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Cuba: Free Dissidents Now

Government Marks Human Rights Day with Repression

(Washington, DC, December 11, 2008) – The Cuban government should immediately and unconditionally free the dissidents who have been arbitrarily detained in recent days, Human Rights Watch said today. The Cuban government arrested more than 30 people in…
News

Cuba: Fidel Castro’s Abusive Machinery Remains Intact

Major Obstacles Remain for Human Rights

Despite Fidel Castro’s resignation today, Cuba’s abusive legal and institutional mechanisms continue to deprive Cubans of their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The counterproductive US embargo policy continues to give the Cuban government a…
News

US: Uphold Treaty Against Racial Discrimination

The United States has failed to comply with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Subjects detailed in the report include…
News

US: Presidential Order Affirms CIA Secret Detentions

Allows Detention in Violation of Geneva Conventions

President George W. Bush’s new executive order on the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation program is contrary to the Geneva Conventions, Human Rights Watch said today. The new order, issued today, purports to determine that the CIA’s…
News

Letter to President George W. Bush

Human Rights Watch reiterated its call to President George W. Bush in a letter today to close immediately the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Human Rights Watch said the continued detention of hundreds of men without charge has undermined US efforts…
News

US: Close Guantanamo – Not Tomorrow, but Today

No Need to Wait for Transfers or Creation of Military Commissions

Human Rights Watch reiterated its call to President George W. Bush in a letter today to close immediately the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Human Rights Watch said the continued detention of hundreds of men without charge has undermined US efforts…
News

US/Australia: Refugee Deal Trades in Human Lives

Agreement to Swap Refugees Flouts International Law

(New York) - A deal between the United States and Australia to trade refugees housed at Guantanamo Bay for those held on the island nation of Nauru upends international refugee standards, Human Rights Watch said today. “Refugees are human beings, not…
News

US: Stop the Guantanamo Circus

Hicks Pleads Guilty; New Detainee Arrives

Two defense lawyers for Guantanamo detainee David Hicks were barred from representing their client yesterday, highlighting the failure of US military commissions to meet fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Hicks, the first person to be…
News

Restraint, not force, will bring change to Cuba

I met Fidel Castro in Havana in 1995 as part of a human rights delegation and, after six gruelling hours of negotiation, gained his commitment to release six political prisoners. We were hardly the first or last visitors to do so. Jesse Jackson convinced…
News

U.N.: Human Rights Council Must Expand Its Reach

Civilians in Darfur, Sri Lanka Need Protection

(Geneva) – The new U.N. Human Rights Council must take urgent action to address crises from Darfur to Sri Lanka and expand its focus beyond the Middle East, Human Rights Watch said today. The council begins its second regular session today. Thus far the…
News

Criminal, Immunize Thyself

The Bush administration's get out of jail card for torturers

If the Bush administration is still good at anything, it's this: distracting its opponents and seizing little victories from what might have been big defeats. Take the administration's recent efforts to respond to the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v…
News

New Council Opposed by Unusual Duo: U.S. and Cuba

The U.S. stands with Cuba in opposition to the draft resolution establishing a new U.N. Human Rights Council. The parameters of the resolution proposed by Jan Eliasson, president of the General Assembly, were already well-known in the diplomatic…
News

Human Rights Watch World Report 2006

U.S. Policy of Abuse Undermines Rights Worldwide

(Washington, D.C.) – New evidence demonstrated in 2005 that torture and mistreatment have been a deliberate part of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism strategy, undermining the global defense of human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in…
News

Travel Regulations Undermine Family Values

Among the many injustices Cubans endure today are restrictions on travel that prevent them from reuniting with family members abroad. These restrictions have torn young children away from their parents, destroyed marriages and kept exiles from visiting…
Report

Families Torn Apart

I. Summary and Recommendations   Over the past four decades, hundreds of thousands of people have left Cuba, many of them seeking basic rights denied them by the government of Fidel Castro, such as the rights to freedom of expression,…
News

U.S. and Cuban Policies Forcibly Separate Families

Both Governments Impose Inhumane Travel Restrictions

Both Cuba and the United States have imposed harsh travel restrictions that cause the forced separation of Cuban families, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Based on interviews with dozens of Cubans and Cuban-Americans, the report…
News

Guantánamo: Give U.N. Monitors Access to Detainees

Cuba Should Also Open Its Own Prisons to U.N. Rights Inspectors

The United States should allow U.N. human rights monitors, including the special rapporteur on torture, to visit detainees held at Guantánamo Bay. Cuba late last week put forward a resolution at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights demanding such access…