In the Russian-Georgian military conflict civilians have suffered disproportionately. Indiscriminate shelling by Georgian and Russian military forces killed and injured civilians and left many homeless. Russian-backed Ossetian militias have attacked, abducted and killed ethnic Georgian civilians and have looted and burned Georgian villages. Russian cluster munition attacks have killed and injured civilians and unexploted cluster submunitions continue to threaten the civil population. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict.

Donors assisting in Burma’s reconstruction after Cyclone Nargis should ensure that aid reaches the Burmese people, and is not manipulated by its repressive government, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to donors.

Tens of thousands of civilians are still unable to return to the contested town of Abyei, two months after half of the town was destroyed in fighting. A Human Rights Watch investigation in June 2008 documented the deaths of at least 18 civilians in the fighting in mid-May, most of them deliberately killed by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) or allied militia.

July 22, 2008    Graphic
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Andhra Pradesh should protect and assist thousands of families who have fled the conflict in neighboring Chhattisgarh. State officials should act immediately to end the government’s discrimination against the displaced people.

The South African government should recognize that political repression and economic deprivation have forced Zimbabweans to flee their country and immediately stop deporting them. Human Rights Watch called on the government to grant Zimbabweans in South Africa temporary status and work rights.

As Zimbabweans head to the polls in the country’s March 29 elections, serious electoral flaws and human rights abuses by the government undermine any meaningful prospect of free and fair elections.

The new coalition government should bring to justice individuals responsible for recent and past episodes of political violence.

Kenyan security forces have a duty to rein in criminal violence and should protect people, but they shouldn’t turn their weapons on peaceful protestors.

Scores of lawyers, judges and other government critics remain detained in Pakistan despite the lifting of the state of emergency on December 15.

For most residents of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, this has been a catastrophic year. The country’s longstanding crisis has moved into a new, chilling cycle of foreign intervention, relentless insurgency and brutal response.

Photos from Human Rights Watch's latest report on drug treatment clinics in Russia.

November 8, 2007    Graphic
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A protestor hurls a tear gas canister back at police in downtown Tbilisi. © 2007 Dato Rostomashvili

Denials, Delays Cause at Least Three Deaths. © 2007 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch

Impunity in India has been rampant in Punjab, where security forces committed large-scale human rights violations without any accountability © 2007 Ensaaf

Anna Politkovskaia was a fearless journalist who sought justice for victims of human rights abuses through her words. On October 7, 2006, she became a victim herself when she was murdered, many believe, in retribution for her work.

Internally displaced women return to the Fata Borno camp from the Kutum market under escort by African Union peacekeepers, January 2007. When venturing out of the camps, women are vulnerable to attack and rape, especially from Janjaweed and former rebels. © 2007 Gary Knight / VII

September 20, 2007    Graphic
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Villagers, forced to flee their homes because of fighting between government forces and rebel groups, live in desperate conditions in the bush without access to clean water or humanitarian assistance. © 2006 Frédéric Sautereau / Oeil Public

September 14, 2007    Graphic
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A group of APRD rebels near Ouandago pose with their homemade weapons. © 2007 Olivier Bercault/Human Rights Watch

September 14, 2007    Graphic
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The mother of a boy abducted by the Karuna group from Batticaloa district holds a photograph of her missing son. Both the Karuna group, which benefits from the complicity of government security forces, and the LTTE have been responsible for hundreds of abductions of children into their forces. © 2006 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch

Clarita Gragasin, 61, traveled to the Koronadal market on May 10, 2003, to shop for some food. She was sitting in a rickshaw tricycle, preparing to return home, when a bomb detonated about five meters from her. Shrapnel from the bomb hit her face, abdomen, arms, and legs, killing her instantly. Clarita left behind three daughters: Zenaida, Maribeth, and Narissa. © John Sifton/Human Rights Watch

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