma after Cyclone Nargis

    This 102-page report based on 135 interviews with cyclone survivors, aid workers, and other eyewitnesses, details the Burmese military government's response to Nargis and its implications for human rights and development in Burma today.
  • April 27, 2010

    Protection of Migrant Domestic Workers in Asia and the Middle East

    This 26-page report reviews conditions in eight countries with large numbers of migrant domestic workers: Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Singapore, and Malaysia.

  • April 27, 2010

    HIV, TB, and Abuse in Zambian Prisons

    This 135-page report documents the failure of the Zambian prison authority to provide basic nutrition, sanitation, and housing for prisoners, and of the criminal justice system to ensure speedy trials and appeals, and to make the fullest use of non-custodial alternatives.
  • April 20, 2010

    Repression of the Media and the Illusion of Reform in Zimbabwe

    This 26-page report says that the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the former sole ruling party, still holds the balance of power in the coalition government forged with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the former opposition movement, in February 2009.
  • April 19, 2010

    Abuses by al-Shabaab, the Transitional Federal Government, and AMISOM in Somalia

    This 62-page report finds that al-Shabaab forces have brought greater stability to many areas in southern Somalia, but at a high cost for the local population - especially women. Based on over 70 interviews with victims and witnesses, the report describes harsh punishments including amputations and floggings, which are meted out regularly and without due process.

  • April 15, 2010

    Forced Begging and Other Abuses against Talibés in Senegal

    This 114-page report documents the system of exploitation and abuse in which at least 50,000 boys known as talibés - the vast majority under age 12 and many as young as four - are forced to beg on Senegal's streets for long hours, seven days a week, by often brutally abusive teachers, known as marabouts.
  • April 14, 2010

    Segregation of HIV-Positive Prisoners in Alabama and South Carolina

    This 45-page report says that prisoners in the HIV units are forced to wear armbands or other indicators of their HIV status, are forced to eat and even worship separately, and are denied equal participation in prison jobs, programs, and re-entry opportunities that facilitate their transition back into society.
  • April 13, 2010

    This 31-page report documents how the government took only limited steps to improve transparency after Human Rights Watch disclosed in a 2004 report that billions of dollars in oil revenue illegally bypassed the central bank and disappeared without explanation. The report details newly disclosed evidence of corruption and mismanagement and includes recommendations for reversing the pattern.
  • April 11, 2010

    Impunity for Laws-of-War Violations during the Gaza War

    This 62-page report details the steps both Israel and Hamas have taken over the past year to investigate alleged violations of the laws of war and possible war crimes, and how those investigations have fallen far short of international legal standards.

  • April 7, 2010

    Uninvestigated Laws of War Violations in Yemen’s War with Huthi Rebels

    This 54-page report documents how government forces may have indiscriminately bombed and shelled civilian areas, causing civilian casualties, and how Huthi forces may have committed summary executions and unlawfully deployed in populated areas.
  • March 28, 2010

    LRA Atrocities in Northeastern Congo

    This 67-page report is the first detailed documentation of the Makombo massacre and other atrocities by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Congo in 2009 and early 2010.
  • March 26, 2010

    Official Complicity and Impunity

    This 105-page report finds that authorities have at times been directly involved in public killings and beatings of suspected criminals, or have facilitated them by forming untrained "security committees" that operate at the margins of the law. In other cases, officials have stood by while mobs attacked alleged criminals.