Reports

“They Burn Through Everything”

The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law

The 45-page report, “‘They Burn Through Everything’: The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law,” details the immediate injuries and lasting physical, psychological, and socioeconomic harm of incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus, used by parties to recent conflicts. Countries should revisit and strengthen the international treaty governing these weapons, which burn people and set civilian structures and property on fire, Human Rights Watch concluded.

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  • In Its Own Words

    The U.S. Army and Antipersonnel Mines in the Korean and Vietnam Wars

    Most of the world is poised to ban antipersonnel landmines, the indiscriminate weapons that kill or maim an estimated 26,000 civilians each year.

  • Exposing the Source

    U.S Companies and the Production of Antipersonnel Mines

    Despite the Clinton Administration's attempts to lay claim to the mantle of global leadership in the effort to ban antipersonnel landmines, the United States has refused to ban or even formally suspend the production of antipersonnel mines. From 1985 through 1996, the U.S.

  • Clouds of War

    Chemical Weapons in the Former Yugoslavia

    Human Rights Watch has uncovered evidence that the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) had an extensive and sophisticated chemical weapons program prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991; that the army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) inherited much of this program; and that the army of the Republic

  • Civilian Pawns

    Laws of War Violations and the Use of Weapons on the Israel-Lebanon Border

    For over a decade, a conflict has raged on the border of Israel and Lebanon, where Israel occupies a large section of Lebanese territory. Civilians have been the principal targets and victims in this conflict.

  • Between War & Peace:

    Arms Trade and Human Rights Abuses since the Lusaka Protocol

    In updating our 1994 report, Arms Trade & Violations of the Laws of War in Angola, we found that despite the signing of the Lusaka Protocol between the Angolan government and UNITA that led to a cease-fire, sporadic fighting continued in 1995.

  • U.S. Blinding Laser Weapons

    The U.S. has pursued the development of at least 10 different tactical laser weapons that have the potential of blinding individuals.

  • Cambodia at War

    Although the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cambodia has been hailed as one of the mostsuccessful ever, the country was back at war even before the last of the peacekeepers left. The civilian population now faces a wide range of abuses from both the Khmer Rouge and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

  • US Cluster Bombs for Turkey?

    We issued this report upon learning of a tense debate within the U.S. State and Defense Departments over whether to allow the export to Turkey of the most advanced and deadly cluster bomb in the U.S. arsenal, the CBU-87.

  • Angola: Arms Trade and Violations of the Laws of War since the 1992 Elections

    Angola’s “forgotten war,” fueled by a steady supply of weapons to both sides, has claimed an estimated 100,000 civilian lives since the conflict resumed following the September 1992 elections. The government and the UNITA rebels are responsible for an appalling range of violations of the laws of war.

  • Arms and Abuses in Indian Punjab and Kashmir

    The massive proliferation of small arms and light weapons in South Asia is directly linked to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and the subsequent creation by the United States of a system, commonly known as the Afghan pipeline, to funnel weapons covertly to the Afghan resistance.

  • Landmines in Mozambique

    In spite of the peace accord signed in October 1992 between government forces and RENAMO rebels, innocent civilians are maimed and killed by landmines in Mozambique on a daily basis.

  • Arming Rwanda

    The Arms Trade and Human Rights Abuses in the Rwandan War

    On October 1990, the Rwandese Patriotic Front launched an invasion from neighboring Uganda, aimed at overthrowing the Rwandan government. While the war has stopped in an uneasy peace, an estimated 4,500 people died in the conflict and nearly one million civilians are refugees.

  • Landmines in Angola

    Landmines have rendered large areas of arable land and pasture, many roads, bridges, river banks, villages, and some important economic installations unfit for the people of Angola.