Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan
The 218-page report, “‘The Massalit Will Not Come Home’: Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan,” documents that the Rapid Support Forces, an independent military force in armed conflict with the Sudan military, and their allied mainly Arab militias, including the Third-Front Tamazuj, an armed group, targeted the predominantly Massalit neighborhoods of El Geneina in relentless waves of attacks from April to June. Abuses escalated again in early November. The attackers committed other serious abuses such as torture, rape, and looting. More than half a million refugees from West Darfur have fled to Chad since April 2023. As of late October 2023, 75 percent were from El Geneina.
Even as the administration of President Ernesto Samper has taken limited steps to curb violence and address impunity, the human rights situation in Colombia has deteriorated sharply. Political violence was particularly intense in areas contested by guerrillas and by paramilitaries operating with the acquiescence or active support of the Colombian army.
The most significant human rights event in Cuba in the past months was the visit of Pope John Paul II in late January. While the pontiff's visit forced the Cuban government to make some concessions, there has been a lack of genuine human rights reform in Cuba.
Human Rights Watch has created packet containing background information on the state of human rights in several American countries, in anticipation of the Second Summit of the Americas.
In the past year, the Haitian National Police (HNP) Force has committed serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, beatings in detention, and killings resulting from an excessive use of force.
In the past year, the Haitian National Police (HNP) Force has committed serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, beatings in detention, and killings resulting from an excessive use of force.
Despite positive movement toward the consolidation of political freedoms, human rights violations in Mexico continue to be extremely serious. State and federal police and members of the army continue to engage in torture, arbitrary detention, and other widespread abuses. Prosecutors frequently accept such abuses and judges often fail to question them.
Five years of civil war in Tajikistan were formally brought to a close on June 27, 1997, when a peace accord was signed between the government and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO). A major force, however, was left out of the peace negotiations: the political opposition based in Tajikistan's northern region, Leninabad.
Human Rights Watch, the largest U.S.-based international nongovernmental human rights organization, welcome the presentation of an historic peace accord to the people of Ireland, north and south.
This report documents human rights abuses related to the work of the police and other law enforcement officials in Macedonia, with an emphasis on police violence and violations of the right to due process. It reveals a pattern of abuse that is ignored by Macedonia's political leaders and tolerated by the international community.
Human Rights Watch condemned an attack made by Burmese government and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops upon a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand.
Abuse of Undocumented Migrants, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees in South Africa
Unpunished attacks on foreigners in South Africa are disturbingly common; and foreigners are regularly victimized by the South African police,the army, and by guards at detention facilities. Detention conditions for migrants awaiting deportation are substandard and overcrowded. South Africa's treatment of refugees is also troubling, and fails to conform with international standards.
The Clinton administration deserves commendation for its recent efforts to develop a fresh approach toward Africa. The continent is finally receiving high-level attention from the U.S. government, including a trip by Secretary of State Albright in December 1997 and a historic visit from President Clinton in 1998. The emphasis of the administration's new Africa policy is on trade and security.
The collapse of the Asian economy has given rise to massive layoffs of workers and wage and benefit cuts, not only in those countries worst affected by the economic crisis, but region-wide.
The civilian population of Burundi feels trapped between the two sides in the civil war, as both the armed forces and the rebels have used civilians as proxy targets. The civil war raging in Burundi since October 1993 has above all been a war against civilians. When Major Pierre Buyoya took power in a July 1996 coup, he claimed that he was intervening to prevent an expansion of ethnic violence.
