Archive for the ‘The Failure to Protect’ Category
(New York) – The long awaited national prison rape elimination standards issued on May 17, 2012 by the Justice Department, if fully implemented, may end widespread prison rape in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today.
(New York) – Hundreds of thousands of immigrant farmworker women and girls in the United States face a high risk of sexual violence and sexual harassment in their workplaces because US authorities and employers fail to protect them adequately, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
(Washington, DC) – Colorado’s General Assembly passed a bill on March 5, 2012 that will help keep children accused of crimes out of adult jails when they are awaiting trial, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said today. House Bill (HB) 12-1139 passed both houses of Colorado’s General Assembly unopposed.
(Washington, DC) – The US House Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade is holding a hearing on February 2, 2012, on proposed rules to prevent child farmworkers from taking on the most dangerous tasks. The new rules are intended to make paid farm work safer for the hundreds of thousands of children in the United States who labor in agriculture.
(New York) – The approximately 2,570 youth offenders serving life without parole sentences in adult US prisons experience conditions that violate fundamental human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The United States is the only country in the world with youth offenders (below the age of 18 at the time of offense) serving life without parole sentences.
(New York) – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has ruled that the United States violated international obligations when the government failed to enforce a restraining order against an abusive husband, Human Rights Watch said today.
When it comes to ending violence against women, Puerto Rico has taken a giant step backward. To be sure, the islands have had a comprehensive law to protect women and girls against domestic violence since 1989. But the Puerto Rican Supreme Court has blocked a lot of women from its protection.
(Washington, DC,) – The House Foreign Affairs Committee should remove language that would reinstate the so-called "Global Gag Rule" from the draft Foreign Affairs Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012, Human Rights Watch said today. The "Gag Rule" would outlaw US funding to international groups that provide abortions, counsel women about abortion, or engage in advocacy for
(Washington, DC) – The indictment of a prison guard in a sexual abuse case of a detained immigrant underscores the need for the US government to provide immigration detainees the same protections from rape that it plans for other prisoners, Human Rights Watch said today.
On April 27, 2011, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the elimination of the city’s backlog of 6,132 untested sexual assault evidence kits, or "rape kits," collected through December 2008.
Human Rights Watch submits these comments to the Department of Justice in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking of February 3, 2011 regarding its Proposed Rule for National Standards To Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape ("PREA standards").
The Universal Periodic Review of the United States addressed a large number of important issues, such as the death penalty, mistreatment of migrants, racial disparities in education, access to health care, and accountability for torture.