Reports

Justice as a Weapon

Political Persecution in Bolivia

The 47-page report, “Justice as a Weapon: Political Persecution in Bolivia,” documents instances of baseless or disproportionate charges, due process violations, infringement of freedom of expression, and excessive and arbitrary use of pretrial detention in cases pursued by the interim government. Human Rights Watch also found examples of abuse of the justice system against Morales opponents during the Morales administration.

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  • Lessons in Terror

    Attacks on Education in Afghanistan

    This 142-page report documents 204 incidents of attacks on teachers, students and schools since January 2005.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Human Rights Watch Briefing On The Terrorism Bill 2005

    Second Reading in the House of Lords

    This briefing concerns problematic new measures on speech and detention contained in the draft terrorism legislation—the fifth major piece of counter-terrorism legislation in as many years—currently being debated in the British parliament.

  • A Face and a Name

    Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq

    This report is the most detailed study to date of abuses by insurgent groups. It systematically presents and debunks the arguments that some insurgent groups and their supporters use to justify unlawful attacks on civilians.

  • Detained Without Trial

    Abuse of Internal Security Act Detainees in Malaysia

    This 34-page report is based on interviews with family members of current ISA detainees, their lawyers and handwritten statements of ISA detainees. It documents the physical abuse, ill-treatment and humiliation of more than 25 detainees in Kamunting Detention Center in December 2004.

  • Leadership Failure

    Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division

    This report provides soldiers' accounts of abuses against detainees committed by troops of the 82nd Airborne stationed at Forward Operating Base Mercury (FOB Mercury), near Fallujah.

  • Blood-Stained Hands

    Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Legacy of Impunity

    This 133-page report is based on extensive research by Human Rights Watch over the last two years, including more than 150 interviews with witnesses, survivors, government officials, and combatants.

  • Witness to Abuse

    Human Rights Abuses under the Material Witness Law since September 11

    The 101-page report, documents how the Justice Department denied the witnesses fundamental due process safeguards. Many were not informed of the reason for their arrest, allowed immediate access to a lawyer, nor permitted to see the evidence used against them.

  • US/Canada: Transfer of Maher Arar to Torture

    Human Rights Watch Report to the Commission of Inquiry on Maher Arar

    On June 7, Julia Hall, Senior Researcher for Human Rights Watch, testfied before a Canadian Commission of Inquiry that is investigating the transfer of Maher Arar to Syria, where he alleges he was brutally tortured. Arar, a Canadian citizen, was transferred by U.S.

  • Black Hole

    The Fate of Islamists Rendered to Egypt

    Sometime at the end of February 2004, six Egyptians, alleged militants who had spent several years in exile in Yemen, the last several in official custody, were surreptitiously ferried from Sanaa to Cairo, very much against their will.