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Covid-19 Hampers Workplace Safety in Georgia’s Mines

Labor Inspectorate Needs More Resources to Put Reforms into Effect

Two people died in a mining accident in the country of Georgia’s western coal mining town of Tkibuli last week. The accident in itself was tragic, but even more heartbreaking when you consider the context. The dangers of working in Georgia’s mines…
Miners going to work
News

Letter from Human Rights Watch to Institutional Shareholders

Re: Energy Companies in Myanmar and Abuses by the Military Junta

October 20, 2021 We are writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch concerning ownership by your firm (or funds or entities under its control) of energy companies, including Total Energies, PTT (and its subsidiary PTTEP), Chevron, and POSCO, which are…
News

Myanmar: Investors Should Act to Halt Funds to Junta

Revenues from Foreign Companies Keep Military in Power

(New York) – Payments by energy and extractive companies to entities under the control of the Myanmar military are providing key funds to sustain the junta and pose serious legal, financial, and reputational risks to investors in those companies.…
202111asia_myanmar_sanctions_thumbnail
News

Still No Justice for Killing of South African Mining Activist

Investigate Fikile Ntshangase’s Murder and Hold Killers Responsible

One year ago Fikile Ntshangase, an environmental activist from South Africa, was gunned down in her home in Somkhele in KwaZulu-Natal province, after raising concerns about a coal mine in the area. No arrests have been made. Today, members of her…
Activists from mining communities protesting at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on August 24, 2018, KwaZulu-Natal © 2018 Rob Symons
News

What is the Future of Guinea's Mining Sector After the Coup?

Guinea’s September 5 coup sent shock waves through both West Africa and global commodities markets. Guinea is the world’s second largest producer of bauxite, the ore needed to produce aluminum, and has rich iron ore, gold, and diamond reserves. The…
A woman in Lansanayah, a village 750 meters from a bauxite mine owned by La Société Minière de Boké consortium.
News

US: Commit to Joining Cluster Munitions Ban

Global Report Tracks Progress in Eradicating the Widely Rejected Weapons

The US policy on cluster munitions is outdated and dangerous. Cluster munitions spread bomblets indiscriminately over a wide area, leaving many “duds” that function as landmines and can kill or maim people for years. The Biden administration…
Submunición M77 DPICM sin explotar tendida en el suelo.
Report

Underwater

Summary “Dao,” an ethnic Lao man in his 40s, previously lived a largely self-sufficient life in the village of Srekor in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. He fished on the Sesan River and farmed rice and fruit on the fertile soil along…
News

Zambia: Tackle Lead Poisoning at Former Mine

UN Experts Urge Full Clean-Up; Candidates Should Address Kabwe Issue

(Lusaka) – Zambia’s next government should urgently clean up lead pollution that has affected the health of tens of thousands of children and adults in the city of Kabwe, six organizations said today, following the publication of a United Nations…
Former Mine Pit in Kabwe, Zambia
Report

Aluminum: The Car Industry’s Blind Spot

Summary Maciré Camara, a widow and mother of five, is a farmer in Diakhabia, a village in the Boké region of Guinea, West Africa.[1] Walking through Camara’s community, it’s hard to imagine the connection between the global car industry and her rural…
Video

Oil Palm Expansion Risks Environment, Harms Communities

(Jakarta, June 3, 2021) – The harm a palm oil plantation in western Kalimantan, Indonesia, is causing to the surrounding communities and the environment demonstrates the government’s failure to enforce its own policies and laws, Human Rights Watch said in…
News

Myanmar: Thai State-Owned Company Funds Junta

Oil and Gas Firm PTT Should Cut Ties with Military Enterprises, Abusive Cronies

(Bangkok) – Thailand’s majority state-owned oil and gas company, PTT, is partnering with military-linked companies to expand its engagement in Myanmar, Human Rights Watch said today. This growth comes on top of the half a billion dollars PTT already…
Anti-coup protesters run from teargas deployed by the police during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 1, 2021.
News

The Case for Condemnation

Denouncing All Use of Cluster Munitions

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which categorically bans the use of cluster munitions, seeks to eliminate these weapons and the unacceptable harm they cause. By adopting an unequivocal condemnation of cluster munition use at the convention’s…
Two unexploded Israeli-made M095 submunitions
News

Unlawful Attacks on Medical Facilities and Personnel in Nagorno-Karabakh

New Research on Three Incidents from 2020 Conflict

Three unlawful attacks on medical facilities by Azerbaijani forces during the six-week armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh have come to light in recent Human Rights Watch research in the region. Human Rights Watch documented multiple unlawful…
View from the window of the Martakert military hospital, which was struck by Azerbaijani rocket artillery on October 14, 2020.
News

For Valentine’s Day, Traceable, Transparent Jewelry Supply Chains

Jewelry, Watch Companies Should Strengthen Supply Chain Safeguards

(New York) – Jewelry and watch companies should improve efforts to ensure that human rights are respected in their global supply chains, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of Valentine’s Day on February 14, 2021. Human Rights Watch issued “20…
Valentines Day Gold Rose
News

US Defense Contractor Distances Itself from Cluster Munitions

Northrop Grumman Move Shows Weapon’s Stigma is Spreading

United States defense contractor Northrop Grumman announced this week it is ending participation in a US government contract to test the shelf life of stocks of cluster munitions. It inherited the stockpile management contract after acquiring US…
A failed BLU-108 canister, with two submunitions still attached, that was delivered by a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon during an attack on the quarry of the Amran Cement Factory, Yemen, on February 15, 2016.
News

Why Japan’s Luxury Jeweler Should Be Open About Its Operations

All over the world, gold and diamond mining are risky operations, and sometimes people and the environment are harmed in the process. For over a decade, Human Rights Watch has documented child labor, environmental destruction, and violence by government…
A pearl necklace is displayed over a gray sign that reads "Mikimoto"
News

Armenia: Cluster Munitions Used in Multiple Attacks on Azerbaijan

End Their Use; Join Treaty Ban

(Berlin) – Armenian or allied Nagorno-Karabakh forces repeatedly fired widely banned cluster munitions in attacks on populated areas in Azerbaijan during the six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh, Human Rights Watch said today. The use of cluster…
Yashar Abbasov keeps a photograph of his wife, Raziya Abbasova, on a dresser with a mirror which was damaged in the attack that killed her.
Video

Interview with Ziyafat Hasanova

November 8, 2020 - Interview with Ziyafat Hassanova, 35, whose 9-year-old son, Elan (also on the video), witnessed a cluster attack on October 5, 2020, in Gizilhajili village, Goranboy district of Azerbaijan.
Video

Interview with Anar Safarov

November 8, 2020 - Interview with Anar Safarov, witness of a cluster attack on October 23 in Tapgaragoyunlu village, Goranboy district of Azerbaijan.