Reports

Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis

The 38-page report, “‘A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future’: Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis,” describes how the collapse of Afghanistan’s economy after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 inflicted severe harm on the country’s healthcare infrastructure. Donors’ decisions to reduce humanitarian aid have further weakened health care access, destabilized the economy, and worsened food insecurity. The Taliban’s abusive policies and practices have greatly exacerbated the crisis. Bans on education for women and girls have blocked most training for future female healthcare workers, ensuring shortages for the foreseeable future.

An unidentifiable woman holds her baby son on a hospital bed

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  • September 8, 2003

    Human Rights and HIV Prevention for Injection Drug Users

    Government interference with sterile syringe programs is thwarting HIV prevention efforts in California. State laws and local enforcement are preventing drug users from obtaining the sterile syringes they need to protect themselves from HIV.
  • September 2, 2003

    The Human Rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS in China

    Widespread discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS is fueling the spread of the epidemic in China. This 94-page report is based on more than 30 interviews with people with HIV/AIDS, police officers, drug users, and AIDS outreach workers in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Yunnan province. Many people living with HIV/AIDS have no access to health care because hospitals refuse to treat them.
  • August 19, 2003

    Abuses Against Persons at High Risk of HIV Infection in Bangladesh

    Bangladesh is stoking an emerging AIDS epidemic with violent police abuse of sex workers, injection drug users and men who have sex with men. In this 51-page report, Human Rights Watch documents rapes, gang-rapes, beatings and abductions by both police officers and powerful criminals known as mastans.
  • August 13, 2003

    Domestic Violence and Women's Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda

    The Ugandan government's failure to protect women from domestic violence and discrimination increases women's risk of contracting HIV. This 77-page report documents widespread rape and brutal attacks on women by their husbands in Uganda, where a specific domestic violence law has not been enacted and where spousal rape is not criminalized.
  • June 29, 2003

    How Human Rights Abuses are Fueling the AIDS Epidemic in Kazakhstan

    Human rights abuse against injection drug users and sex workers in Kazakhstan is fueling one of the fastest growing AIDS epidemics in the world, Human Rights Watch said in this new report.The 54-page report, “Fanning the Flames: How Human Rights Abuses are Fueling the AIDS Epidemic in Kazakhstan,” documents instances of violent police brutality, lack of due process, harassment and stigmatizati
  • May 6, 2003

    Police Misconduct, Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS in Vancouver, Canada

    An anti-drug crackdown by the Vancouver Police Department has driven injection drug users away from life-saving HIV prevention services, raising fears of a new wave of HIV transmission in the city that is already home to the worst AIDS crisis in the developed world, said Human Rights Watch.

  • April 1, 2003

    Child Trafficking In Togo

    West African governments are failing to address a rampant traffic in child labor that could worsen with the region’s growing AIDS crisis, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today. The 79-page report, “Borderline Slavery: Child Trafficking in Togo,” highlights Togo as a case study of trafficking in the region.
  • March 4, 2003

    Women's Property Rights Violations in Kenya

    Women throughout Kenya lose their homes, land, and other property due to discriminatory laws and customs, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch said property rights abuses in sub-Saharan Africa perpetuate women's inequality, doom development efforts, and undermine the fight against HIV/AIDS.
  • January 27, 2003

    The Links between Human Rights Abuses and HIV Transmission to Girls in Zambia

    Sexual abuse of girls in Zambia fuels the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the strikingly higher HIV prevalence among girls than boys, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerted national and international efforts to protect the rights of girls and young women are key to curbing the AIDS epidemic’s destructive course.
  • January 16, 2003

    Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict

    The 75-page report, “'We’ll Kill You If You Cry:' Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict,” presents evidence of horrific abuses against women and girls in every region of the country by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as other rebel, government and international peacekeeping forces.
  • September 18, 2002

    HIV/AIDS, Human Rights And Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Programs In The United States

    Programs teaching teenagers to "just say no" to sex before marriage are threatening adolescent health by censoring basic information about how to prevent HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today.
  • July 18, 2002

    During much of 2001, there was increased tension between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Burma, at times erupting into violence. News of the violence was quickly suppressed, however, and little detailed information about what took place reached the outside world.

  • May 9, 2002

    Women in Post-Taliban Afghanistan

    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.