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Spain: Give Migrant Children Legal Aid Halt Repatriations and Provide Lawyers and Other Safeguards Spain’s accelerating effort to send back unaccompanied children who enter the country illegally might subject them to danger, ill-treatment and detention, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government needs to halt repatriations until it has a process to ensure their well-being, and, as an immediate step, give them the same right to an independent lawyer that adult migrants have under Spanish law. October 17, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Returns at Any Cost Spain’s Push to Repatriate Unaccompanied Children in the Absence of Safeguards
HRW Index No.: 1-56432-388-9 October 17, 2008 Report Also available in Download PDF, 176 KB, 26 pgs Purchase online Read Press Release Middle East/North Africa: Treat Domestic Workers Fairly This Ramadan Employers Should Reflect on Responsibilities to Respect Rights of Domestic Workers At the beginning of Ramadan, a month of reflection and fasting, employers of domestic workers in the Middle East and North Africa should take special care to consider the rights of domestic workers, who work extra hours to aid with the month-long gatherings of their employers, Human Rights Watch said today. September 2, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version 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. August 25, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Saudi Arabia: Implement Proposed Labor Reforms Government Should Immediately Abolish Sponsorship System Saudi Arabia should immediately implement its proposed reform to the kafala sponsorship system and extend labor protections to domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said today. Responding to the Saudi government's reaction to a recent report, "'As If I Am Not Human’: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," author Nisha Varia said, “It’s a real shame when Saudis try to deflect attention from abuses against domestic workers by arguing that employers are the victims or focusing only on those women who have positive experiences.” July 21, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Netherlands: Court Rules Pre-Entry Integration Exam Unlawful Government Should Suspend Discriminatory Test Targeting non-Western Migrants The Dutch government should suspend its discriminatory “integration test abroad” – an exam on Dutch language and society – that is required for family migrants from some non-Western countries following a July 15 court ruling that the test is unlawful, Human Rights Watch said today. July 17, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Open Letter to the Dutch Government on the Civic Examination Abroad We are writing in reaction to two letters, sent in your name and the name of the State Secretary of Justice to the Chairperson of the Lower Chamber on June 17, 2008. The letters were prompted by questions to the government from members of parliament Boris van der Ham (D66) and Sadet Karabulut (SP) regarding our recent briefing paper on the Netherlands—“Discrimination in the Name of Integration,” requesting an official response to the paper. July 16, 2008 Letter Also available in Printer friendly version Saudi Arabia: Domestic Workers Face Harsh Abuses Key Reforms Stalled, Few Remedies for Slavery-Like Conditions Saudi Arabia should implement labor, immigration, and criminal justice reforms to protect domestic workers from serious human rights abuses that in some cases amount to slavery, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Employers often face no punishment for committing abuses including months or years of unpaid wages, forced confinement, and physical and sexual violence, while some domestic workers face imprisonment or lashings for spurious charges of theft, adultery, or "witchcraft." July 8, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version "As If I Am Not Human" Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia
HRW Index No.: 1-56432-351-X July 8, 2008 Report Also available in Download PDF, 466 KB, 137 pgs Purchase online Read Press Release A long record of torture By Gerry Simpson, Researcher and Advocate, Refugee Policy Published in New Statesman Online Many Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa since 2005 – possibly numbering tens of thousands – have escaped persecution. They are refugees, although South Africa’s dysfunctional asylum system has yet to recognize them as such. July 4, 2008 Commentary Printer friendly version Sri Lanka: End Internment of Displaced Persons Government Illegally Holding Civilians Fleeing Fighting in the North The Sri Lankan government should end the arbitrary detention of more than 400 civilians displaced by recent fighting at a newly established camp in northern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today. July 2, 2008 Press Release Printer friendly version South Africa: Grant Temporary Status to All Zimbabweans
June 19, 2008 Graphic Spain: Improve Care for Migrant Children Ombudsman Confirms Human Rights Watch Abuse Findings (Brussels, June 9, 2008) - An investigation by the Spanish Ombudsman has revealed serious shortcomings in two Canary Islands emergency care centers housing up to 200 unaccompanied migrant children, Human Rights Watch said today. The Spanish Ombudsman’s office launched an independent investigation in September 2007, triggered by the Human Rights Watch report “Unwelcome Responsibilities: Spain’s Failure to Protect the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the Canary Islands.” This report documents serious human rights violations against several hundred unaccompanied migrant children housed in emergency care centers on the islands. The conclusions of the Ombudsman’s investigation have now been made public. June 9, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Saudi Arabia: Nour Miyati Denied Justice for Torture Judge Ignores Evidence in Case of Extreme Abuse against Indonesian Domestic Worker An appeals court should overturn a Riyadh court’s decision to drop charges against the Saudi employer who abused Nour Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, so severely she required several surgeries, including amputation of her toes and fingers, Human Rights Watch said today. The judge awarded Nour Miyati 2,500 riyals as compensation, or approximately US$670, a small fraction of what such injuries would normally garner in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Netherlands: Discrimination in the Name of Integration Overseas Integration Test Infringes on Rights of Migrants The Netherlands should abolish the overseas “integration test” that discriminatorily targets only migrants of certain nationalities trying to join their families, while citizens from other, “western” countries are exempt, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today. People of Moroccan and Turkish origin – two of the three largest “non-western” migrant communities in the Netherlands – have been especially affected. May 15, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version The Netherlands: Discrimination in the Name of Integration Migrants’ Rights under the Integration Abroad Act In the past years, the authorities in the Netherlands have introduced a series of measures with the stated aim of better integrating its migrant population. One of these measures is the integration test administered to would-be family migrants from some countries before they can join spouses or family members in the Netherlands. This report documents how the overseas integration test is discriminatory, in that citizens from certain countries are exempt altogether, and the test, coupled with increased financial requirements, targets primarily would-be family migrants from two of the three largest “non- western” migrant communities in the Netherlands – Moroccans and Turks. May 15, 2008 Background Briefing Morocco: Investigate Migrant Deaths at Sea Navy Sailors Accused of Deliberately Sinking Boat The Moroccan government should immediately investigate allegations that its naval forces sank a boat in the Mediterranean in which at least 28 migrants drowned, Human Rights Watch said today. May 9, 2008 Press Release Also available in Printer friendly version Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka Human Rights Watch's Submission to the Human Rights Council Major hostilities between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resumed in mid-2006 and in January 2008 the government formally withdrew from the ceasefire in place since 2002. Since then the fighting has claimed hundreds of civilians lives, and tens of thousands more have been displaced. Human Rights Watch has long documented serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by both parties to the conflict. We are deeply concerned that with the ceasefire’s end, abuses will intensify. May 5, 2008 Written Statement Printer friendly version Universal Periodic Review of Switzerland Human Rights Watch's Submission to the Human Rights Council Human Rights Watch is concerned about a number of practices which in Switzerland have led to serious instances of human rights violations that erode the implementation of international standards of human rights protection in the country. Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned about the use of “diplomatic assurances” against torture and ill-treatment and the recently adopted Law on Asylum. May 5, 2008 Written Statement Printer friendly version Universal Periodic Review of France Human Rights Watch's Submission to the Human Rights Council Over the past five years, France has forcibly removed dozens of foreign residents accused of links to terrorism and extremism. Available government figures indicate that 71 individuals described as “Islamic fundamentalists” were forcibly removed from France between September 2001 and September 2006. Fifteen of these were described as imams. Though not a new policy, national security removals now form an integral part of France’s national strategy to counter violent radicalization and recruitment to terrorism. May 5, 2008 Written Statement Printer friendly version |
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