Explosive Weapons’ Effects in Armed Conflict and Measures to Strengthen Protection
The 80-page report, “Destroying Cultural Heritage: Explosive Weapons’ Effects in Armed Conflict and Measures to Improve Protection,” details both the immediate and long-term harm from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas on cultural heritage, such as historic buildings and houses of worship, museums and archives, public squares, and performance centers. It shows that the Declaration on explosive weapons could serve as a valuable tool for addressing the problem.
The U.S. has pursued the development of at least 10 different tactical laser weapons that have the potential of blinding individuals. The existence of most of these programs is not known to the American public, Congress, or even throughout the military, and services responsible for laser weapons seem largely unaware of the programs in research and development in other services.
For the last decade South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal region has been troubled by political violence. This conflict escalated during the 4 years of negotiations for a transition to democratic rule, and reached the status of a virtual civil war in the last months before the national elections of April 1994, significantly disrupting the election process.
International Support for the Perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide
After a year in exile, the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide have rebuilt their military infrastructure, largely in Zaire, and are rearming themselves in preparation for a violent return to Rwanda.
One year after the genocide began in Rwanda, the crisis continues. Despite calls for justice inside and outside the country, no criminal trials, national or international, have taken place. The Rwandan government is now arresting some 1,500 persons a week, producing life-threatening overcrowding and appalling treatment in the prisons and fostering insecurity among the population at large.
The current epidemic of communal violence--violence involving groups that define themselves by their differences of religion, ethnicity, language or race--is today's paramount human rights problem.
Germany has been confronted with a disturbing escalation in violent crimes against those who are different, and especially those who are perceived as not ethnic German during the period since unification. Racism that is endemic in many societies has exploded in a public way in Germany.
Human Rights Abuses Along the U.S. Border with Mexico Persist Amid Climate of Impunity
U.S. Border Patrol agents are committing serious human rights violations, including unjustified shootings, rapes and beatings, while enjoying virtual impunity for their actions.
One year after the genocide began in Rwanda, the crisis continues. Despite calls for justice, no criminal trials, national or international, have taken place. As of April 1995, the Rwandan government was arresting some 1,500 persons a week, producing life-threatening overcrowding and appalling treatment in the prisons and fostering insecurity among the population at large.
The departure of the last U.N. troops of the Somalia operation in March 1995 marks a critical juncture for Somalia, and for international peacekeeping. In researching this report, we set out to discover what would be left behind when the U.N.
The Vietnamese government's recent detention of two prominent senior monks is the latest step in its campaign to suppress the Unified Buddhist Church, the main Buddhist organization in south and central Vietnam prior to unification of the country in 1975.
As the multinational force prepared to turn over operations to the U.N. Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) on March 31, 1995, political tensions increased and far from having brought stability, the U.S.-led force pointed only to a fragile security that impending parliamentary and presidential elections may rupture.
Economic and political changes in Russia have left many Russians staggering under the burdens of rising unemployment, high rates of inflation, disappearing social services and the encroaching threats of corruption and organized crime.
Human Rights Watch opposes the imposition of the death penalty on all criminal offenders in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty. In addition, Human Rights Watch is concerned that the death penalty is most often carried out in a discriminatory manner on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds.
Prisoners in Japan face routine violations of human rights from the moment of arrest through the end of their prison term. After being apprehended, Japanese suspects are placed in police detention (daiyo-kangoku) where they face severe pressure, often involving physical abuse, in order to obtain confessions.
Tens of thousands of Guatemalans, both civilians and combatants, were disappeared by government forces over the past 3 decades. One of the fundamental tasks assumed by the government and guerrillas through the ongoing U.N.-mediated peace process is to end the impunity with which such crimes have been committed.
