Reports

Killings, Sexual Violence, and Abductions by the M23 and Rwandan Forces in Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo

The 23-page report,“‘We Are Civilians!’: Killings, Sexual Violence, and Abductions by the M23 and Rwandan Forces in Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo,” documents the M23 and Rwandan forces’ occupation of Uvira, the second largest city in South Kivu province from December 10, 2025, days after the signing of the United States-brokered Washington Accords, until their withdrawal on January 17, 2026. During this time, these forces shot fleeing civilians, summarily executed more than 50 people during door-to-door searches, raped at least 8 women, and forcibly disappeared at least 12 people.

A car of armed soldiers patrols a street
A man holds a flower and the message "Humanity for All" in front of a line of soldiers

Search

  • May 20, 2003

    Freedom of Expression in Venezuela

    The Venezuelan government is not doing enough to protect journalists from violence, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
  • May 13, 2003

    State-Sponsored Homophobia and its Consequences in Southern Africa

    Many leaders in southern Africa have singled out lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as scapegoats for their countries' problems, Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) state in this report.
  • May 13, 2003

    Human Rights Watch urged Bhutan and Nepal to implement a screening and repatriation process that protects the human rights of more than one hundred thousand refugees of Nepalese ethnicity who were arbitrarily stripped of their citizenship and forced to flee Bhutan in the early 1990s.
  • May 9, 2003

    Attacks on Refugees and Other Foreigners and Their Treatment in Jordan

    Attacks and harassment amidst the security vacuum in Iraq forced refugees and other foreigners to flee the country and become refugees again, this time in Jordan. Based on research in Baghdad and Jordan, this 22-page Human Rights Watch report details the abuses against refugees and foreigners in Iraq, as well as their treatment upon arrival in Jordan.
  • May 8, 2003

    Tightening Control in the Name of Unity

    The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) is labeling possible political opponents "divisionist" and taking steps to silence them in order to ensure victory in upcoming elections.
  • May 8, 2003

    This briefing paper analyzes the new peace plan in the light of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements – all of which fatally ignored basic human rights and international humanitarian law protections. Instead, the plans let abuses proliferate to the point where they undermined the entire negotiating process.
  • May 6, 2003

    Police Misconduct, Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS in Vancouver, Canada

    An anti-drug crackdown by the Vancouver Police Department has driven injection drug users away from life-saving HIV prevention services, raising fears of a new wave of HIV transmission in the city that is already home to the worst AIDS crisis in the developed world, said Human Rights Watch.

  • May 1, 2003

    The Uzbek government persecutes human rights defenders and obstructs human rights work, in violation of its international commitments. In the past twelve months alone, it has imprisoned six human rights defenders and harassed numerous others.
  • April 30, 2003

    Domitien Ndayizeye, a Hutu of the Democratic Front for Burundi (Front pour la Dmocratie au Burundi, Frodebu), will take over the presidency of Burundi from Major Pierre Buyoya, on April 30. The new government must deliver on promises to end a nine-year long war and to deliver justice for the many violations of international humanitarian law committed during the war.
  • April 29, 2003

    Child Soldiers in Angola

    Child soldiers who fought in the Angolan civil war have been excluded from demobilization programs, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. April marks the one-year anniversary of the agreement that brought peace to mainland Angola in 2002.
  • April 28, 2003

    According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, more than two million men and women are now behind bars in the United States. The country that holds itself out as the "land of freedom" incarcerates a higher percentage of its people than any other country.

  • April 18, 2003

    A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper

    Human Rights Watch has received credible first-hand reports of an escalation of repression by Vietnamese authorities against the ethnic minorities known as Montagnards in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Human rights violations have continued unabated since protests for land rights and religious freedom began in February 2001.