Human Rights Watch (HRW) Content Topic Results

This report focuses on the impact of the U visa, which was created by Congress to enhance victim safety and public safety by encouraging immigrant victims to report and assist in the investigation or prosecution of violent crimes.

This report documents 28 cases of transgender women who were held in US immigration detention between 2011 and 2015, more than half of whom were held in men’s facilities at some point.

This 196-page report concludes that in many sexual assault cases, the police did not file incident reports, which are required to proceed with an investigation, or misclassified serious sexual assaults as lesser or other crimes. Human Rights Watch also found that the police presented cases to prosecutors for warrants that were so inadequately investigated that prosecutors had little choice but to refuse them and that procedural formalities were used to close cases with only minimal investigation.

This report describes rape, stalking, unwanted touching, exhibitionism, or vulgar and obscene language by supervisors, employers, and others in positions of power. Most farmworkers interviewed said they had experienced such treatment or knew others who had. And most said they had not reported these or other workplace abuses, fearing reprisals. Those who had filed sexual harassment claims or reported sexual assault to the police had done so with the encouragement and assistance of survivor advocates or attorneys in the face of difficult challenges.

This fact sheet discusses the risks of HIV for people with disabilities, and what agencies can do to respond—through institutional changes at the agency level and in advocating for national policy change.

This report proposes a framework for improving U.S. immigration law that would give immigrant crime victims a chance to seek justice, protect workers, respect the private and family life of longtime residents, and provide fair treatment for immigrants who come before the courts.

The report looks closely at the conduct of the army's 14th brigade as an example of the wider problem of sexual violence by soldiers. The brigade has been implicated in many acts of sexual violence in North and South Kivu provinces, often in the context of massive looting and other attacks on civilians. Despite ample information about the situation, military, political, and judicial authorities have failed to take decisive action to prevent rape.

The report shows that as a result of the law, many cases brought by prisoners seeking the protection of the courts against dangerous conditions of confinement, or a remedy for sexual assault or other abuse by staff or inmates, have been thrown out of court.

This report documents rampant abuses during the operation and provides detailed accounts of the events in four of the 10 communities that were targeted.

This report is based primarily on interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch in the United States in 2008 with individuals possessing direct knowledge of the medical care provided to women in immigration detention. In these interviews and visits to nine detention facilities, Human Rights Watch investigated care for a range of women's health concerns and collected information regarding each type of facility where US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies govern health care.

Most girls interviewed for the report worked 14 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, with no day off. Almost all are grossly underpaid, and some get no salary at all. In the worst cases, girls reported being physically, psychologically, and sexually abused.

Through dozens of interviews with police officers, public officials, criminalists, rape treatment providers, and rape victims, the report documents the devastating effects of the backlog on victims of sexual abuse.