Reports

Forced Russification of the School System in Occupied Ukrainian Territories

The 63-page report “Education under Occupation: Forced Russification of the School System in Occupied Ukrainian Territories,” documents violations of international law by the Russian authorities in relation to the right to education in formerly occupied areas of Ukraine’s Kharkivska region, and other regions that remain under Russian occupation. Russian authorities have forced changes to the curriculum and retaliated against school staff who refused to make such changes with threats, detention, and even torture. Human Rights Watch also found that occupying authorities threatened parents whose children were learning the Ukrainian curriculum online.

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  • September 1, 1991

    From our “ Destroying Ethnic Identity Series”

    Ethnic hatred and violence directed against Gypsies in Romania has escalated dramatically since the 1989 revolution: rarely a month passed without another Gypsy village being attacked. Gypsy homes have been burned, their possessions destroyed, they have been chased from their villages, and often not allowed to return.
  • September 1, 1991

    Human Rights in Kuwait since Liberation

    Following the liberation of Kuwait, the thirst to avenge the horrors of the Iraqi occupation spawned a new round of human rights victims this time at Kuwaiti hands. Despite calls to defend human rights in rallying support for the war against Iraq, the reinstated Kuwaiti government has trampled on those rights at nearly every turn, often with the use of violence.
  • September 1, 1991

    Human Rights in Mexico One Year After the Introduction of Reform

    In spite of a surge in human rights activity in Mexico during the past year, the human rights situation does not seem to have improved: the volume and severity of reported abuses remain unchanged.
  • September 1, 1991

    30 Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia

    For the past thirty years under both Emperor Haile Selassie and President Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopia has suffered continuous war and intermittent famine until every single province has been affected by war to some degree.
  • August 31, 1991

    The Need to Protect Human Rights

    On May 21, 1991, the Secretary General of the United Nations issued a public statement outlining in very broad terms the framework for a political settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.
  • August 14, 1991

    Extradition Sought For Alleged Death Squad Participant

    On August 16, 1991, a federal magistrate in San Antonio, Texas will rule on a request by the government of El Salvador to extradite César Vielman Joya Martínez, a former soldier in the intelligence unit of the First Infantry Brigade of the Salvadoran Army, for his alleged involvement in the murder of two young men in El Salvador in July 1989.
  • August 12, 1991

    Minister Says Detainees "Safer" in Custody

    Ghana's ruling Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), chaired by Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings, has claimed -- for the third time in as many years -- that Ghana has no political prisoners. In a radio interview on May 31, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Obed Asamoah, argued that some detainees -- whom he characterized as "subversives" -- are being kept in custody for their own good.
  • August 1, 1991

    Tadzhikistan

    An analysis of the Soviet army’s use of lethal force against initially peaceful protestors in the Soviet Central Asian republic of Tadzhikistan in mid-February 1990, this report is based on numerous interviews with local sources conducted in the republic in May and November 1991.
  • August 1, 1991

    Violence between separatist Sikh militants and government forces in Punjab has escalated to unprecedented levels, claiming thousands of civilian lives. Since 1984, the security forces have adopted increasingly brutal methods to stem the militant movement, resulting in widespread human rights violations.
  • July 1, 1991

    Chile During President Aylwin’s First Year

    When Patricio Aylwin became President of Chile, on March 11, 1990, he had promised to resolve the human rights legacy of over sixteen years of military dictatorship, through a process of exposing the truth about past abuses and seeking justice. President Aylwin's efforts have been hampered by the Constitution of 1980 that defines a form of government that falls short of full democracy.
  • July 1, 1991

    Censorship and Corruption

    Far from thanking their critics, governments go to great lengths to silence them.
  • July 1, 1991

    This comprehensive assessment of the current human rights situation in Kenya goes well beyond those aspects that are ordinarily the focus of international attention: the efforts of Nairobi-based journalists, lawyers, clergy and political figures to promote the rule of law and an open, accountable system of government. This book also details the arbitrary, punitive and cruel measures by the government of President Daniel arap Moi against rural and urban squatter communities; the miserable conditions of confinement in detention facilities and prisons for those charged with common crimes as well as for those held for political offenses; the violence with which Kenya annexed 14,000 square kilometers of disputed territory on the border between Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia in 1988; the brutality of the implementation of emergency powers in the North Eastern Province; and the discriminatory "screening" of ethnic Somalis and the ill- treatment of refugees from Kenya's war-torn neighbors.
  • June 19, 1991

    Aceh, the "special region" of Indonesia on the northern tip of Sumatra, continues to be the target of an intensive counterinsurgency campaign waged by the Indonesian army against guerrillas of the Aceh Merdeka or Free Aceh movement.
  • June 14, 1991

    Administration's `Alien Terrorist Removal' Plan Puts U. S. in Company of Repressive Regimes

    The Bush Administration has proposed legislation in Congress that would authorize secret proceedings for the deportation of foreign nationals accused of terrorism. If enacted, this proposal would depart from two centuries of history and law in the U.S.

  • June 1, 1991

    The Medicolegal System and Human Rights in Guatemala

    Since the overthrow of a reformist democratic government in 1954, Guatemala has been known for astounding military violence inflicted on a defenseless civilian population. A new civilian government elected in 1986 first raised and then dashed hopes for an end to the torture, murder and disappearances carried out with impunity by the security forces.