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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  • Getting Away with Torture?

    Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees

    This 95-page report, issued on the eve of the first anniversary of the publication of the Abu Ghraib photos, presents substantial evidence warranting criminal investigations of Rumsfeld and Tenet, as well as Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, formerly the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Gen.

  • Still at Risk

    Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture

    This 91-page report documents the growing practice among Western governments—including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands—of seeking assurances of humane treatment in order to transfer terrorism suspects to states with well-established records of torture.

  • Cairo to Kabul to Guantanamo

    A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper

    `Abd al-Salam `Ali al-Hila, a Yemeni intelligence officer, disappeared in Cairo in 2002. Since then, he is believed to have been held without trial in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

  • Egypt: Mass Arrests and Torture in Sinai

    This 48-page report documents how, in the weeks and months after the bombing that killed 30 people in the resort town of Taba, the State Security Investigation agency conducted mass arrests in northern Sinai without a warrant or judicial order as required by Egyptian law.

  • Setting an Example?

    Counter-Terrorism Measures in Spain

    This 65-page report analyzes aspects of Spain’s criminal law and procedures that fall short of its commitments under international human rights law.

  • Undue Process

    Terrorism Trials, Military Courts and the Mapuche in Southern Chile

    This 60-page report shows how Mapuche defendants charged with terrorist acts face unequal trials for crimes that do not pose a direct threat to life, liberty or physical integrity.

  • Guantanamo: Detainee Accounts

    The following is a compilation by Human Rights Watch of accounts by thirty-three former detainees at Guantanamo of their experiences there.

  • Morocco: Human Rights at a Crossroads

    The 70-page report, “Human Rights at a Crossroads,” features interviews with the lawyers and family members of Moroccan prisoners who said that their interrogators had subjected them to physical and mental abuse, in some cases amounting to torture, in order to extract confessions or to induce them to sign a statement they h

  • The United States' "Disappeared": The CIA's Long-Term "Ghost Detainees"

    In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the Bush administration has violated the most basic legal norms in its treatment of security detainees. Many have been held in offshore prisons, the most well known of which is at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  • Interrogation Techniques for Guantanamo Detainees

    The interrogation techniques used by U.S. personnel on detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba remain shrouded in mystery. While U.S. policy is that the detainees be treated “humanely,” the Department of Defense has never revealed publicly how the detainees have been interrogated.

  • Making Sense of the Guantanamo Bay Tribunals

    Brief outlines of the military commissions, the combatant status review panels, and the administrative review procedures adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for use at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

  • Hear No Evil, See No Evil

    The U.N. Security Council's Approach to Human Rights Violations in the Global Anti-Terrorism Effort

    This 17-page briefing paper documents how countries as diverse as Egypt, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Morocco and Sweden—have violated human rights in their efforts to combat terrorism. These are the very kinds of violations that the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Committee should pay closer attention to.

  • Neither Just Nor Effective

    Indefinite Detention Without Trial in the United Kingdom Under Part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001

    The U.K. government introduced emergency legislation in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the U.S. The resulting Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act became law on December 14, 2001.