| | |
|
| |
|
|
RSS News Feed   Lebanon: Migrant Domestic Workers Dying Every Week Most Deaths From Suicides or in Botched Escapes The high death toll of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, from unnatural causes, shows the urgent need to improve their working conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the official steering committee tasked with improving the situation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon to investigate the root causes of these deaths and develop a concrete national strategy to reduce them. August 25, 2008 Press Release Also available in 
Printer friendly version Mongolia: Protect Rights of North Korean Migrant Workers The Mongolian government should protect the human and labor rights of North Koreans coming to Mongolia to work, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Mongolia’s minister of social welfare and labor. August 20, 2008 Press Release Also available in 
Printer friendly version Letter to Mongolian Ministers to Protect Labor Rights of North Koreans North Korea’s economy has been in shambles for years, and it continues to suffer from serious and widespread food shortages. An opportunity to work overseas is hugely attractive to many North Korean workers. We are not advocating for Mongolia to reject North Korean workers, but to ensure that human rights and labor rights of North Koreans are protected while working in Mongolia. August 20, 2008 Letter Also available in
Printer friendly version China: Olympic Sponsors Ignore Human Rights Abuses TOP Sponsors Should Back Introduction of a Permanent Olympic Rights Monitor The major corporate sponsors of the Beijing Olympics have failed to uphold their own principles of corporate social responsibility, Human Rights Watch said today. Sponsors have failed to speak out – either individually or collectively – about human rights abuses linked to the Beijing Games, and should be prepared to support the establishment of a permanent body inside the International Olympic Committee to monitor rights abuses at future Olympics. August 18, 2008 Press Release Printer friendly version Sponsoring the Olympics Is Bad for Business By Sophie Richardson Published in The Huffington Post Olympic sponsors have not only an opportunity but a duty to speak out about human rights abuses in China, since these abuses violate the Olympic Charter, the human rights pledges made by Beijing when bidding for the Games, and, most important, the principles upon which their own corporate social responsibility policies are built. August 7, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version Burma’s Gem Trade and Human Rights Abuses Updated July 2008 The color and quality of gems from Burma make them attractive for use in jewelry sold around the world, but the beauty of Burmese gems is marred by their association with serious human rights abuses. A growing number of governments, ethically-minded businesses, and civil society groups are working to curtail the international trade in Burmese gems through targeted sanctions and boycott campaigns. July 29, 2008 Background Briefing Printer friendly version US: Burma Gem Ban Strengthened Profits From Rubies, Jade Finance Repression A new US law that bars gem dealers and jewelry retailers from importing rubies and jade from Burma is a major step in curtailing the unethical international trade in Burmese gems, Human Rights Watch said today. July 29, 2008 Press Release Also available in
Printer friendly version Nigeria's Delta blues Nigeria's oil industry is beset with corruption. The result is higher oil prices and widespread human rights abuses By Eric Guttschuss, HRW Researcher on Nigeria Published in Guardian.co.uk Sabotage and oil theft have cut production in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter to its lowest level in 20 years, contributing to spiralling world oil prices. July 21, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version Egypt: Release Dozens of Protestors Held Without Charge Detainees Held for More Than 90 Days, Allegedly Tortured Egypt should immediately release six men who have been detained for more than 90 days without charge since their arrests following a workers strike and street protests in Mahalla al-Kobra in April, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also called on authorities to suspend the prosecution of 49 others by a security court where procedures violate fair trial rights and to investigate allegations that some of the men were tortured. July 18, 2008 Press Release Also available in
Printer friendly version China is losing the human rights race Published in Times Online When China won the right to host the 2008 Olympics, it was due in good part to human rights pledges. These included a specific commitment of “complete freedom” to report for the global media. Beijing made these pledges after losing its first bid to host in 1993, largely because of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. July 14, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version Testimony of Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno before the Canadian Parliament I am honored to appear before you today. Thank you for your invitation to address the situation of violence against trade unionists in Colombia and the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement that is now under negotiation. I would like to request that my written remarks be incorporated in the record. June 2, 2008 Testimony Printer friendly version Saudi Arabia: Nour Miyati Denied Justice for Torture Judge Ignores Evidence in Case of Extreme Abuse against Indonesian Domestic Worker An appeals court should overturn a Riyadh court’s decision to drop charges against the Saudi employer who abused Nour Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, so severely she required several surgeries, including amputation of her toes and fingers, Human Rights Watch said today. The judge awarded Nour Miyati 2,500 riyals as compensation, or approximately US$670, a small fraction of what such injuries would normally garner in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2008 Press Release Also available in
