Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in Sudan’s Capital
The 88-page report, ““Khartoum is Not Safe for Women”: Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in Sudan’s Capital,” documents widespread sexual violence, as well as forced and child marriage during the conflict, in Khartoum and its sister cities. Service providers treating and supporting victims also heard reports from women and girls of being held by the RSF in conditions that could amount to sexual slavery. The research also highlights the devastating health and mental health consequences for survivors and the destructive impact of warring parties’ attacks on health care and the Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) willful blocking of aid.
This briefing paper warns that Liberia’s transition from a near-failed state to a democratic country governed by rule of law cannot be considered complete until there is considerably more progress in several key areas. First, Liberia’s judicial system, which remains plagued by striking deficiencies, must be rebuilt with the help of the international community.
The most brutal U.S.-backed dictator you’ve never heard of—Hissène Habré of Chad—has just been indicted in Belgium on charges of mass murder and torture. His indictment was a decisive breakthrough in a judicial chess game pitting the former central African dictator against a Chadian torture victim and a New York “dictator hunter” at Human Rights Watch.
Abuse of Internal Security Act Detainees in Malaysia
This 34-page report is based on interviews with family members of current ISA detainees, their lawyers and handwritten statements of ISA detainees. It documents the physical abuse, ill-treatment and humiliation of more than 25 detainees in Kamunting Detention Center in December 2004. None of these detainees have been charged or tried.
Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division
This report provides soldiers' accounts of abuses against detainees committed by troops of the 82nd Airborne stationed at Forward Operating Base Mercury (FOB Mercury), near Fallujah.
Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda
This 76-page report documents how the ongoing lack of accountability and civilian protection in the north has fueled atrocities by both sides. In each of the displaced persons camps visited, Human Rights Watch found cases of abuse by Ugandan government forces as well as rebel combatants.
In September 2003 and September 2004, Human Rights Watch argued for partial or total suspension of tariff benefits when we submitted Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) petitions to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). In those petitions, we detailed Ecuador’s failure to meet the ATPA and ATPDEA workers’ rights criteria.
Uzbekistan Rewrites the Story of the Andijan Massacre
This report provides numerous first-hand testimonies of a brutal police campaign forcing people to “confess” that they belong to extremist religious organizations, that the protests in Andijan were violent, and that the protesters were armed.
This report documents an underlying climate of fear among many voters and candidates, especially in remote, rural areas—an atmosphere that has negatively impacted the political environment in the lead-up to the elections.
This 60-page report is based on interviews with hundreds of children in all regions of the world. Human Rights Watch investigations in more than 20 countries found that school fees and related education costs, the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, discrimination, violence and other obstacles keep an estimated 100 million children out of school, the majority of whom are girls.
The scale of destruction is unprecedented in Zimbabwe. Indeed, there are few, if any precedents of a government so forcibly and brutally displacing so many of its own citizens in peacetime. The victims are mainly the poor and vulnerable in Zimbabwe's cities and towns, many of the households already devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
On September 7, Egypt will hold its first-ever multi-party presidential election, as distinct from the single-candidate plebiscites that have so far characterized the “re-elections” of President Husni Mubarak.
Algerian President’s Peace Plan Faces National Vote September 29
On August 15, the government of Algeria published the text of a long-promised “Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation” in the Journal Officiel. This came a day after a major speech by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announcing that Algerians will be asked to approve the Charter in a referendum on September 29.
Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture of Children in Papua New Guinea
This report documents boys and girls being shot, knifed, kicked and beaten by gun butts, iron bars, wooden batons, fists, rubber hoses and chairs. Some are forced to chew and swallow condoms. Eyewitnesses describe gang rapes in police stations, vehicles, barracks and other locations. Children are also routinely detained with adults in sordid police lockups and denied medical care.
