Reports

The 22-page report, “‘They Threw Me in the Water and Beat Me’: The Need for Accountability for Torture in Rwanda,” documents torture and ill-treatment by prison officials and detainees in Nyarugenge prison in the capital, Kigali; in Rubavu prison, western Rwanda; and in an unofficial detention facility in Kigali known as Kwa Gacinya. Human Rights Watch found that judges ignored complaints from current and former detainees about the unlawful detention and ill-treatment, creating an environment of near-total impunity.

The 77-page report, “‘Worse Than Hell’: Death and Torture at Chad’s Koro Toro Prison,” documents in detail the detention of 72 people, several of whom were tortured or ill-treated at Koro Toro following the October 20 protests in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, and in several other towns, to protest the two years extension of the transitional government. Security forces fired live ammunition at protesters. Hundreds were then taken to Koro Toro, a high security prison about 600 kilometers away. The transition ended in May 2024 with the election of Gen. Mahamat Idriss Déby.

The 86-page report, “It’s Like Killing Culture,” documents the Tanzanian government program that began in 2022 to relocate over 82,000 people from the NCA to Msomera village, about 600 kilometers away, to use their land for conservation and tourism purposes. Since 2021, the authorities have significantly reduced the availability and accessibility of essential public services, including schools and health centers. This downsizing of infrastructure and services, coupled with limiting access to cultural sites and grazing areas and a ban on growing crops, has made life increasingly difficult for residents, forcing many to relocate.

The 66-page report, “‘If the Soldier Dies, It’s On You’: Attacks on Medical Care in Ethiopia’s Amhara Conflict,” documents how Ethiopian federal forces and a government-affiliated militia have attacked medical workers, healthcare facilities, and transports in at least 13 towns since the outbreak of fighting between Ethiopian federal forces and Amhara militia known as Fano in August 2023. Ethiopia’s international partners should call for accountability and an end to attacks on healthcare and should resume increased scrutiny of the rights situation in the country.

The 68-page report, “Lay a Strong Foundation for All Children”: Fees as a Discriminatory Barrier to Pre-Primary Education in Uganda,” documents how lack of access to free pre-primary education leads to poorer performance in primary school, higher repetition and drop-out rates, and widening income inequality. Fewer than 1 in 10 Ugandan children ages 3-5 are enrolled in a registered and licensed pre-primary school – known locally as “nursery” school – and 60 percent attend no school at all until they reach primary school. Pre-primary education refers to early childhood education before a child’s entry into primary school, which in Uganda is at age 6.

The 218-page report, “‘The Massalit Will Not Come Home’: Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan,” documents that the Rapid Support Forces, an independent military force in armed conflict with the Sudan military, and their allied mainly Arab militias, including the Third-Front Tamazuj, an armed group, targeted the predominantly Massalit neighborhoods of El Geneina in relentless waves of attacks from April to June. Abuses escalated again in early November. The attackers committed other serious abuses such as torture, rape, and looting. More than half a million refugees from West Darfur have fled to Chad since April 2023. As of late October 2023, 75 percent were from El Geneina.

The 52-page report, “‘Girls Shouldn’t Give Up On Their Studies’: Pregnant Girls’ and Adolescent Mothers’ Struggle to Stay in School in Mozambique,” documents numerous barriers faced by adolescent girls and women who are pregnant or parenting, and the problems they face when trying to stay in school. Students also lack or are denied access to sexual and reproductive health information, especially comprehensive sexuality education, as well as adolescent-responsive sexual and reproductive health services, including a wide range of contraceptive options and safe, legal abortion to the fullest extent allowed by law.

The 22-page report, “‘Working On Oil is Forbidden’: Crackdown Against Environmental Defenders in Uganda” documents the Ugandan government’s restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly related to oil development, including the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Civil society organizations and environmental defenders regularly report being harassed and intimidated, unlawfully detained, or arbitrarily arrested.

In the 115-page report, “‘Join Us or Die’: Rwanda’s Extraterritorial Repression,” Human Rights Watch documents a wide array of tactics that, when used together, form a global ecosystem of repression, aimed not only to muzzle dissenting voices but also to scare off potential critics. The combination of physical violence, including killings and enforced disappearances, surveillance, misuse of law enforcement – both domestic and international – abuses against relatives in Rwanda, and the reputational damage done through online harassment constitute clear efforts to isolate potential critics.

The 44-page report, “‘Crush Them Like Lice’: Repression of Civil and Political Rights Ahead of Zimbabwe’s August 2023 Election,” finds that the seriously flawed electoral process threatens the fundamental rights of Zimbabweans to freely choose their representatives. The electoral process has been undermined by the authorities’ adoption and use of repressive laws, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s lack of impartiality, the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s partisan conduct and use of intimidation and violence against the opposition, the opposition’s lack of access to voter rolls, and impunity for those responsible for election-related abuses.

The 47-page report, “‘Our Trust is Broken’: Loss of Land and Livelihoods for Oil Development in Uganda,” documents the land acquisition process for one of the largest fossil fuel infrastructure projects under construction anywhere in the world. The development in the oilfield, which will ultimately displace over 100,000 people, is well underway. Although 90 percent of people who will lose land to the project have received compensation from TotalEnergies EP Uganda, the project has suffered from multiyear delays in paying compensation and inadequate compensation.

The 106-page report, “‘That’s When the Nightmare Started:’ UK and US Forced Displacement of the Chagossians and Ongoing Colonial Crimes,” documents the treatment of the Chagossians, an Indigenous people whom the UK and US forced from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s so that a US military base could be built on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. The UK, with US support, has prevented the Chagossians from returning home. Even though the UK and Mauritius surprisingly announced negotiations on the future of Chagos in November 2022, there has been no clear commitment to meaningful consultation with the Chagossians and to guarantee their right to reparations, including their right to return, in any settlement.

The 59-page report, ‘“Those Who Returned Are Suffering’: Impact of Camp Shutdowns on People Displaced by the Boko Haram Conflict in Nigeria” documents the effect of the shutdowns, which have disrupted food support for internally displaced people and compelled them to leave the camps. The authorities have failed to provide adequate information or sustainable alternatives to ensure their safety and well-being. As a result, displaced people are struggling to meet their most basic needs including food and shelter in the places to which they have returned or where they have resettled.

The 45-page report, The Forever Mines: Perpetual Rights Risks from Unrehabilitated Coal Mines in Mpumalanga, South Africa documents the threats to communities from coal mines that have not been properly cleaned up, the failure of the national government to make progress on addressing the impacts of abandoned coal mines, and the inaction of industry to address the ongoing problems.

The 221-page report, “‘We Will Erase You From This Land’: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing in Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone,” documents how newly-appointed officials in Western Tigray and security forces from the neighbouring Amhara region, with the acquiescence and possible participation of Ethiopian federal forces, systematically expelled several hundred thousand Tigrayan civilians from their homes using threats, unlawful killings, sexual violence, mass arbitrary detention, pillage, forcible transfer, and the denial of humanitarian assistance. These widespread and systematic attacks against the Tigrayan civilian population amount to crimes against humanity as well as war crimes.