Reports

China’s Use of Preschools to “Integrate” Tibetans

The 72-page report, “Start with the Youngest Children: China Uses Preschools to ‘Integrate’ Tibetans,” documents that a 2021 Ministry of Education directive—the Children’s Speech Harmonization plan—mandates the use of standard Mandarin Chinese for all preschool instruction in ethnic minority areas. While the kindergartens in theory can still offer supplementary sessions for minority children in their own language, minorities no longer have the legal authority to do so. By severely limiting Tibetan-language education in early childhood, a stage critical for language acquisition and identity formation, the Chinese government is speeding up its erasure of Tibetan language and culture.

A security guard outside the Shangri-La Key School in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, September 5, 2023.
A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" in front of a line of soldiers

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  • 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.
  • March 24, 2010

    "A Larger Prison"

    This 42-page report documents the range of repressive measures, many of them arbitrary, that Tunisian authorities impose on former prisoners.