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.
Freedom of Religion, Assembly and Expression in Kazakhstan
The 55-page report is being released before the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting on December 4 and 5 in Helsinki. The report documents Kazakhstan's extensive restrictions on freedom of religion, expression, and assembly, which are inconsistent with its international obligations on human rights.
The Restriction of Political Space in the Democratic Republic of Congo
This 96-page report documents the Kabila government's use of violence and intimidation to eliminate political opponents. Human Rights Watch found that Kabila himself set the tone and direction by giving orders to "crush" or "neutralize" the "enemies of democracy," implying it was acceptable to use unlawful force against them.
The Challenge of Humanitarian Access in Yemen’s Forgotten War
This 50-page report documents how the Yemeni authorities have severely restricted humanitarian access to its northernmost governorate, Sa’da, ravaged by four years of armed conflict. As of October 2008, up to 70,000 people in remote areas and towns remained outside the reach of aid agencies.
The Experience of Lesotho’s Universal HIV Counseling and Testing Campaign
This 60-page report found that the Know Your Status (KYS) campaign, begun in 2005 with the goal of testing 1.3 million people, was underfunded and had tested only 25,000 people by August 2007, four months before the campaign ended. Ambitious goals to train and pay thousands of lay counselors and expand support groups for people living with HIV were largely sidelined.
Over the past seven years, the US government’s consistent disregard for human rights in fighting terrorism has diminished America’s moral authority, set a negative example for other governments, and undermined the goal of reducing anti-American militancy around the world.
Risks to Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers in Egypt and Israel
In this 90-page report, Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to halt the use of lethal force against border crossers and all deportations of persons to countries where they risk persecution or ill-treatment. Israel should halt forced returns of migrants to Egypt, where they face military court trials and possible unlawful deportation to their countries of origin.
This 47-page report documents how ZANU-PF has compromised the independence and impartiality of judges, magistrates and prosecutors and transformed the police into an openly partisan and unaccountable arm of ZANU-PF. The report also documents how police routinely and arbitrarily arrest and detain MDC activists, using harassment and detention without charge as a form of persecution.
This year's annual meeting of states parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) comes just a few months after two important anniversaries: ten years since the adoption of the ICC statute and five years since the start of the court's operations. This memorandum identifies a series of challenges the court now faces as it carries out its mandate to bring justice for the world's worst crimes.
This 47-page report documents 62 cases of unlawful and arbitrary arrest in connection with the conflict in northern Yemen that since 2004 has periodically erupted into heavy clashes. Yemeni human rights groups have credibly documented hundreds of cases of unlawful arrests, and in August 2008 the government spoke of more than 1,200 political prisoners.
The UK’s Dangerous Reliance on Diplomatic Assurances
This 36-page report focuses on two important appeals in the House of Lords this month that will test the reliability of no-torture promises from the governments of Algeria and Jordan. In the pending appeals, Britain’s highest court will grapple for the first time with the government’s “deportation with assurances” policy, an important component of its counterterrorism strategy.
A Way Forward for Workers’ Rights in US Free Trade Accords
This 36-page report provides a roadmap for a new US administration to strengthen the requirements for workers’ rights in these agreements and to improve their enforcement. The Human Rights Watch report outlines in detail elements needed to effectively guarantee labor rights.
Spain’s Push to Repatriate Unaccompanied Children in the Absence of Safeguards
This 22-page report says that in Andalusia, the southern region that is a common entry point for migrants, authorities have said they intend to send up to 1,000 unaccompanied children in their custody to Morocco, claiming that safeguards are in place. But officials could not explain how they determined it was in a child’s best interest to return, as required by law.
