Reports

How the U Visa Builds Trust, Counters Fear, and Promotes Community Safety

The 50-page report, “‘We Need U’: How the U Visa Builds Trust, Counters Fear, and Promotes Community Safety,” finds that the administration’s deportation policies undermine federal visa programs that provide a pathway for crime victims to obtain legal residency when they cooperate with law enforcement. Changed enforcement guidance, such as allowing Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to apprehend people in previously safe places like courthouses and health centers, is a strong deterrent for immigrants who might otherwise report crime to police or seek a protective order.


 

Federal agents detain a woman exiting an immigration court hearing
A woman looks out of the window of a damaged building

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  • October 17, 2008

    Spain’s Push to Repatriate Unaccompanied Children in the Absence of Safeguards

    This 22-page report says that in Andalusia, the southern region that is a common entry point for migrants, authorities have said they intend to send up to 1,000 unaccompanied children in their custody to Morocco, claiming that safeguards are in place. But officials could not explain how they determined it was in a child’s best interest to return, as required by law.
  • July 14, 2008

    Government, Vigilante, and Naxalite Abuses in India’s Chhattisgarh State

    This 182-page report documents human rights abuses against civilians, particularly indigenous tribal communities, caught in a deadly tug-of-war between government security forces and the vigilante Salwa Judum and Naxalites.

  • July 7, 2008

    Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia

    This 133-page report concludes two years of research and is based on 142 interviews with domestic workers, senior government officials, and labor recruiters in Saudi Arabia and labor-sending countries. Saudi households employ an estimated 1.5 million domestic workers, primarily from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Smaller numbers come from other countries in Africa and Asia. While no reliable statistics exist on the exact number of abuse cases, the Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs and the embassies of labor-sending countries shelter thousands of domestic workers with complaints against their employers or recruiters each year.

  • June 19, 2008

    Zimbabweans Seeking Refuge in South Africa

    This 119-page report examines South Africa’s decision to treat Zimbabweans merely as voluntary economic migrants and its failure to respond effectively to stop the human rights abuses and economic deprivation in Zimbabwe that cause their flight and to address their needs in South Africa. Human Rights Watch spoke to almost 100 Zimbabweans in South Africa about their plight.

  • June 12, 2008

    War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region

    This 130-page report documents a dramatic rise in unchecked violence against civilians since June 2007, when the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign against rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil installation.

  • May 13, 2008

    Migrants’ Rights under the Integration Abroad Act

    The 44-page briefing paper offers an analysis of the Dutch overseas integration test in light of the Netherlands’ international human rights obligations. Human Rights Watch found that people of Moroccan and Turkish origin are especially affected, while citizens from “western” countries such as Canada, Australia, and Japan are exempt.

  • April 11, 2008

    Children of North Korean Women in China

    This 23-page report documents how such children live without legal identity or access to elementary education. These children live in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in eastern Jilin Province, northeast China (near its border with North Korea). Some are from North Korea while others were born in China and have Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers.

  • March 11, 2008

    Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in Beijing

    This 61-page report documents the Chinese government’s failure to fulfill long-repeated promises to protect the rights of migrant construction workers, as well as to end deprivations caused by the discriminatory nature of China’s household registration (hukou) system. An estimated 1 million migrant construction workers, hailing from other parts of China, make up nearly 90 percent of Beijing’s construction workforce.

  • February 18, 2008

    Rights at Risk in the Global Economy

    This 53-page report was jointly prepared by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. It illustrates how everyday business decisions have significant implications for the human rights of workers, local communities, suppliers, and consumers.

  • November 13, 2007

    Abuses against Sri Lankan Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates

    <table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><img src=" http://www.hrw.org/images/home/2007/100//slanka17328.jpg&quot; align="left" border="0" /></td> <td valign="top">The 131-page report documents the serious abuses that domestic workers face at every step of the migration process. It also shows how the Sri Lankan government and governments in the Middle East fail to protect these women.</td></tr></table>

  • October 3, 2007

    Submission from Human Rights Watch to the Committee on the Rights of the Child

    In this submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Human Rights Watch provided information to the Committee on violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the Bhutanese government against ethnic Nepali children in Bhutan and Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.
  • July 26, 2007

    Spain’s Failure to Protect the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the Canary Islands

    This 115-page report documents how children stay in emergency centers for indefinite periods, in often overcrowded and poor conditions. The children told Human Rights Watch that they have been subjected to beatings by staff, and left unprotected from violence by their peers.
  • July 16, 2007

    Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by United States Deportation Policy

    <table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><img src="http://hrw.org/images/home/2007/100/usdom16402.jpg&quot; align="left" border="0" /></td> <td valign="top">This 88-page report is the first comprehensive assessment of the deportation of non-citizens with criminal convictions and the impact on families and communities in the US.</td></tr></table>

  • June 15, 2007

    Exploitation and Abuse of Girl Domestic Workers in Guinea

    This 110-page report documents how girls as young as 8 years old work up to 18 hours a day as domestic workers, frequently without pay, and are often insulted, beaten and raped by their employers.
  • June 1, 2007

    A Teenager Imprisoned at Guantanamo

    In this backgrounder, Human Rights Watch said that although Khadr was just 15 when he was arrested, the United States has completely ignored his juvenile status throughout his detention. The US government incarcerated him with adults, reportedly subjected him to abusive interrogations, failed to provide him any educational opportunities, and denied him any direct contact with his family.