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.
The Impact of Mining on Human Rights in Karamoja, Uganda
This 140-page report examines the conduct of three companies in different stages of the mining process: East African Mining, Jan Mangal, and DAO Uganda. Human Rights Watch found that companies have explored for minerals and actively mined on lands owned and occupied by Karamoja’s indigenous people.
Syria’s Unlawful Neighborhood Demolitions in 2012-2013
The 38-page report documents seven cases of large-scale demolitions with explosives and bulldozers that violated the laws of war. The demolitions either served no necessary military purpose and appeared to intentionally punish the civilian population or caused disproportionate harm to civilians, Human Rights Watch found.
Police Violence Against Gay and Bisexual Men in Kyrgyzstan
This 65-page report found that gay and bisexual men have been subjected to a range of abuses at the hands of police in Kyrgyzstan, including physical, sexual, and psychological violence; arbitrary detention; and extortion under the threat of violence or of exposing victims’ sexual orientation to friends and family.
In this 69-page report, Human Rights Watch calls on Libya to press forward with legislative reforms, making abolishing the death penalty for more than 30 crimes the top priority. The government should place an immediate moratorium on death sentences until the laws are revised, particularly in light of concerns about the fairness of the judicial process.
World Report 2014 is Human Rights Watch’s 24th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from the end of 2012 through November 2013.
Thousands of journalists will attend the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia to report on the Games’ athletic events and ceremonies to millions of sports fans across the globe. This guide provides an overview of the context and risks for journalists in covering the Olympics and the Paralympics in Sochi.
Thousands of journalists will attend the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia to report on the Games’ athletic events and ceremonies to millions of sports fans across the globe. The Russian government clearly hopes to elevate the country’s image as the host of a prestigious international event. But human rights abuses and controversies have plagued the preparations almost since the Olympics were awarded to Russia in 2007.
Escalating Atrocities in the Central African Republic
This 43-page report, based on weeks of field research in Ouham province, documents the surge in violence by Christian anti-balaka (“anti-machete”) militias since September 2013. The anti-balaka have killed several hundred Muslims, burned their homes, and stolen their cattle.
This 48-page report presents the stories of 11 prominent Saudi social and political rights activists and their struggles to resist government efforts to suppress them.
Accountability for Inter-Communal Violence in Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria
<p>This 146-page report which includes a <a href="http://mm.hrw.org/content/nigeria-turning-blind-eye-mass-killings-0">ph… essay</a>, is based on interviews with more than 180 witnesses and victims of violence in Plateau and Kaduna states, as well as police investigators, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, and community leaders.</p>
State Response to Sex Workers, Drug Users and HIV in New Orleans
This 57-page report documents government violations of the right to health and other abuses of at-risk populations in New Orleans. It calls for changes in state and local laws and policies that stigmatize, discriminate against, and facilitate police abuse of sex workers and drug users, and interfere with health services for people at high risk for HIV.
Mistreatment of Drug Users and "Undesirables" in Cambodia’s Drug Detention Centers
The 55-page report documents the experiences of people recently confined in the centers, who described being thrashed with rubber water hoses and hit with sticks or branches. Some described being punished with exercises intended to cause intense physical pain and humiliation, such as crawling along stony ground or standing in septic water pits.
How US Federal Prosecutors Force Drug Defendants to Plead Guilty
The 126-page report details how prosecutors throughout the United States extract guilty pleas from federal drug defendants by charging or threatening to charge them with offenses carrying harsh mandatory sentences and by seeking additional mandatory increases to those sentences. Prosecutors offer defendants a much lower sentence in exchange for pleading guilty.
The 65-page report is the first public assessment of conditions in Tunisia’s pretrial detention centers, which hold people from the time of arrest to the appearance before a judge. Human Rights Watch documented incidents in which law enforcement agents mistreated detainees during arrest and interrogation
