Reports

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.

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  • February 20, 2012

    Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia

    This 104-page report details unlawful recruitment and other laws-of-war violations against children by all parties to the conflict in Somalia since 2010. The report is based on over 164 interviews with Somali children, including 21 who had escaped from al-Shabaab forces, as well as parents and teachers who had fled to Kenya.

  • February 15, 2012

    Denial of Women’s and Girls’ Rights to Sport in Saudi Arabia

    <p>This report documents discrimination by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education in denying girls physical education in state schools, as well as discriminatory practices by the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, a youth and sports ministry, in licensing women’s gyms and supporting only all-male sports clubs.</p>

  • February 6, 2012

    Yemen’s Crackdown on Protests in Taizz

    When Yemenis took to the streets in January 2011 to demand an end to Saleh’s 33-year rule, Taizz, 250 kilometers south of the capital, Sanaa, became a center of both peaceful and armed resistance – and the scene of numerous human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war.

  • February 5, 2012

    Israel’s Control of Palestinian Residency in the West Bank and Gaza

    This report describes the arbitrary exclusion by the Israeli military of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since 1967 and documents the impact that exclusion continues to have on individuals and families.

  • January 27, 2012

    The Aging Prison Population in the United States

    <p>This report includes new data Human Rights Watch developed from a variety of federal and state sources that document dramatic increases in the number of older US prisoners.</p>

  • January 26, 2012

    Abusive Identity Checks in France

    This 55-page report says that minority youth, including children as young as 13, are subjected to frequent stops involving lengthy questioning, invasive body pat-downs, and the search of personal belongings. These arbitrary stops can take place even in the absence of any indication of wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch found.

  • January 22, 2012

    Events of 2011

    This 22nd annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide in 2011.
  • January 16, 2012

    Forced Displacement and “Villagization” in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region

    This report in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region examines the first year of Gambella’s villagization program. It details the involuntary nature of the transfers, the loss of livelihoods, the deteriorating food situation, and ongoing abuses by the armed forces against the affected people.

  • January 16, 2012

    A Human Rights Agenda for Egypt’s New Parliament

    This 45-page report sets out nine areas of Egyptian law that the newly elected parliament must urgently reform if the law is to become an instrument that protects Egyptians’ rights rather than represses them.

  • January 15, 2012

    Uganda’s International Crimes Division

    This 29-page briefing paper provides a snapshot of progress from Uganda’s complementarity-related initiative: the International Crimes Division (ICD). The ICD is a division of the High Court with a mandate to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, in addition to crimes such as terrorism.

  • January 15, 2012

    Discrimination and Police Violence Against Transgender Women in Kuwait

    This 63-page report documents the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and persecution that transgender women – individuals who are born male, but identify as female – have faced at the hands of police.
  • January 4, 2012

    Georgia’s Flawed System for Administrative Detention

    This 41-page report documents how Georgia’s Code of Administrative Offenses, which governs misdemeanors, lacks full due process and fair trial rights for those accused of offenses under the code.
  • January 3, 2012

    Prison Conditions for Youth Offenders Serving Life without Parole Sentences in the United States

    This 47-page report draws on six years of research, and interviews and correspondence with correctional officials and hundreds of youth offenders serving life without parole. Human Rights Watch found that nearly every youth offender serving life without parole reported physical violence or sexual abuse by other inmates or corrections officers.
  • December 16, 2011

    The Reform Agenda

    This report identifies freedom of speech and independent courts as two of ten priorities for legal reform.
  • December 15, 2011

    Individual and Command Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity in Syria

    This report is based on more than 60 interviews with defectors from the Syrian military and intelligence agencies. The defectors provided detailed information about their units’ participation in attacks, abuses against Syrian citizens, and the orders they received from commanders and officials at various levels, who are named in the report.