Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel
The 236-page report, “‘I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind’: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel,” documents several dozen cases of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Palestinian armed groups at nearly all the civilian attack sites on October 7. These include the war crimes and crimes against humanity of murder, hostage-taking, and other grave offenses. Human Rights Watch also examined the role of various armed groups and their coordination before and during the attacks. Previous Human Rights Watch reports have addressed numerous serious violations by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 7.
This report examines barriers to academic freedom and the exercise ofbasic rights erected during the thirty-two year authoritarian rule of PresidentSoeharto in Indonesia. As this report was being prepared, Indonesia was undergoing what appeared to be a momentous transition, spurred on by students and faculty, toward a more democratic society.
Today in Romania, gays and lesbians are routinely denied some of the most basic human rights guaranteed by international law. Despiteamendments in 1996 to the criminal code provisions relating to homosexual conduct, gays and lesbians continue to be arrested and convictedfor such relations if they become public knowledge.
The human rights situation in Bahrain showed no improvement in 1997 and in some respects worsened. Street protests and clashes betweensecurity forces and demonstrators calling for political reform, which had first erupted in December 1994, continued throughout the year,intensifying in June 1997.
With the legacy of the Derg behind it, the EPRDF proclaimed, as it instituted a four-year transitional period (1991-1995), its commitment to democratization and respect for the rule of law and pledged to establish human rights in the country. The transitional legislature ratified the major international human rights treaties.
Transition and Human Rights Violations in the Congo
Upon taking office in late May 1997, President Laurent Kabila promised a transitional agenda that would lead to legislative and presidential elections in two years.
In the past few years, the human rights panorama in Peru has brightened considerably because of the decline in the massive "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions that has accompanied reduced political violence. Despite this positive trend, however, serious human rights violations continue, chief among them the use of torture.
The Indonesian government made a series of serious missteps leading to human rights violations in its handling of one of the worst outbreaks of ethnic conflict the country has seen in decades, according to a new report, Communal Violence in West Kalimantan.
In its bid to monopolize power, the government of the Congo severely cracked down on those political parties with any credible claim of popularity and national presence. Police and a plethora of security agencies attacked their meetings, public and private, and arrested their supporters and often subjected them to torture and ill-treatment.
The 15-page report, "Rural Unrest in Vietnam," documents the causes and implications of continuing protests against corruption, land disputes, and compulsory labor in Thai Binh province beginning last May, as well as violent unrest in the largely Catholic district of Thong Nhat in Dong Nai province last month, initially sparked by expropriation of church land by corrupt local authorities.
In March 1995, Human Rights Watch released Neither Jobs Nor Justice, a report documenting widespread employment discrimination on the basis of sex that was practiced, condoned, and tolerated by the Russian government.
Human Rights Challenges Facing the New Liberian Government
On July 19, 1997, Liberia's seven-year war was finally ended through an election that swept former faction leader Charles Taylor and his party, the National Patriotic Party (NPP), into power with 75 percent of the vote.
While the Vietnamese government pursues this open-door policy and continues to woo foreign investment, domestically it is strengthening Communist Party control, repressing dissent and stifling any development of civil society.
Nigeria's Endless Process of Return to Civilian Rule
In November 1995, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (chogm), convened in Auckland, New Zealand, suspended Nigeria from membership in the Commonwealth pending its compliance with the principles of the 1991 Harare Declaration, which commits Commonwealth members to democratic political processes and respect for human rights and the rule of law.
The first three years of Palestinian self-rule have been characterized by widespread arbitrary and abusive conduct by the PA and its mushrooming security agencies. Hundreds of arbitrary detentions were carried out that violated defendants' most elemental due-process rights. Those who were interrogated were commonly tortured.
For over a year, Human Rights Watch investigated and monitored French asylum policies, conducting numerous interviews with lawyers, human rights advocates, refugee assistance organizations, asylum seekers, and government officials. In the course of this work, we have identified several aspects of French asylum policy that contravene governing international standards.