Reports

Search

Browse by

Filter by

  • Nepotism and Neglect

    The Failing Response to Arsenic in the Drinking Water of Bangladesh’s Rural Poor

    This report documents how Bangladesh’s health system largely ignores the impact of exposure to arsenic on people’s health. An estimated 43,000 people die each year from arsenic-related illness in Bangladesh, according to one study. The government identifies people with arsenic-related illnesses primarily via skin lesions, although the vast majority of those with arsenic-related illnesses don’t develop them. Those exposed are at significant risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and lung disease as a result, but many receive no health care at all.

     

    • Photo Gallery
    • Map

  • Double Punishment

    Inadequate Conditions for Prisoners with Psychosocial Disabilities in France

    This report documents the lack of adequate mental health care and appropriate conditions for prisoners with psychosocial disabilities. The situation is exacerbated by overcrowding, stigma, and isolation, Human Rights Watch found. A shortage of mental health professionals in many prisons means that appointments are infrequent and often, brief and limited to prescribing medication. The lack of adequate conditions and care also results in difficult working conditions for prison staff.

     

  • Unchecked Power

    Police and Military Raids in Low-Income and Immigrant Communities in Venezuela

    This report covers allegations of abuses during public security operations carried out nationwide, beginning in July 2015, as part of the “Operation to Liberate and Protect the People” (OLP), which was billed as an operation to combat criminal gangs. A common denominator in all the cases, and in other cases of government abuses PROVEA and Human Rights Watch have documented over past decade, is the extent to which the victims – or their families – have felt they have nowhere to turn for redress or for protection of their fundamental rights.

     

    • Photo Gallery

  • Closed Doors

    Mexico’s Failure to Protect Central American Refugee and Migrant Children

    This report documents wide discrepancies between Mexican law and practice. By law, Mexico offers protection to those who face risks to their lives or safety if returned to their countries of origin. But less than 1 percent of children who are apprehended by Mexican immigration authorities are recognized as refugees, according to Mexican government data.

     

    • Map
    • Video

  • Paying the Price

    Failure to Deliver HIV Services in Louisiana Parish Jails

    This report documents the inadequate, haphazard, and in many cases, non-existent HIV testing, treatment, and linkage to care in the jails.

    • Video

  • “Good Girls Don’t Protest”

    Repression and Abuse of Women Human Rights Defenders, Activists, and Protesters in Sudan

    This report documents efforts by Sudanese authorities to silence women who are involved in protests, rights campaigns, and other public action, and who provide social services and legal aid, as well as journalists.

    • Video

  • “Do You See How Much I’m Suffering Here?”

    Abuse against Transgender Women in US Immigration Detention

    This report documents 28 cases of transgender women who were held in US immigration detention between 2011 and 2015. More than half of the transgender women Human Rights Watch interviewed were held in men’s facilities at some point. Half also spent time in solitary confinement, in many cases allegedly for their protection. But solitary confinement is a form of abuse in and of itself, and many who had spent time there experienced trauma and profound psychological distress.

     

    • Video

  • “Justice Reestablishes Balance”

    Delivering Credible Accountability for Serious Abuses in Côte d’Ivoire

    This report outlines critical areas requiring additional government support so that Ivorian courts can provide credible justice. It is based on more than 70 interviews with government officials, members of the judiciary, representatives of nongovernmental groups, international criminal justice experts, UN officials, diplomats, and donor officials.

    • Video

  • Living in Hell

    Abuses against People with Psychosocial Disabilities in Indonesia

    This report examines how people with mental health conditions often end up chained or locked up in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions – without their consent – due to stigma and the absence of adequate community-based support services or mental health care. In institutions, they face physical and sexual violence; involuntary treatment, including electroshock therapy; seclusion; restraint; and forced contraception.

    • Photo Gallery
    • Video

  • “I Just Sit and Wait to Die”

    Reparations for Survivors of Kenya’s 2007-2008 Post-Election Sexual Violence

    This report is based on interviews with 163 women and girls, nine male survivors, and witnesses of rape or other sexual violence in the post-election period. Human Rights Watch found that most of the survivors interviewed were still in dire need of medical attention, leaving them unable to work or pursue education, adding to their poverty and hunger. The government has recently promised reparations, which should be designed in consultation with survivors of sexual violence to ensure their full inclusion in all programs.

    • Photo Gallery

  • Studying Under Fire

    Attacks on Schools, Military Use of Schools During the Armed Conflict in Eastern Ukraine

    This report documents how both Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed militants have carried out indiscriminate or deliberate attacks on schools. Both sides have used schools for military purposes, deploying forces in and near schools, which has turned schools into legitimate military targets. The resulting destruction has forced many children out of school and many schools to stop operating or to operate under overcrowded and difficult conditions, Human Rights Watch found.

     

    • Photo Gallery
    • Map

  • “Pain Tears Me Apart”

    Challenges and Progress in Ensuring the Right to Palliative Care in Morocco

    This report estimates that each year, more than 62,000 Moroccans need palliative care, which focuses on improving the quality of life of people with life-limiting illnesses by treating pain and other symptoms. While the Moroccan government has taken a number of important steps to improve end-of-life care, Human Rights Watch found only two public hospitals, in Casablanca and Rabat, have specific units that offer this essential health service, and only to cancer patients. Patients suffering severe pain outside of these cities must either undergo difficult travel to these centers or do without effective pain medicine.

    • Map
    • Video

  • “All this for a Joint”

    Tunisia’s Repressive Drug Law and a Roadmap for Its Reform

    This report documents the human rights abuses and social toll that stem from enforcement of the country’s draconian drug law, which sends thousands of Tunisians to prison each year merely for consuming or possessing small quantities of cannabis for personal use. 

    • Video

  • World Report 2016

    Events of 2015

    World Report 2016 summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. It reflects investigative work that Human Rights Watch staff undertook in 2015, usually in close partnership with human rights activists in the country in focus.

  • Rubber Stamp Justice

    US Courts, Debt Buying Corporations, and the Poor

    This report scrutinizes how courts approach hundreds of thousands lawsuits brought every year by debt buyers – firms that specialize in buying up bad debts which they then try to collect for themselves. These suits have often been marred by patterns of apparent error, legal deficiency, and alleged illegality. 
     

Pages