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.

People stand in line to vote

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  • June 10, 2015

    Child Labor and Corporate Responsibility in Ghana’s Artisanal Gold Mines

    This 82-page report documents the use of child labor in Ghana’s artisanal, or unlicensed, mines, where most mining takes place. It is estimated that thousands of children work in hazardous conditions in violation of Ghanaian and international law. They pull the gold ore out of shafts, carry and crush loads of ore, and process it with toxic mercury.

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    ) A 13-year-old boy works in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Obuasi. He dropped out of school at the age of 12 and would like to continue his education.
  • June 9, 2015

    Child Marriage in Bangladesh

    This 134-page report is based on more than a hundred interviews conducted across the country, most of them with married girls, some as young as age 10. It documents the factors driving child marriage in Bangladesh – including poverty, natural disasters, lack of access to education, social pressure, harassment, and dowry.

    Belkis, 15 years old, holds her one-year-old son in the house where she lives with her mother, two sisters, and one brother. Belkis was married when she was 13 years old to a man who threatened to commit suicide if the family didn’t agree to the marriage.
  • May 18, 2015

    Retaliation against Sexual Assault Survivors in the US Military

    This 113-page report finds that both male and female military personnel who report sexual assault are 12 times as likely to experience some form of retaliation as to see their attacker convicted of a sex offense.

    A US Army specialist and military sexual assault survivor on her bed in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
  • May 13, 2015

    Police Torture of Criminal Suspects in China

    This 145-page report is based on Human Rights Watch analysis of hundreds of newly published court verdicts from across the country and interviews with 48 recent detainees, family members, lawyers, and former officials. Human Rights Watch found that police torture and ill-treatment of suspects in pretrial detention in China remains a serious problem.

    A “tiger chair” specially designed to restrain detainees. Former detainees say that police often strap them into these metal chairs for hours and even days, depriving detainees of sleep, and immobilizing them until their legs and buttocks were swollen.
  • May 12, 2015

    Use of Force against Inmates with Mental Disabilities in US Jails and Prisons

    This 127-page report details incidents in which correctional staff have deluged prisoners with painful chemical sprays, shocked them with powerful electric stun weapons, and strapped them for days in restraining chairs or beds. Staff have broken prisoners’ jaws, noses, ribs; left them with lacerations requiring stitches, second-degree burns, deep bruises, and damaged internal organs.

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    Image of Paul Schlosser III, who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression, being pepper sprayed on June 10, 2012 by a correctional officer at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, Maine.
  • May 10, 2015

    Saudi Abuses against Migrants during Mass Expulsions

    This 36-page report draws on interviews with 60 workers deported to Yemen and Somalia who experienced serious abuses during the expulsion campaign. They described beatings and detention in poor conditions before they were deported.

    Yemeni workers being deported through Saudi Arabia’s al-Tuwal border gate with Yemen, November 17, 2013.
  • April 22, 2015

    Workers’ Rights in Bangladesh’s Garment Factories

    This 78-page report is based on interviews with more than 160 workers from 44 factories, most of them making garments for retail companies in North America, Europe, and Australia.

    Victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse and their families demonstrating at the site of the disaster demanding full compensation.
  • April 13, 2015

    Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank

    This 74-page report documents that children as young as 11 work on some settlement farms, often in high temperatures. The children carry heavy loads, are exposed to hazardous pesticides, and in some cases have to pay themselves for medical treatment for work-related injuries or illness.

    Palestinian laborers, including a 16-year-old, head out to work at a farm on an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
  • April 9, 2015

    The Lack of Accountability for Killer Robots

    This 38-page report details significant hurdles to assigning personal accountability for the actions of fully autonomous weapons under both criminal and civil law. It also elaborates on the consequences of failing to assign legal responsibility. The report is jointly published by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.

  • March 22, 2015

    Indiscriminate Attacks by Opposition Groups in Syria

    This 79-page report documents scores of attacks in heavily populated, government-controlled areas in Damascus and Homs between January 2012 and April 2014, and which continue into 2015. The findings are based primarily on victim and witness accounts, on-site investigations, publicly available videos, and information on social media sites.

  • March 3, 2015

    Afghanistan’s Strongmen and the Legacy of Impunity

    This 96-page report profiles eight “strongmen” linked to police, intelligence, and militia forces responsible for serious abuses in recent years. The report documents emblematic incidents that reflect longstanding patterns of violence for which victims obtained no official redress.

  • February 11, 2015

    Sudanese Army Attacks against Civilians in Tabit

    The 48-page report documents Sudanese army attacks in which at least 221 women and girls were raped in Tabit over 36 hours beginning on October 30, 2014. The mass rapes would amount to crimes against humanity if found to be part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population.