Reports

U.S. Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective

The 55-page report, “Out of Step: US Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective,” examines the laws of 136 countries around the world with populations of 1.5 million and above and finds that the majority—73 of the 136—never, or rarely, deny a person’s right to vote because of a criminal conviction. In the other 63 countries, the United States sits at the restrictive end of the spectrum, disenfranchising a broader swath of people overall.

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  • September 1, 1998

    Immigration Detainees in Jails in the United States

    The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is currently housing more than 60 percent of its 15,000 detainees in local jails throughout the country.

  • September 1, 1998

    Reports that ethnic Chinese women were raped during riots in Jakarta in mid-May have generated an outpouring of rage from around the world and a furious debate inside Indonesia. Legislators in Taiwan and Hong Kong have threatened cut-offs of aid and expulsions of Indonesian migrant workers.
  • September 1, 1998

    Retaliation Against Women in Michigan State Prisons

    This report documents how women inmates who have been raped by guards in Michigan prisons are suffering retaliation from their attackers."In Michigan, a woman risks being sexually assaulted if she's imprisoned, and being terrorized by guards if she dares report the assault," said Regan Ralph, executive director of theWomen's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.
  • August 1, 1998

    On July 20-21, 1998, an Algerian government delegation met with the United Nations Human Rights Committee to discuss Algeria's second periodic report regarding its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
  • August 1, 1998

    Dismantling Soeharto-Era Barriers

    A nationwide student protest movement played an instrumental role in forcing the resignation of President Soeharto on May 21, 1998 and in opening the door to democratic reform in Indonesia.
  • August 1, 1998

    Violations of Civil and Political Rights

    On July 15 and 16, 1998 Israel presented its initial report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the U.N. body of independent experts responsible for monitoring implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its two Optional Protocols.
  • August 1, 1998

    Arms Transfers to all Sides in the Civil War in Sudan

    More than one million people may have died, with millions more forcibly displaced, since today's ongoing civil war broke out in Sudan in 1983. This conflict is spreading to other regions of the country and is linked to guerrilla wars in neighboring Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
  • August 1, 1998

    Ethnic discrimination in the Russian Federation has persisted and perhaps even worsened since the break-up of the Soviet Union. The government has failed to combat discrimination and is in many ways responsible for perpetuating discriminatory practices.
  • July 29, 1998

    Atrocities Against Civilians in Sierra Leone

    In a report released today, Human Rights Watch condemns the war of terror now underway against civilians in Sierra Leone, and calls on the international community to take emergency measures to end the killings, amputations, and abductions taking place in that civil war.
  • July 23, 1998

    Human Rights Watch background Paper On The 1998 Famine In Bahr El Ghazal

    Massive human rights abuses by muraheleen raiders in exactly the same locations were primary causes of the 1988 famine, in which an estimated 250,000 (mostly Dinka) perished.
  • July 1, 1998

    President Aleksandr Lukashenka continues to steer Belarus back toward Soviet-era repression by leading a government that is engaged in violations of a broad spectrum of basic civil and political rights. His four years in office have witnessed the reversal of modest improvements in respect for human rights that followed the perestroika period and the break-up of the Soviet Union.
  • July 1, 1998

    Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States

    Police brutality is one of the most serious, enduring and divisive human rights violations in the United States. Unjustified shootings by police, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessarily rough treatment of detainees occur in cities throughout the country.

  • July 1, 1998

    Past and Present Human Rights Abuses in Foca

    The Foca municipality was the site of some of the most brutal crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Bosnian Serb civilian, police, and military officials established a wartime government called the "Crisis Committee," much like those established in many towns in Bosnian Serb-controlled territory, to plan and carry out the expulsion of the non-Serb population.
  • June 1, 1998

    Politics & the Policing Agenda of the UN International Police Task Force

    The United Nations mission to Bosnia and Hercegovina-with over 2,000 international police monitors-has the opportunity to make an important contribution to lasting peace and respect for human rights in the country. The U.N.