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Dispatches: Why Didn’t the US Interview CIA Torture Victims?

The United States came under fire this week for failing to conduct a meaningful investigation into acts of torture committed under the administration of George W. Bush. The issue came up at a session of the United Nations Committee Against…
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US: Torture Treaty Shift Significant but Inadequate

Treaty Prohibitions Apply Wherever State Has ‘Effective Control’

(Geneva) – A US statement on compliance with the Convention against Torture on November 12, 2014, improves on previous US positions on the treaty’s application but falls short of international obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The US is…
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Letter to President Obama on Convention against Torture

October 29, 2014 President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC  20500 Dear President Obama: We write to urge you to affirm that US obligations under the…
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Submission to the United Nations Committee against Torture

During its Consideration of the Third to Fifth Periodic Reports of the United States of America CAT 53rd Session

I. Summary   Human Rights Watch would like to express its appreciation to the United Nations Committee against Torture (the “Committee”) for this opportunity to provide information on the compliance of the…
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13 Years On, Will 9/11 Ever Go to Trial?

In any normal case, in any ordinary court, judges hold preliminary hearings to narrow the issues and move the case closer to trial. But there is nothing ordinary about the prosecution of the five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. And the…
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Dispatches: “Torture,” No Longer A Four-Letter Word?

Is some sense of sanity finally slipping into the torture debate in the US? Yesterday, after years of criticism for failing to call it by its name, the New York Times finally decided it would use the word “torture” to describe when US interrogators use…
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Poland: Landmark Rulings on CIA Torture Complicity

Underscore Unfinished Accountability for Abuses in Europe

(London) - The landmark rulings against Poland by the European Court of Human Rights on July 24, 2014, underscore the need for wider European accountability for involvement in US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counterterrorism abuses, Human Rights…
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Snowden Claims NSA Spied on Rights Groups

(New York, April 8, 2014) – The former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has told the Council of Europe that the NSA spied on human rights organizations, but did not identify which groups. If Snowden’s assertion is accurate, it…
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US: Vote on CIA Torture Report a First Step

Senate Committee Should Declassify, Release Full Document

(Washington, DC) – The US Senate Intelligence Committee’s vote to declassify part of its report on Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) detention and interrogation is an important first step toward public accounting of torture by the United States, Human…
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US: Respect Privacy at Home, Abroad

UN Rights Body Concerned Over Surveillance Activities, Other Issues

(Washington, DC) – The United States should heed calls issued on March 27, 2014, by an important UN human rights body to ensure that its surveillance activities are consistent with the right to privacy, both within and outside its borders, Human Rights…
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Make justice, not Gitmo

Terrorists face real consequences in US civilian courts

The American public has had a pretty good demonstration over the last couple of weeks in how a US federal court handles a big terrorism case. The New York City trial of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, on charges of conspiring to kill…
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US: Declassify Torture Report

Feinstein Describes CIA Efforts to Block Oversight

(Washington, DC) – Senator Dianne Feinstein’s account of CIA efforts to obstruct congressional oversight underscores the urgency of declassifying a Senate report on the CIA secret detention and interrogation program, Human Rights Watch said today. The…