Reports

The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles

The 337-page report, “‘You Have to Move!’ The Cruel and Ineffective Criminalization of Unhoused People in Los Angeles,” documents the experiences of people living on the streets and in vehicles, temporary shelters, and parks in Los Angeles, as they struggle to survive while facing criminalization and governmental failures to prioritize eviction prevention or access to permanent housing. Law enforcement and sanitation “sweeps” force unhoused people out of public view, often wasting resources on temporary shelter and punishments that do not address the underlying needs. Tens of thousands of people are living in the streets of Los Angeles; death rates among the unhoused have skyrocketed.

Police remove an unhoused woman from her tent

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  • April 1, 2014

    Police Abuses and Accountability in Malaysia

    The 102-page report examines cases of alleged police abuse in Malaysia since 2009, drawing on first-hand interviews and complaints by victims and their families. Human Rights Watch found that investigations into police abuse are conducted primarily by the police themselves, lack transparency, and officers implicated in abuses are almost never prosecuted.
  • April 1, 2014

    Mistreatment of Tibetans in Nepal

    The 100-page report shows that Tibetan refugee communities in Nepal are now facing a de facto ban on political protests, sharp restrictions on public activities promoting Tibetan culture and religion, and routine abuses by Nepali security forces.
  • March 30, 2014

    Abuses against Migrant Domestic Workers in the UK

    The 58-page report documents the confiscation of passports, confinement to the home, physical and psychological abuse, extremely long working hours with no rest days, and very low wages or non-payment of wages.

  • March 25, 2014

    Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia

    The 137 page report details the technologies the Ethiopian government has acquired from several countries and uses to facilitate surveillance of perceived political opponents inside the country and among the diaspora. The government’s surveillance practices violate the rights to freedom of expression, association, and access to information.

  • March 20, 2014

    Disappearances, Dismemberment, and Displacement in Colombia’s Main Pacific Port

    This 30-page report documents how many of the city’s neighborhoods are dominated by powerful criminal groups that commit widespread abuses, including abducting and dismembering people, sometimes while still alive, then dumping them in the sea.
  • March 19, 2014

    Uneven Progress in Ending Forced Child Begging in Senegal

    The 43-page report examines Senegal’s mixed record in addressing the problem in the year since a fire ripped through a Quranic boarding school in Dakar housed in a makeshift shack, killing eight boys.
  • March 6, 2014

    Child Marriage in Malawi

    This 69-page report documents how child marriage prevents girls and women from participating in all spheres of life. The practice violates the rights to health, to education, to be free from physical, mental, and sexual violence, and to marry only when able and willing to give free and full consent.

  • February 19, 2014

    US Drone Attack on Marriage Procession in Yemen

    This 28-page report calls on the US government to investigate the strike, publish its findings, and act in the event of wrongdoing. The December 12 attack killed 12 men and wounded at least 15 other people, including the bride.

  • February 19, 2014

    Human Rights Abuses in Sierra Leone’s Mining Boom

    This 96-page report documents how the government and London-based African Minerals Limited forcibly relocated hundreds of families from verdant slopes to a flat, arid area in Tonkolili District. As a result, residents lost their ability to cultivate crops and engage in income generating activities that once sustained them.

  • February 13, 2014

    A Five-Point Plan to Curtail Sexual Violence in Somalia

    This 72-page report provides a roadmap for the government and its international donors to establish a comprehensive strategy to reduce rape, provide survivors with immediate and urgent assistance, and develop a long-term approach to end these abuses.

  • February 12, 2014

    Impunity for Killings and Other Abuses in Bajo Aguán, Honduras

    This 72-page repor examines 29 homicides and two abductions in Bajo Aguán since 2009, as well as human rights violations by soldiers and police. Human Rights Watch found that prosecutors and police consistently failed to carry out prompt and thorough investigations into these crimes, a failure that Honduran public prosecutors, police, and military officials acknowledged in interviews.

  • February 11, 2014

    Trafficking and Torture of Eritreans in Sudan and Egypt

    This 79-page report documents how, since 2010, Egyptian traffickers have tortured Eritreans for ransom in the Sinai Peninsula, including through rape, burning, and mutilation.

  • February 10, 2014

    Ill-Treatment of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Morocco

    This 79-page report found that beatings and other abuses occurred as Moroccan security forces took custody of Sub-Saharan migrants who had tried unsuccessfully to reach the Spanish enclave of Melilla, or—prior to September 2013—as they were rounding up migrants without any semblance of due process to expel them to Algeria.

  • February 6, 2014

    The Abuse of Women in Iraq’s Criminal Justice System

    This 105-page report documents abuses of women in detention based on interviews with women and girls, Sunni and Shia, in prison; their families and lawyers; and medical service providers in the prisons at a time of escalating violence involving security forces and armed groups.
  • February 5, 2014

    America’s “Offender-Funded” Probation Industry

    This 72-page report describes how more than 1,000 courts in several US states delegate tremendous coercive power to companies that are often subject to little meaningful oversight or regulation. In many cases, the only reason people are put on probation is because they need time to pay off fines and court costs linked to minor crimes.

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