The earthquake in Haiti has created a humanitarian disaster of immense complexity that brought a massive humanitarian response. However, integrating human rights concerns into the relief operations is essential to protecting the well-being of Haitian victims, especially women, children, and other vulnerable groups.

The vast majority of settlements sheltering earthquake victims have zero security, Human Rights Watch learned while visiting 15 camps in Port au Prince and Jacmel. Even though these settlements hold between 5,000 and 35,000 people each, no one has formal responsibility for what happens inside or around them, and security officers are conspicuously absent.

“It is difficult to understand the SAPS’s reasoning behind their decision to appeal the labour court findings in the case of Captain Barnard. It was found that withholding promotion from her was a case of unreasonable racial discrimination.

“The continued inept performance of the SAPD in running an effective crime fighting unit can be largely ascribed to the lack of management expertise which is the direct result of unqualified and inexperienced persons being placed in responsible positions and then not being able to cope,” says Rev Theunis Botha, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (CDP) and Acting chair of the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).

Abuses in China, Russia, Brazil Show Games Need Human Rights Standards - The Olympic Movement urgently needs to focus on human rights reform, Human Rights Watch said today as the 2010 Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver.

One ugly legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is the continued imprisonment in China of those who protested forced evictions or called for human rights improvements there.

The next Winter Games are scheduled to take place in the Russian town of Sochi, where preparations for the Olympics have already generated concerns about the potential for rights violations linked to these preparations, Human Rights Watch said.

Hundreds of thousands of children are employed as farmworkers in the United States, often working 10 or more hours a day. 

They are often exposed to dangerous pesticides, experience high rates of injury, and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of other working youth.

Their long hours contribute to alarming drop-out rates.

Independent Investigation Remains Essential - Israel has failed to demonstrate that it will conduct thorough and impartial investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations by its forces during last year's Gaza conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. An independent investigation is needed if perpetrators of abuse, including senior military and political officials who set policies that violated the laws of war, are to be held accountable, Human Rights Watch said. 

On February 4, 2010, Human Rights Watch met with military lawyers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to discuss the investigations. While the military is conducting ongoing investigations, officials did not provide information showing that these will be thorough and impartial or that they will address the broader policy and command decisions that led to unlawful civilian deaths, Human Rights Watch said.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government’s latest offensive against the Internet coinciding with celebrations marking the Islamic Revolution’s 31st anniversary. Online access has again been disrupted, as it is whenever opposition protests are expected.

In major cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Ahvaz and Shiraz, Internet connections have been slowed right down, restricted to certain neighbourhoods or entirely suspended in some areas for the past few days. Some mobile phone companies have blocked the sending of SMS messages since the evening of 6 February.