• Maash Hussein Abikar shows scars left by Kenyan soldiers when he was beaten with a gun butt during a round-up of ethnic Somalis in Wajir in December 2011. He also lost two teeth and now has blurry vision in one eye as a result of the beating.
    © 2012 Human Rights Watch
    Kenya: Investigate Security Force Abuses Against Ethnic Somalis
    The Kenyan security forces have committed widespread human rights abuses against ethnic Somalis with total impunity. Between November 2011 and March 2012, Kenyan police and soldiers arbitrarily arrested and mistreated Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees in North Eastern province in response to attacks by militants suspected of links to Somalia’s Islamist armed movement al-Shabaab.
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Africa

  • In Talks, Former Gbagbo Party Omits Côte d’Ivoire’s Victims
    May 8, 2012
    Les pourparlers de réconciliation tant attendus entre la coalition des partis au pouvoir dirigée par le président Alassane Ouattara et les partis d’opposition se sont, dans l’ensemble, achevés comme ils avaient commencé : le Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI) a indiqué qu’il ne participera au dialogue politique qu’à condition que Laurent Gbagbo et d’autres anciens dirigeants du parti en détention soient libérés. Ces conditions préalables révèlent le mépris de l’élite politique du FPI pour les milliers de victimes d’actes souvent atroces de violence politique.
  • Equatorial Guinea: Opposition Figure Wrongly Convicted
    May 7, 2012

    The conviction of a prominent member of Equatorial Guinea’s beleaguered political opposition is a travesty of justice. A trial court in the city of Bata found Wenceslao Mansogo Alo, a medical doctor, guilty of professional negligence and sentenced him to three years in prison in a politically motivated trial.

  • Nigeria: Show Commitment on Child Lead Poisoning
    May 6, 2012
    High-level Nigerian government participation is needed at an upcoming international conference to make progress in ending a lead poisoning epidemic among children in Zamfara State, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Burundi: Effort to Block a Report About Political Killings
    May 4, 2012
    The Burundian Interior Minister ordered Human Rights Watch to cancel a news conference in the capital, Bujumbura, on May 2, 2012, that was planned to release a report on political violence in Burundi. The police also ordered Human Rights Watch to stop distribution of the report in Burundi.
  • The invisibility of domestic workers
    May 4, 2012

    Liesl Gerntholtz, the Director of the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, says one of the major problems they have found in their latest research (mainly in Asia and the Middle East) is that labor law does not recognize domestic workers as workers so they are therefore not well protected. 

  • Maternal mortality under scrutiny
    May 4, 2012
    Since the 1990s South Africa has not reduced the number of women who die needlessly each year from preventable and treatable causes linked to pregnancy and childbirth.
  • Kenya: Investigate Security Force Abuses Against Ethnic Somalis
    May 4, 2012
    The Kenyan security forces have committed widespread human rights abuses against ethnic Somalis with total impunity. Between November 2011 and March 2012, Kenyan police and soldiers arbitrarily arrested and mistreated Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees in North Eastern province in response to attacks by militants suspected of links to Somalia’s Islamist armed movement al-Shabaab.
  • South Africa: Chance to Cut Maternal Deaths
    May 4, 2012
    South Africa’s new campaign to reduce maternal mortality is an important step to address a serious problem, but accountability will be the key to making it work. The campaign is aimed at reducing the number of women who die needlessly from preventable and treatable causes linked to pregnancy and childbirth.
  • Sudan: Crisis Conditions in Southern Kordofan
    May 4, 2012
    The Sudanese government forces are conducting indiscriminate bombings and abuses against civilians in the Nuba Mountains area of Southern Kordofan. Such attacks may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and are creating a humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the government’s denial of access to humanitarian agencies outside government-controlled towns.
  • Joint NGO Letter to Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders on Bosco Ntaganda
    May 3, 2012

    142 Congolese and international civil society and human rights organizations call on the government of Belgium to provide urgent diplomatic leadership and support to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to arrest Bosco Ntaganda.

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