Human Rights Watch

Myanmar frees dissidents before leader's U.S. visit

2013-05-17 18:05:00

NEW DELHI — Myanmar President Thein Sein released some 20 political prisoners Friday, days before a historic summit with President Obama in Washington early next week, according to officials and prisoner rights groups. The ex-general's...

Nigeria launches airstrikes against Islamist militants

2013-05-17 10:24:00

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Security forces in Nigeria have launched airstrikes against encampments of the Islamist militia Boko Haram as part of a major military operation in the country's northeast, military officials said Friday. The airstrikes hit...

Letters: Solitary is too cruel for kids

2013-05-16 00:00:00

Re "Too young for solitary," Editorial, May 12 Your editorial had such a promising beginning. Unfortunately, rather than saying the cruel solitary confinement of juveniles should be banned, the editorial recommend that it "should at the very least be...

U.S. diplomat accused of recruiting for CIA in Russia

2013-05-14 16:25:00

MOSCOW — Russian authorities detained an American diplomat accused of attempting to recruit a Russian intelligence officer into the CIA, the Federal Security Service said Tuesday. Ryan Christopher Fogle, the third secretary of the American Embassy...

Boat capsizes off Myanmar; dozens missing and feared dead

2013-05-14 10:00:00

NEW DELHI – A boat carrying approximately 100 Rohingya Muslims capsized late Monday off the coast of Myanmar with many of its occupants feared dead, UN officials said, as the region braced for a cyclone expected to slam low-lying areas inhabited...

Human Rights Watch alleges rebel atrocities in Syria

2013-05-14 12:22:00

BEIRUT -- Gruesome video footage purportedly showing a Syrian rebel commander mutilating the corpse of a dead soldier while shouting sectarian insults has drawn condemnation from Human Rights Watch and focused renewed attention on battlefield atrocities...

International court to explore investigating Israeli flotilla raid

2013-05-15 08:19:00

JERUSALEM -- The International Criminal Court will hold a preliminary inquiry to decide whether a full investigation into Israel's deadly 2010 raid on a Turkish ship will be opened, according to a court statement Tuesday.� In May 2010, Israeli naval...

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide

2013-05-10 20:03:00

MEXICO CITY — Efrain Rios Montt, the former Guatemalan military dictator who ruled his country during one of the bloodiest phases of its civil war, was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity Friday for the systematic massacre of more...

Pakistan secular candidates campaign at their own risk

2013-05-03 18:00:00

SHABQADAR, Pakistan — When Masoom Shah hits the campaign trail these days, he brings a 9-millimeter Glock pistol and a team of up to 50 bodyguards. Instead of appearing before large crowds, he meets small clusters of voters at guesthouses where...

Security south of the border

2013-05-03 00:00:00

President Obama met in Mexico on Thursday with President Enrique Pe�a Nieto. Publicly, the two leaders focused on trade. That makes sense given the strong economic ties between the two nations and Pe�a Nieto's efforts to introduce more competition to...

Activists urge Obama to speak out on Mexico's human rights record

2013-04-30 16:29:00

MEXICO CITY -- Activists are attempting to spotlight human rights issues during President Obama's visit this week to Mexico, urging him to publicly condemn what they describe as Mexico’s abysmal record of torture, killings and forced...

Myanmar panel proposes measures to ease ethnic tensions

2013-04-29 13:00:00

NEW DELHI, India -- Ever since Myanmar opened to the West, released political prisoners and allowed the opposition led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to run for office, it has been dogged by tensions among its many ethnic and religious minorities....

Cynthia Brown, who played a key role for Human Rights Watch for almost two decades, has died after a battle with cancer, the global advocacy group said. She was 60 years old.

2013-05-16 20:38:31

Two boys stand near their destroyed home April 5 in Meiktila, Myanmar. Recent sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims has left dozens dead, and Human Rights Watch said Monday that the attacks on Rohingya Muslims amount to crimes against humanity.

2013-04-22 13:19:00

A report by Human Rights Watch concludes that Mexico's bloody drug war has "resulted in one of the most severe crises of enforced disappearances in Latin America in decades."

2013-03-04 18:14:00