Printer friendly version Joint NGO Statement to the Eighth Session of the Human Rights Council Third Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises We thank the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises (SRSG) for the extensive work done to produce his third report. The report emphasizes three key principles: the state duty to protect, the corporate responsibility to respect, and access to remedies for victims. May 20, 2008 Written Statement Printer friendly version Global Internet Freedom: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law Testimony to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law Human Rights Watch believes that the internet is a transformative force that can help open closed societies and provide the near-instantaneous flow of information to inform the public, mobilize for change, and ultimately hold institutions accountable. In this testimony, Arvind Ganesan, Busines and Human Rights Program director, discusses some governments' restrictions on the internet, ongoing efforts for self-regulation, and prospects for government-led change to ensure respect for human rights. May 20, 2008 Testimony Printer friendly version Labour Regulations Foreign domestic workers need rest, too By Emily Allen and Nisha Varia Published in The Straits Times Today as many of us celebrate May Day with a break from our jobs, others in Singapore are expected to work through the day. In fact, foreign domestic workers often work through all holidays. Far too many of them work every day of the week, every week of the year, without a single day of rest. May 1, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version The Future of Human Rights: U.S. Policy for a New Era The thirteen essays in this volume, edited by William F. Schulz, provide thematic assessments of the current state of global human rights programs. Human Rights Watch's Refugee Policy Director Bill Frelick writes an essay on U.S. refugee and asylum policy and Senior Labor Rights and Trade Researcher Carol Pier contributes a chapter on labor rights. Taken together, the essays converge on one overarching point: to attract the widest support, the U.S. commitment to universal human rights should be presented as reflecting the best of the American tradition. April 16, 2008 Web Site China: Olympic Flame Turns Up Heat on Sponsors Corporate Social Responsibility Rhetoric Does Not Match Reality With fewer than four months remaining until the start of the Beijing Games, corporate sponsors of the Olympics risk lasting damage to their brands if they do not live up to their professed standards of corporate social responsibility by speaking out about the deteriorating human rights situation in China, Human Rights Watch said today. April 16, 2008 Press Release Printer friendly version Olympic Corporate Sponsors: Rhetoric and Reality Excerpts from all 12 “TOP” Olympic sponsor companies’ policies on commitment to social responsibility and their comments on China, the Olympics, and human rights. April 16, 2008 Background Briefing Printer friendly version Advocacy group misrepresented By José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director Published in The Boston Globe RE "THE promise of a Colombia trade pact" (Op-ed, April 11): Edward Schumacher-Matos misrepresents the work of Human Rights Watch on killings of trade unionists in Colombia when he says we "imply" that all such murders are because of labor organizing. April 15, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version Don't Dismiss the Killings in Colombia Letter to the Editor of The Washington Post By Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director Published in The Washington Post If death squads with ties to the U.S. government were targeting Post reporters for assassination, I doubt that The Post would dismiss the problem by arguing that the murder rate for journalists was less than the rate for the District as a whole. Yet that is exactly what The Post did in dismissing the killings of trade union activists by paramilitaries in Colombia on the basis that trade unionists are still less likely to be killed than the average citizen ["The Sin of Speaking Truth," editorial, April 8]. Congress is right to delay approval of a free-trade agreement with Colombia until Mr. Uribe takes on the violent right as he did the violent left. April 10, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version |
 |
 Display Only: Reports Briefing Papers Press Releases Themes: Featured Reports: Too High a Price: The Human Rights Cost of the Indonesian Military’s Economic Activities
The Indonesian military's involvement in licit and illicit business threatens human rights. This 136-page report provides a comprehensive account of the harmful effect on civilians of the armed forces' involvement in business. In the report, Human Rights Watch calls on the Indonesian government to ban all military businesses, reform the budget process and hold military personnel accountable for crimes. June 2006
Democratic Republic of Congo: The Curse of Gold
This 159-page report documents widespread human rights abuses linked to efforts by foreign armies and armed groups to control two key gold mining areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The report provides details of how a leading gold mining company established a relationship with an armed group responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in return for assurances of security and access to a mining site in northeast DRC. The report also illustrates the trail of tainted gold from the DRC to neighboring Uganda from where it is sent to global gold markets in Europe and elsewhere. June 2005
Angola: Some Transparency, No Accountability
This 93-page report investigates the use of oil revenues in Angola and the loss of approximately $4.2 billion from government coffers between 1997-2002, and examines how this loss undermines the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Angolan people. January 2004
July 2004 Deliberate
Indifference: El Salvador’s Failure to Protect Workers’ Rights
This 110-page report documents violations of workers’ rights – most pervasively, the right to freedom of association – and investigates the government’s disregard and facilitation of such abuses; to prevent these violations, the report recommends revising and strengthening the labor rights protections afforded by the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). December 2003 2004 World Report Chapter: Engine of War: Resources, Greed, and the Predatory
State
Written by Arvind Ganesan, director of the Business and Human Rights Program, this chapter explores how corruption, lack of transparency, and private and public sector profiteering play into the “greed or grievance” theory on the cause of civil conflict; it cites examples from recent conflicts in Angola, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. January 2004  Beijing Olympic Watch |
|
Contribute to Human Rights Watch
Home | About Us | News Releases | Publications | About HRW | Info by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Free Mailing Lists | Community | Store | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Press Contacts | Privacy Policy © Copyright 2006, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA |