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Human Rights Watch News Releases

News releases from Human Rights Watch

• Mexico: Supreme Court Upholds Mexico City Abortion Law

  Landmark Decision Confirms Right to an Abortion up to 12th Week of Gestation In a historic decision today, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that Mexico City’s law decriminalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of gestation is constitutional. In a publicly broadcast proceeding, the court voted 8-to-3 in favor of upholding the Mexico City law, which came into force in 2007. A written decision is expected from the court within days.

• Georgia: Satellite Images Show Destruction, Ethnic Attacks

  Russia Should Investigate, Prosecute Crimes Recent satellite images released by the UN program UNOSAT confirm the widespread torching of ethnic Georgian villages inside South Ossetia, Human Rights Watch said today. Detailed analysis of the damage depicted in five ethnic Georgian villages shows the destruction of these villages around the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, was caused by intentional burning and not armed combat.

• Afghanistan: Free Aafia Siddiqui’s 11-Year-Old Son

  Child Is Too Young to Be Treated as Criminal Suspect The Afghan government should immediately relinquish 11-year-old Ahmed Siddiqui to the custody of his family, Human Rights Watch said today. Siddiqui, a US citizen, is believed to be the son of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman held on US federal charges in New York.

• EU: Protect Civilians in Gori District

  Security of Civilians Should Be Central to Summit Discussions on Russia The European Union should act to protect Georgian civilians from continued attacks by Ossetian militias and opportunistic violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the European Union to use its unprecedented summit on Russia on September 1 to make a plan for ensuring protection for civilians in Georgia.

• Iran: Executions of Juvenile Offenders Rising

  Iran Executes Sixth Juvenile Offender This Year, 26th Since 2005 Calling Iran’s execution on August 26, 2008 of juvenile offender Behnam Zare abhorrent, Human Rights Watch urged the Iranian judiciary to immediately commute the sentences of more than 130 other prisoners facing death for crimes committed while children.

• Lebanon: Migrant Domestic Workers Dying Every Week

  Most Deaths From Suicides or in Botched Escapes The high death toll of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, from unnatural causes, shows the urgent need to improve their working conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the official steering committee tasked with improving the situation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon to investigate the root causes of these deaths and develop a concrete national strategy to reduce them.

• China: Hosting Olympics a Catalyst for Human Rights Abuses

  IOC and World Leaders Fail to Challenge Great Leap Backward for Rights in China The hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics has set back the clock for the respect of human rights in the People’s Republic of China, Human Rights Watch said ahead of the Games’ closing ceremony in Beijing on Sunday, August 24. Over the past year Human Rights Watch has monitored and documented extensive human rights violations directly linked to the preparation and the hosting of the Games.

• Georgia: Civilians Killed by Russian Cluster Bomb ‘Duds’

  More Attacks Confirmed; Unexploded Ordnance Threatens Many Georgian and Russian authorities should take urgent measures to protect the civilian population in Georgian villages from unexploded ordnance left by Russian attacks, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch researchers documented additional Russian cluster munitions attacks during the conflict in Georgia, refuting Russia’s earlier denials that it used the weapon.

• Mongolia: Protect Rights of North Korean Migrant Workers

  The Mongolian government should protect the human and labor rights of North Koreans coming to Mongolia to work, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Mongolia’s minister of social welfare and labor.

• US: End Beating of Children in Public Schools

  Abusive, Discriminatory Punishment Undermines Education More than 200,000 US public school students were punished by beatings during the 2006-2007 school year, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a joint report released today. In the 13 states that corporally punished more than 1,000 students per year, African-American girls were twice as likely to be beaten as their white counterparts.