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  • Accountability and Human Rights

    The Report of the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador

    The Salvadoran peace process, fostered and shepherded by the United Nations, has been unique in the central place afforded human rights. A comprehensive human rights accord signed in July 1990 was a stepping-stone on the path to a broader agreement, and set the stage for United Nations verification of the peace process.

  • Democracy Derailed

    Hundreds Arrested and Press Muzzled in Aftermath of Election Annulment

    On June 12, 1993, Nigerian citizens overcame ethnic and regional rivalries in an effort to rid themselves of military rule and hold a legitimate presidential election. Gen. Babangida and his cronies, however, have shown no intention of allowing civilians a significant voice in government and annulled the election and postponed his exit from politics.

  • Guardians of Thought: Limits on Freedom of Expression in Iran

    The apparent intensity of public debate, variety of publications and the wealth of artistic achievements in the Islamic Republic of Iran create an illusion of unrestricted discourse. The limits on expression are defined, however, in complex and often arbitrary ways by a government beset by internal power struggles and intolerance.

  • Background on Human Rights Conditions, 1984-1992

    Containing background information about human rights violations in Iraq gathered in mid-1992 from victims, eyewitnesses and family members currently living in exile in Syria and Jordan, this report serves as a supplement to our Human Rights in Iraq (1990) and Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and its Aftermath (1992).

  • A License to Kill

    Israeli Undercover Operations Against “Wanted” and Masked Palestinians

    Undercover units of the Israeli army have been responsible for over 120 killings in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1988. Many of the victims were shot while posing no serious imminent threat to soldiers or others.

  • Procedural and Evidentiary Issues for the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal

    As details regarding a war crimes tribunal develop, we believe that integral to any investigatory effort is a parallel commitment to the safety and integrity of the witnesses who will testify, and to the development and implementation of fair procedural and evidentiary rules.

  • Prosecute Now!

    Helsinki Watch Releases Eight Cases for War Crimes Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia

    With great fanfare, the U.N. Security Council, in February 1993, called for the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of war crimes in the Balkan conflict.

  • Human Rights in U.S.-Vietnam Relations

    On July 21, 1993, we submitted written testimony on human rights in Vietnam to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The testimony detailed five areas of concern: persons imprisoned for political dissent; state control of religious institutions; prison conditions; use of the death penalty; and efforts at legal reform.

  • Free Expression in Turkey

    Killings, Convictions, Confiscations

    Under the anti-terror law, which was introduced in 1991, many left-wing and pro-Kurdish journalists, writers and publishers continue to be tried, and many go on to be sentenced to prison terms and fines. Penal Code provisions that make it a crime to insult Ataturk, secularity, Islam, the security forces and the president continue to be used to restrict free expression.

  • Halt Repatriation of Sri Lankan Tamils

    In August 1993, the Indian government repatriated nearly 7,000 of the more than 80,000 Sri Lankan Tamils then residing in government-run refugee camps in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The refugees fled northeastern Sri Lanka in June 1990 after fighting broke out between government forces and a guerrilla army.

  • Increasing Violence Against Roma in Bulgaria

    Racism and racially motivated violence against the Rima (Gypsy) minority in Bulgaria has escalated dramatically since 1994. The violence ranges from police torture to mob attacks — including violent attacks by guards employed by private security firms.

  • Decommunization in Bulgaria

    Initial attempts to purge former Communists from public life in Bulgaria were relatively weak when compared to similar laws passed in the former Czechoslovakia or the former German Democratic Republic. Efforts to initiate a decommunization program gained momentum, however, after the election victory of the Union of Democratic Forces in October 1991.

  • Egypt: Trials of Civilians in Military Courts Violate International Law

    Executions Continue, No Appeal of Death Sentences to Higher Court

    In a major shift of policy, the Egyptian government in October 1992 began to try in military courts civilians accused of "terrorism" offenses, bypassing the security-court system staffed by civilian judges that has been in place under Egypt's long-standing emergency law.

  • Lebanon’s Lively Press Faces Worst Crackdown Since 1976

    Between April 29 and May 28, in a move unprecedented since Lebanon’s civil war, the Hrawi government shut down 4 news organizations and filed criminal charges against 4 journalists for violating Lebanon’s restrictive press regulation. The recent measures recall the fall of 1976, when the newly-arrived Syrian troops forcibly shut down 5 newspapers in Beirut.

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