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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  • August 16, 2010

    Interethnic Violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan and its Aftermath

    This 91-page report states that some government forces acted, knowingly or unwittingly, to facilitate attacks on ethnic Uzbek neighborhoods in the violence in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010. Local law enforcement agencies also failed to provide appropriate protection to the Uzbek community.
  • August 10, 2010

    Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina

    This 52-page report documents the many obstacles women and girls face in getting the reproductive health care services to which they are entitled, such as contraception, voluntary sterilization procedures, and abortion after rape.

  • July 27, 2010

    India's 2008 Counterterrorism Laws

    This 20-page report is an analysis of the amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), enacted after the November 26, 2008 attacks on Mumbai that killed 166 people and injured over 300.
  • July 25, 2010

    Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the US Immigration System

    This 98-page report says that immigrants with mental disabilities are often unjustifiably detained for years on end, sometimes with no legal limits. The report documents case after case in which people with mental disabilities were prevented from making claims against deportation – including claims of US citizenship – because they were unable to represent themselves.
  • July 21, 2010

    Abuses by Chinese Security Forces in Tibet, 2008-2010

    This 73-page report is based on more than 200 interviews with Tibetan refugees and visitors conducted immediately after they left China, as well as fresh, not previously reported, official Chinese sources.
  • July 19, 2010

    Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia

    This 76-page report is based on more than 90 interviews and group discussions with female and transgender sex workers in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Siem Reap. It describes how sex workers face a wide range of abuses, including beatings, extortion, and rape at the hands of authorities, particularly in Phnom Penh.
  • July 16, 2010

    Human Rights in Syria during Bashar al-Asad’s First Ten Years in Power

    This 35-page report reviews al-Asad's human rights record in five key areas: repression of political and human rights activism; restrictions on freedom of expression; torture; treatment of the Kurds; and Syria's legacy of enforced disappearances. The verdict is bleak.
  • July 15, 2010

    Barriers to Fistula Prevention and Treatment in Kenya

    This 82-page report describes the devastating condition facing women with fistula in Kenya and the wide gap between government's policies to address reproductive health and the reality of women's daily lives.

  • July 14, 2010

    Exploitation of Migrant Tobacco Workers in Kazakhstan

    This 115-page report documents how some employers confiscated migrant workers' passports, failed to provide them with written contracts, did not pay regular wages, cheated them of earnings, and required them to work excessively long hours.
  • July 13, 2010

    Afghan Women and the Risks of Reintegration and Reconciliation

    This 65-page report addresses the potential challenges to women's rights posed by future government agreements with insurgent forces. The report describes how in areas under Taliban control, women are often subjected to threats, intimidation and violence, girls' education is targeted, and women political leaders and activists are attacked and killed with impunity.
  • July 8, 2010

    A Human Rights Framework for Immigration Reform in the United States

    This 24-page report proposes a framework for improving US immigration law that would give immigrant crime victims a chance to seek justice, protect workers, respect the private and family life of longtime residents, and provide fair treatment for immigrants who come before the courts.
  • July 7, 2010

    Illinois’s Failure to Test Rape Kits

    This 42-page report collected comprehensive testing data from 127 of 264 jurisdictions in Illinois and found that only 1,474 of 7,494 sets of physical evidence, known as "rape kits," booked into evidence since 1995 could be confirmed as tested. That suggests 80 percent of rape kits may never have been examined in the state.
  • July 4, 2010

    Stop and Search under the Terrorism Act 2000

    This 64-page report examines the use of the stop-and-search power under section 44 of the act. The power is intended to prevent terrorism. But despite almost 450,000 section 44 stops and searches throughout the United Kingdom between April 2007 and April 2009, no one was successfully prosecuted for a terrorism offense as a result.
  • June 30, 2010

    Rights Violations in the April 2010 Sudan Elections

    This 32-page report documents numerous rights violations across Sudan by both northern and southern authorities in the period leading up to, during, and following the April elections.
  • June 29, 2010

    Intelligence Cooperation with Countries that Torture

    The 62-page report analyzes the ongoing cooperation by the governments of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom with foreign intelligence services in countries that routinely use torture. The three governments use the resulting foreign torture information for intelligence and policing purposes. Torture is prohibited under international law, with no exceptions allowed.