State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia
The 50-page report, “Disrupted, Throttled, and Blocked: State Censorship, Control, and Increasing Isolation of Internet Users in Russia,” documents the impact of the government’s increasing technological capacities and control over the internet infrastructure. Human Rights Watch found that this allows the authorities to carry out more widespread and nontransparent blocking and throttling of unwanted websites and censorship circumvention tools, as well as internet disruptions and shutdowns under the pretext of ensuring public safety and national security.
Post-election Abuses Show Serious Human Rights Crisis
This 19-page report documents widespread human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings; rapes and torture; violations of the rights to freedom of assembly and expression; and thousands of arbitrary arrests and detentions during the nine months since the election on June 12, 2009.
The Yemeni Government’s Brutal Response to Southern Movement Protests
The 73-page report documents attacks by security forces on supporters of the so-called Southern Movement as well as on journalists, academics, and other opinion-makers. Based on over 80 interviews with victims in the southern Yemeni cities of Aden and Mukalla, the report finds that security forces used lethal force against unarmed demonstrators on at least six occasions.
Human Rights Developments in Libya Amid Institutional Obstacles
This 78-page report is based on research conducted by Human Rights Watch during a 10-day visit to Libya in April, 2009. The report is also based on ongoing monitoring from outside the country.
Repression of Kurdish Political and Cultural Rights in Syria
This 63-page report documents the Syrian authorities' efforts to ban and disperse gatherings calling for Kurdish minority rights or celebrating Kurdish culture, as well as the detention of leading Kurdish political activists and their ill-treatment in custody. The repression of Kurds in Syria has greatly intensified following large-scale Kurdish demonstrations in March 2004.
This report shows how Raúl Castro has kept Cuba’s repressive machinery firmly in place and fully active since being handed power by his brother Fidel Castro. Scores of political prisoners arrested under Fidel continue to languish in prison, and Raúl has used draconian laws and sham trials to incarcerate scores more who have dared to exercise their fundamental rights.
This 53-page report documents how government officials, security forces, and their agents routinely abduct people off the streets of Beijing and other Chinese cities, strip them of their possessions, and imprison them. These black jails are often located in state-owned hotels, nursing homes, and psychiatric hospitals.
Continuing State Curbs on Independent NGOs and Activists in Russia
This 68-page report describes how current rules allow the state to interfere arbitrarily with the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and documents the corrosive impact of these rules and other government measures on independent organizations and activists in Russia. The report states that increased pressure on these groups has been only one part of growing authoritarianism in Russia.
Censorship and Harassment of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Sudan
This 21-page report documents the government's efforts to repress those who seek to report on issues it considers sensitive, including human rights, the conflict in Darfur, and the ICC's investigation.
This 42-page report documents how Iranian authorities use security laws, press laws, and other legislation to arrest and prosecute Iranian Kurds solely for trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression and association. The use of these laws to suppress basic rights, while not new, has greatly intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in August 2005.
This 60-page report documents numerous violations of human rights by the Nepali authorities, particularly the police, against Tibetans involved in peaceful demonstrations in Kathmandu, including: unnecessary and excessive use of force; arbitrary arrest; sexual assault of women during arrest; arbitrary and preventive detention; beatings in detention; unlawful threats to deport Tibetans to China; restrictions on freedom of movement in the Kathmandu Valley; harassment of Tibetan and foreign journalists; and harassment of Nepali, Tibetan, and foreign human rights defenders.
State-Sponsored Violence since Zimbabwe’s March 29 Elections
On March 29, 2008, Zimbabweans cast their ballots in presidential, parliamentary, senatorial and local council elections, the first synchronized elections since changes to the constitution in 2007.
Control, Intimidation and Harassment of Lawyers in China
This 142-page report details consistent patterns of abuses against legal practitioners. These include intimidation, harassment, suspension of professional licenses, disbarment, physical assaults, and even arrest and prosecution when lawyers take politically sensitive cases, seek redress for abuses of power and wrongdoings by party or government agents, or challenge local power-holders.
This 128-page report examines the commission's work on more than 40 human rights cases, including recent abuses by soldiers involved in law enforcement operations, police crackdowns against demonstrators in Guadalajara and San Salvador de Atenco, and the killings of women in Ciudad Juárez over the past decade, among others. The report also examines the commission’s role in addressing abusive laws, including restrictions on freedom of expression, and responding to important reforms, such as the Mexico City abortion law passed in 2007.
Iran’s Broadening Clampdown on Independent Activism
This 51-page report documents the expansion in scope and number of the individuals and activities persecuted by the Iranian government over the last two years.
In this new briefing paper, Human Rights Watch said that while Berdymukhamedov has begun to reverse some of the most ruinous social policies of Niazov’s rule and to end the country’s international isolation, the government remains one of the most repressive and authoritarian in the world.
