• Child picking cotton in September 2012, Suyima Prakhtakor, Jizzakh.
    © 2012 Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights
    Global Treaty to Protect Forced Labor Victims Adopted
    The adoption by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on June 11, 2014, of a landmark new treaty will advance the fight to prevent forced labor, and to protect and compensate the estimated 21 million victims worldwide, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments, trade unions, and employers’ organizations that make up the ILO overwhelmingly voted to adopt the ILO Protocol on Forced Labor, which updates a widely-ratified, but outdated, 1930 treaty in order to better address contemporary abuses, including against migrants and in the private sector.
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United Nations

  • Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner for Human Rights
    Mar 5, 2015

    In the face of massive human rights abuses, the Human Rights Council has a responsibility to be part of the solution. It needs to resist the temptation to retreat into political and regional factionalism, to undermine the independence of your Office, High Commissioner, invoke selectivity to deflect attention from situations demanding international attention, or engage in procedural tactics to silence debate.

  • Syria: New Spate of Barrel Bomb Attacks
    Feb 24, 2015
    The Syrian government has carried out hundreds of new indiscriminate attacks over the past year with air-delivered munitions, including improvised weapons such as barrel bombs. The attacks have had a devastating impact on civilians, killing or injuring thousands of people.
  • Human Rights Watch Submission to the CEDAW Committee of the United Arab Emirates’ Periodic Report, 62nd Session, February 2015
    Feb 17, 2015
    We write in advance of the 62nd Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and its review of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This submission addresses articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 of the Convention.
  • Human Rights Watch Submission to the CEDAW Committee on Yemen’s Periodic Report, 62th session
    Feb 10, 2015
    We write in advance of the 62th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and its review of the Republic of Yemen’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This submission addresses articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 of the convention.
  • Human Rights Watch Submission to the CEDAW Committee of Lebanon’s Periodic Report 62nd Session, February 2015
    Feb 1, 2015
    We write in advance of the 62nd Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and its review of Lebanon’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This submission addresses articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16 of the Convention.
  • Submission on the combined eighth and ninth periodic report of Ecuador to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, February 19, 2015
    Jan 20, 2015
    We write in advance of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women’s upcoming review of Ecuador to highlight areas of concern regarding the Ecuadoran government’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This submission is based on the Human Rights Watch report on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Ecuador published in 2013, “Rape Victims as Criminals: Illegal Abortion After Rape in Ecuador” (Annex 1) and is focused on violations of the right to health, which are inconsistent with Article 12 of the Convention.
  • Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the fourth periodic report of Kyrgyzstan, January 16, 2015
    Jan 16, 2015
    We write in advance of the 60th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and its review of Kyrgyzstan to highlight areas of concern regarding the government of Kyrgyzstan’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This submission addresses Articles 2, 3, and 5 of the Convention, with reference to Article 15.
  • Kuwait: UPR Submission 2014
    Jan 11, 2015
    There have been some encouraging reforms in Kuwait since its last UPR in 2010. For example, in January 2013 a judicial decision granted women the right to apply for posts as prosecutors, allowing them to therefore enter the career path to become judges eventually. However Kuwait has yet to reform any of the provisions in its personal status laws that discriminate against women.
  • UN: Freeze Funding of Iran Counter-Narcotics Efforts
    Dec 17, 2014
    The United Nations agency charged with combating illicit drug trafficking should withdraw its support for counter-narcotics police operations in Iran until the death penalty for drug offenses is abolished, six rights groups said in a letter published today. The groups made the plea after Iran’s judiciary hanged 18 alleged drug traffickers within 24 hours on December 3, 2014, bringing the number of drug offenders executed in the country during 2014 to at least 318.
  • Sudan: Soldiers, Militias Killing, Raping Civilians
    Dec 14, 2014
    Sudanese government forces and allied militias are unlawfully killing and otherwise abusing civilians in government-held areas in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.
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