Reports

US Civil Rights Enforcement Under the Trump Administration

The 112-page report, “Remedies Abandoned: US Civil Rights Enforcement Under the Trump Administration,” documents the administration’s efforts to unravel the work of four key agencies between January 2025 and the spring of 2026: the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which lost about 75 percent of its attorneys; the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which moved to lay off nearly half its staff in one day and closed 7 of its 12 regional offices; the Housing and Urban Development Department’s Fair Housing Office, which shrank dramatically; and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which reached its lowest staffing levels in over 40 years.

A man in a wheelchair holds a protest sign at a demonstration
A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" in front of a line of soldiers

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  • June 6, 2005

    The Andijan Massacre, May 13, 2005

    This report is based on 50 interviews with victims of and witnesses to the May 13 killings. It details the Uzbek government’s indiscriminate use of lethal force against unarmed people, describes government efforts to silence witnesses, and places the events against the background of Uzbekistan’s worsening human rights record.

  • June 1, 2005

    Democratic Republic of Congo

    This 159-page report documents how local armed groups fighting for the control of gold mines and trading routes have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity using the profits from gold to fund their activities and buy weapons.

  • May 25, 2005

    The Cycle of Violence in Plateau and Kano States

    This 75-page report provides the first detailed analysis of clashes between Muslims and Christians in northern and central Nigeria in February and May 2004 and the factors that continue to threaten the stability of central and northern Nigeria.
  • May 25, 2005

    India's Reconstruction Following the 2004 Tsunami

    This 47-page report examines the Indian government's response to the tsunami and documents several systemic and potentially enduring failures.
  • May 18, 2005

    Human Rights Abuses Inside the Mojahedin Khalq Camps

    The Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) is an armed Iranian opposition group that was formed in 1965. An urban guerrilla group fighting against the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, it was an active participant in the anti-monarchy struggle that resulted in the 1979 Iranian revolution. At present, the MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
  • May 17, 2005

    Human Rights Watch and Foundation for Human Rights Initiative submission to the U.N. Committee against Torture

    Uganda ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment in 1986. As the U.N. Committee against Torture scrutinizes Uganda’s compliance with the Convention, Human Rights Watch and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) raised their concerns.
  • May 12, 2005

    Dega Christians Targeted in Latest Crackdown

    Recent religious reforms announced by the Vietnamese government are not improving religious freedom for many Christian Montagnards, indigenous hill people from Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
  • May 9, 2005

    The Fate of Islamists Rendered to Egypt

    Sometime at the end of February 2004, six Egyptians, alleged militants who had spent several years in exile in Yemen, the last several in official custody, were surreptitiously ferried from Sanaa to Cairo, very much against their will.
  • May 9, 2005

    Human Rights Abuses and Political Repression in Ethiopia's Oromia Region

    On May 15, 2005, Ethiopia will hold national elections. The international community, including international donors, who have poured substantial amounts of aid into Ethiopia since the current government came to power fourteen years ago, will be watching these elections closely for signs that Ethiopia is moving towards real democracy.
  • May 3, 2005

    The Precarious State of Human Rights and Civilian Protection in Côte d’Ivoire

    This 35-page report documents recent military incidents that demonstrate the precariousness of the situation in Côte d’Ivoire. The report also shows how the continued proliferation of militias and the government’s practice of using hate speech to incite violence puts civilians at continued risk.
  • April 23, 2005

    Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees

    This 95-page report, issued on the eve of the first anniversary of the publication of the Abu Ghraib photos, presents substantial evidence warranting criminal investigations of Rumsfeld and Tenet, as well as Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, formerly the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Gen. Geoffrey Miller the former commander of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  • April 21, 2005

    Written Testimony Submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means

    Human Rights Watch welcomes the opportunity to testify regarding workers’ human rights under the proposed United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (D.R.-CAFTA). Human Rights Watch takes no position on free trade per se, but we take an active interest in workers’ human rights.
  • April 19, 2005

    This 39-page report charges that the government’s policy of isolation is driven not by legitimate penological concerns. Rather, this national policy seeks to punish and demoralize jailed leaders of the banned Nahdha (Renaissance) party, as part of government efforts to destroy the country’s Islamist movement.
  • April 14, 2005

    Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture

    This 91-page report documents the growing practice among Western governments—including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands—of seeking assurances of humane treatment in order to transfer terrorism suspects to states with well-established records of torture.