Reports

Abuses, Unanswered Questions, and US-Ecuador Security Cooperation

The 94-page report, "A Dangerous Partnership: Abuses, Unanswered Questions, and US-Ecuador Security Cooperation," documents serious human rights violations in a rural community on the Colombia-Ecuador border, as well as attacks on and the disappearance of fishermen at sea near the Galápagos Islands. Each incident either clearly implicates the US-Ecuador security partnership or surfaces questions about responsibility. Ecuadorian forces tortured and arbitrarily detained four farm workers, and later burned and struck a dairy farm, during what the United States called a “partnered operation.” And drones of unknown origin attacked two fishing vessels, injuring several crew members. A third vessel remains missing.

A farmer walks amidst rubble
A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" in front of a line of soldiers

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  • December 17, 2003

    Fueling Violence

    This 29-page report documents how violence in Nigeria’s southern Delta State this year, especially during the state and federal elections in April and May, resulted in hundreds of deaths, the displacement of thousands of people, and the destruction of hundreds of homes. Among the dead were probably dozens killed by the government security forces.
  • December 11, 2003

    The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq

    Hundreds of civilian deaths in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq could have been prevented by abandoning two misguided military tactics. The use of cluster munitions in populated areas caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the coalition´s conduct of major military operations in March and April. U.S.
  • December 10, 2003

    Addressing the Plight of Kosovo Roma Refugees in Macedonia

    The plight of Kosovo Roma refugees in Macedonia—dramatically demonstrated by their protest occupation of a border area between Greece and Macedonia from May until August this year—highlights the gap between international refugee law on the one hand, and the reality for refugees in Europe today on the other.
  • December 8, 2003

    The New State Commission on “Disappearances”

    On September 20, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced a new body to investigate the thousands of cases of persons who were "disappeared" during the civil strife of the 1990s and who remain unaccounted for.
  • December 3, 2003

    El Salvador's Failure to Protect Workers' Rights

    This 110-page report documents serious violations of workers' human rights and examines the role of the government. It features case studies in the private and public sectors, in manufacturing and service industries, and concludes that workers face an uphill battle to exercise their rights, regardless of the sector.
  • December 2, 2003

    This 40-page report documents killings, arrest, detention, ill-treatment, torture and other forms of harassment and intimidation of real or perceived critics of the government over the past two years. Most of these abuses have been carried out by the Nigerian police or by members of the intelligence services known as the State Security Service (SSS).
  • December 1, 2003

    A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa

    Violence and discrimination against women and girls is fueling Africa's AIDS crisis. African governments must make gender equality a central part of national AIDS programs if they are to succeed in fighting the epidemic.

  • November 25, 2003

    Attacks and Restrictions on the Media

    The Indonesian government has blocked Indonesian and foreign correspondents from covering the military campaign in Aceh, where gross human rights violations are taking place.
  • November 24, 2003

    This report investigates the role that oil has played in Sudan's civil war. This 754-page report is the most comprehensive examination yet published of the links between natural-resource exploitation and human rights abuses.
    Sudan
  • November 21, 2003

    Historically, Iraqi women and girls have enjoyed relatively more rights than many of their counterparts in the Middle East. The Iraqi Provisional Constitution (drafted in 1970) formally guaranteed equal rights to women and other laws specifically ensured their right to vote, attend school, run for political office, and own property.
  • November 13, 2003

    Inadequate Nutrition and Health Care in the Russian Armed Forces

    This 40-page report details how conscripts are deprived of adequate food. The diet of conscripts often lacks meat and green vegetables, and falls short of the Russian military’s own nutritional standard for soldiers. The food they do receive is often of poor quality, rotten, or bug-infested.

  • November 6, 2003

    Egypt should investigate and discipline police and plainclothes security officials who beat demonstrators protesting the Iraq war and tortured some of those detained. In this 40-page report, Human Rights Watch documents excessive use of force by security forces to disperse demonstrators protesting the U.S.-led war against Iraq in March, violating their right to freedom of assembly.
  • October 27, 2003

    A Study of the Case of Igor Sutiagin

    On October 27, 2003, arms researcher Igor Sutiagin faces a troubling anniversary: four years will have passed since security service officers detained him at his home. Ever since, Sutiagin has been waiting in a jail cell for a court to decide his fate.
  • October 24, 2003

    The Politicization of Food in Zimbabwe

    Zimbabwean authorities discriminate against perceived political opponents by denying them access to food programs. International relief agencies in Zimbabwe fail to ensure that access to food is based on need alone and is not biased by domestic or international political concerns.