Reports

“We Can Arrest Anyone We Want”

Widespread Human Rights Violations Under El Salvador’s “State of Emergency”

The 89-page report, “‘We Can Arrest Anyone We Want’: Widespread Human Rights Violations Under El Salvador’s ‘State of Emergency’” documents mass arbitrary detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment against detainees, enforced disappearances, deaths in custody, and abuse-ridden prosecutions. President Nayib Bukele’s swift dismantling of judicial independence since he took office in mid-2019 enabled the abuses.

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Nadia, a Sudanese refugee who has fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, hugs her friend Khadidja, beside makeshift shelters near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad on May 11, 2023. 

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  • April 16, 2009

    Service for Life

    State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea

    This 95-page report documents serious human rights violations by the Eritrean government, including arbitrary arrest, torture, appalling detention conditions, forced labor, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, and worship. It also analyzes the difficult situation faced by Eritreans who succeed in escaping to other countries such as Libya, Sudan, Egypt, and Italy.

  • October 22, 2008

    Not the Way Forward

    The UK’s Dangerous Reliance on Diplomatic Assurances

    This 36-page report focuses on two important appeals in the House of Lords this month that will test the reliability of no-torture promises from the governments of Algeria and Jordan. In the pending appeals, Britain’s highest court will grapple for the first time with the government’s “deportation with assurances” policy, an important component of its counterterrorism strategy.
  • June 12, 2008

    Collective Punishment

    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.

  • April 30, 2008

    “Every Morning They Beat Me”

    Police Abuses in Burundi

    This 42-page report documents 21 cases of beatings and torture of civilians carried out in October 2007 by a special reserve unit known as Rapid Mobile Intervention Group (Groupement Mobile d’Intervention Rapide, GMIR) in Muramvya province.
  • February 13, 2008

    The Torture of Tasneem Khalil

    How the Bangladesh Military Abuses Its Power under the State of Emergency

    This 39-page report graphically details Khalil’s 22-hour ordeal in May 2007 in Bangladesh’s clandestine detention and torture system – a setup well known to the government, ordinary Bangladeshis, Dhaka’s donors and diplomatic community.

  • July 24, 2007

    Application No. 2947/06: Ismoilov and Others v. Russia

    Intervention Submitted by Human Rights Watch and AIRE Centre

    The third party intervention by Human Rights Watch and the AIRE Centre in the case of Ismoilov and Others v. Russia analyzes states’ reliance upon diplomatic assurances against torture and ill-treatment in extradition context. The intervention includes relevant international, regional, and national jurisprudence regarding the use of assurances against torture.
  • March 28, 2007

    The “Stamp of Guantanamo”

    The Story of Seven Men Betrayed by Russia’s Diplomatic Assurances to the United States

    This 43-page report reconstructs the experiences of the detainees after being returned to Russia in March 2004, based on interviews with three of the detainees, their family members, lawyers, and others. Access to the ex-detainees is limited because three of them are in prison and the rest have either managed to leave the country or are in hiding.
  • November 13, 2006

    Widespread Torture in the Chechen Republic

    Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper for the 37th Session UN Committee against Torture

    This 16-page briefing paper is addressed to the Committee against Torture. It documents ill-treatment and torture by pro-Moscow Chechen forces under the effective command of Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, as well as by federal police personnel.
  • November 2, 2006

    Dangerous Ambivalence

    UK Policy on Torture since 9/11

    This 45-page paper documents how the UK government is undermining the torture ban, even as it proclaims its efforts to combat torture worldwide. Torture, including returns to risk of torture, is prohibited by international law. No exceptions are allowed, even in time of war or national emergency.
  • July 22, 2006

    "No Blood, No Foul"

    Soldiers' Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq

    Torture and other abuses against detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were authorized and routine, even after the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, according to accounts from soldiers in this 53-page report. Soldiers describe how detainees were routinely subjected to severe beatings, painful stress positions, severe sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme cold and hot temperatures.
  • June 28, 2006

    Briefing Paper on U.S. Military Commissions

    On November 7, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who is challenging the lawfulness of the U.S. government trying him for alleged war crimes before a military commission at Guantánamo Bay. The Court is expected to render a decision in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in late June, 2006.
  • April 25, 2006

    By the Numbers

    Findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project

    This 27-page report presents findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project, a joint project of New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First. The project is the first comprehensive accounting of credible allegations of torture and abuse in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo.
  • March 31, 2006

    Q & A on Military Instruction Number 10

    Will It Keep Evidence Obtained through Torture or Cruel Treatment out of Commission Trials?

    On March 24, 2006, the General Counsel of the Department of Defense issued Military Commission Instruction No. 10, “Certain Evidentiary Requirements,” in response to growing public concern that evidence acquired through torture might be admissible in military commission proceedings.
  • November 30, 2005

    List of “Ghost Prisoners” Possibly in CIA Custody

    List of Detainees Published by Human Rights Watch

    Human Rights Watch has released a list of persons believed to be in U.S. custody as “ghost detainees” -- detainees who are not given any legal rights or access to counsel, and who are likely not reported to or seen by the International Committee of the Red Cross.