Pakistan: Lift Swat Curfew for Trapped Civilians

The Pakistani authorities should immediately lift a 24-hour curfew in place since May 18 in the Swat valley and adjoining areas of the Malakand Division of Pakistan’s Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), Human Rights Watch said today. Severe shortages of food, water, and medicine are creating a major humanitarian crisis for the hundreds of thousands of civilians still trapped in the region where Pakistani armed forces are fighting Taliban insurgents. More...

China: Tiananmen’s Unhealed Wounds

Twenty years after the Chinese army killed untold numbers of unarmed civilians in Beijing and other cities on and around June 3-4, 1989, the Chinese government continues to victimize survivors, victims' families, and others who challenge the official version of events, Human Rights Watch said today. More...

Human Rights Council: Sri Lanka Session Should Focus on Displaced

The United Nations Human Rights Council should use its special session on May 26, 2009, to seek commitments from the Sri Lankan government to address the country's disastrous humanitarian situation, Human Rights Watch said today. "By holding a special session, the Human Rights Council is acknowledging that respect for human rights is just as essential after a conflict ends," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Although the fighting has stopped, the humanitarian situation is still alarming and real improvements are needed now." More...

Israel/Gaza: Cooperate With Goldstone Investigation

Israel and the Hamas authorities in Gaza should cooperate fully with the United Nations fact-finding mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, to investigate allegations of serious violations of the laws of war in Gaza and southern Israel, Human Rights Watch said today. In letters to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 27 European Union foreign ministers, Human Rights Watch called on them to endorse the Goldstone investigation and to urge Israel and Hamas to cooperate. More...

US: Deportation Splits Families

Three quarters of non-citizens deported from the United States over the last decade after serving criminal sentences were convicted of nonviolent offenses, and one in five had been in the country legally, sometimes for decades, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. More...

Kenya: End Abuse and Neglect of Somali Refugees

Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya face abuse by corrupt and violent police and a rapidly growing humanitarian emergency in the world's largest refugee settlement, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Kenya should immediately rein in abusive police and grant new land for additional camps, while the United Nations and international donors should urgently respond to Somali refugees' basic needs. More...

US/Yemen: Break Impasse on Yemeni Returns from Guantanamo

The United States and Yemen should quickly move to develop a humane repatriation plan for the nearly 100 Yemeni prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Unless the impasse in repatriation negotiations is swiftly resolved, the Yemenis will remain the biggest obstacle to President Barack Obama's plan to close the detention facility. More...

Israel: White Phosphorus Use Evidence of War Crimes

Israel's repeated firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza during its recent military campaign was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. More...

Sri Lanka: No Let-Up in Army Shelling of Civilians

The Sri Lankan army, despite government denials, is indiscriminately shelling the "no-fire zone" in northern Sri Lanka where thousands of civilians are trapped by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said today, citing new information from the region. More than 2,700 civilians have reportedly been killed over the last two months, and the number of casualties rises daily. More...

Middle East and North Africa: US Cuts Cluster Bomb Supply

A new US law permanently banning nearly all cluster bomb exports by the United States will end a long period of transfers of the weapon to Israel and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Human Rights Watch said today. The measure should spur the countries in the region as well as the US to join the international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions, Human Rights Watch said. More...