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.
Vigilante violence and human rights abuses by vigilante groups have become increasingly serious problems in Nigeria in recent years. Despite repeated government promises to tackle crime and to reform and expand the police force, the rate of armed robbery and other violent crime in Nigeria remains extremely high.
On May 1, the Department of State certified to the U.S. Congress that Colombia had met the three human rights conditions contained in the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Act, 2002 (P.L. 107-115). By law, the State Department must certify before releasing the first tranche of military aid for FY 2002, an estimated $104 million dollars.
Since the September 11 attacks in the United States, Prime Minister Mahathir has justified use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) on counter-terrorism grounds. The September attacks also prompted a major shift in U.S. policy regarding political repression in Malaysia. In July 2001, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid met with U.S.
Afghan women continue to face serious threats to their physical safety, which denies them the opportunity to exercise their basic human rights and to participate fully in the rebuilding of their country.
State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco
Moroccan migrant children in Spain are frequently beaten by police and abused by staff and other children in overcrowded, unsanitary residential centers, Human Rights Watch charged in this report. Spain also summarily expels children as young as eleven to Morocco, where Moroccan policebeat and ill-treat them and then abandon them to the streets.
On April 3, 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a major military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, home to some fourteen thousand Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of them civilians.
What is the UN General Assembly Special Session for Children? What does Human Rights Watch hope the session will accomplish? What role has the United States taken during these negotiations? Why is the Convention on the Rights of the Child important to the Special Session? Why hasn't the United States ratified the Convention?
The United Nations Security Council should maintain the arms embargo against the Liberian government, Human Rights Watch said in releasing a new report about abuses in Liberia today. Human Rights Watch also called for the arms embargo to be extended to cover the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), and for an end to Guinea’s support for the LURD. The U.N.
The Cambodian government should take immediate steps to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of political violence committed during commune-level elections held in February 2002, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Action to end impunity should be a pre-condition for any aid to prepare for next year's national elections, Human Rights Watch said.
State Participation and Complicity in Communal Violence in Gujarat
State officials of Gujarat, India were directly involved in the killings of hundreds of Muslims since February 27 and are now engineering a massive cover-up of the state's role in the violence, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today.
A partial power-sharing pact reached on April 19 at the end of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue between the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the rebel Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) and most members of the unarmed opposition and civil society groups excluded the mainstream rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma) and failed to secure peace with Rwanda.
Child Labor and Obstacles to Organizing on Ecuador's Banana Plantations
Banana workers in Ecuador are the victims of serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. In its investigation, Human Rights Watch found that Ecuadorian children as young as eight work on banana plantations in hazardous conditions, while adult workers fear firing if they try to exercise their right to organize.
Conflicts over Land and Religion in Vietnam's Central Highlands
Vietnam should cease its persecution of indigenous Montagnards in the Central Highlands, and Cambodia should continue to offer sanctuary to those fleeing across the border, Human Rights Watch said in this new report.
Turkey's human rights record is marred by its severe restrictions on the right to freedom of expression. Individuals in Turkey face prosecution and prison terms merely for using forbidden minority languages or expressing opinions on certain taboo subjects.
