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...

New York: Stop Sending Prison Drug Users to ‘the Box’

New York State's practice of sentencing inmates to months, even years, in disciplinary segregation for drug use and possession and denying them effective drug dependence treatment constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. More...

In Misery, in Danger, Hidden and Unheard

Human Rights Watch researchers visited nine detention centers in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, and interviewed 48 women detained or recently released from immigration detention, as well as detention facility staff and health care providers, immigration officials, immigration attorneys and advocates. The FIAC report is based on interviews, phone conversations and correspondence with detainees and jail and immigration officials. It also includes information from US government materials, newspaper articles and other data. More...

International Film Festival - London 18 -27 March 2009

From March 18-27 the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival returns for its 13th year in London with nine days of screenings and discussions focusing on some of the most pressing stories of our times. More...