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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPOR T | 2015 EVENTS OF 2014 H U M A N R I G H T S WATCH WORLD REPORT 2015 EVENTS OF 2014 Copyright © 2015 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN-13: 978-1-4473-2548-2 Front cover photo: Central African Republic – Muslims flee Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, aided by Chadian special forces. © 2014 Marcus Bleasdale/VII for Human Rights Watch Back cover photo: United States – Alina Diaz, a farmworker advocate, with Lidia Franco, Gisela Castillo and Marilu Nava-Cervantes, members of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. Alianza is a national organization that works to mobilize farmworker women around the country to engage with national policymakers about workplace abuses, including unpaid wages, pesticide exposure, and sexual harassment. © 2013 Platon for Human Rights Watch Cover and book design by Rafael Jiménez www.hrw.org Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Europe and Central Asia division (then known as Helsinki Watch). Today, it also includes divisions covering Africa; the Americas; Asia; and the Middle East and North Africa; a United States program; thematic divisions or programs on arms; business and human rights; children’s rights; disability rights; health and human rights; international justice; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights; refugees; women’s rights; and an emergencies program. It maintains offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, Oslo, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington DC, and Zurich, and field presences in 20 other locations globally. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH The staff includes Kenneth Roth, Executive Director; Michele Alexander, Deputy Executive Director, Development and Global Initiatives; Carroll Bogert, Deputy Executive Director, External Relations; Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Deputy Executive Director, Advocacy; Iain Levine, Deputy Executive Director, Program; Chuck Lustig, Deputy Executive Director, Operations; Walid Ayoub, Information Technology Director; Pierre Bairin, Media Director; Clive Baldwin, Senior Legal Advisor; Emma Daly, Communications Director; Alan Feldstein, Associate General Counsel; Barbara Guglielmo, Operations Director; Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy Director; Babatunde Olugboji, Deputy Program Director; Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel; Tom Porteous, Deputy Program Director; Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Advisor; James Ross, Legal and Policy Director; Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director; Frances Sinha, Global Human Resources Director; and Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives. The division directors of Human Rights Watch are Brad Adams, Asia; Joseph Amon, Health and Human Rights; Daniel Bekele, Africa; John Biaggi, International Film Festival; Peter Bouckaert, Emergencies; Richard Dicker, International Justice; Bill Frelick, Refugees; Arvind Ganesan, Business and Human Rights; Liesl Gerntholtz, Women’s Rights; Steve Goose, Arms; Alison Parker, United States; Maria McFarland, United States; Graeme Reid, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Zama Coursen-Neff, Children’s Rights; Shantha Rau Barriga, Disability Rights; Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa; and Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia. The advocacy directors of Human Rights Watch are Philippe Bolopion, United Nations–New York; Kanae Doi, Japan; Jean-Marie Fardeau, Paris; Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia; Lotte Leicht, European Union; Sarah Margon, Washington DC; and Wenzel Michalski, Berlin. The members of the board of directors are Hassan Elmasry, Co-Chair; Joel Motley, Co-Chair; Wendy Keys, Vice Chair; Susan Manilow, Vice Chair; Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber, Vice Chair; Sid Sheinberg, Vice Chair; John J. Studzinski, Vice Chair; Bruce Rabb, Secretary; Karen Ackman; Jorge Castañeda; Tony Elliott; Michael G. Fisch; Michael E. Gellert; Hina Jilani; Betsy Karel; Robert Kissane; David Lakhdhir; Kimberly Marteau Emerson; Oki Matsumoto; Barry Meyer; Joan R. Platt; Amy Rao; Neil Rimer; Victoria Riskin; Graham Robeson; Shelley Rubin; Kevin P. Ryan; Ambassador Robin Sanders; Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber; Javier Solana; Siri Stolt-Nielsen; Darian W. Swig; Makoto Takano; John R. Taylor; Amy Towers; Peter Visser; Marie Warburg; and Catherine Zennström. Emeritus board members are James F. Hoge, Jr., Chair 2010-2013; Jane Olson, Chair 2004-2010; Jonathan F. Fanton, Chair, 1998-2003; Robert L. Bernstein, Founding Chair, 1979-1997; Lisa Anderson; David M. Brown; William D. Carmichael; Vartan Gregorian; Alice H. Henkin; Stephen L. Kass; Bruce Klatsky; Joanne Leedom-Ackerman; Josh Mailman; Samuel K. Murumba; Peter Osnos; Kathleen Peratis; Marina Pinto Kaufman; Sigrid Rausing; Orville Schell; Gary Sick; and Malcolm B. Smith. WORLD REPORT 2015 Table of Contents Foreword VIII Tyranny’s False Comfort Why Rights Aren’t Wrong in Tough Times 1 by Kenneth Roth Internet at a Crossroads How Government Surveillance Threatens How We Communicate 14 by Cynthia M. Wong Deadly Cargo Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas 27 by Steve Goose and Ole Solvang Raising the Bar Mega-Sporting Events and Human Rights 34 by Minky Worden TABLE OF CONTENTS COUNTRIES 45 Afghanistan 46 Algeria 53 Angola 58 Argentina 63 Armenia 69 Australia 75 Azerbaijan 80 Bahrain 86 Bangladesh 93 Belarus 99 Bolivia 104 Bosnia and Herzegovina 110 Brazil 115 Burma 122 Burundi 128 Cambodia 133 Canada 139 Central African Republic 143 Chile 149 China 155 Colombia 167 Côte d’Ivoire 174 Cuba 181 Democratic Republic Of Congo 187 Ecuador 194 Egypt 201 Equatorial Guinea 212 Eritrea 218 Ethiopia 223 WORLD REPORT 2015 European Union 229 Georgia 252 Guatemala 257 Guinea 262 Haiti 267 Honduras 271 India 277 Indonesia 288 Iran 295 Iraq 301 Israel/Palestine 308 Jordan 319 Kazakhstan 325 Kenya 331 Kuwait 337 Kyrgyzstan 341 Lebanon 348 Libya 355 Malaysia 363 Mali 371 Mexico 377 Morocco 386 Nepal 395 Nigeria 401 North Korea 408 Oman 414 Pakistan 418 Papua New Guinea 425 Peru 430 Philippines 435 Qatar 440 TABLE OF CONTENTS Russia 444 Rwanda 453 Saudi Arabia 460 Serbia 466 Kosovo 471 Singapore 477 Somalia 483 South Africa 490 South Sudan 495 Sri Lanka 503 Sudan 508 Syria 515 Tajikistan 525 Thailand 533 Tunisia 541 Turkey 547 Turkmenistan 555 Uganda 561 Ukraine 568 United Arab Emirates 576 United States 581 Uzbekistan 599 Venezuela 606 Vietnam 614 Yemen 620 Zimbabwe 629 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH PUBLICATIONS 635 WORLD REPORT 2015 Foreword World Report 2015 is Human Rights Watch’s 25th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from the end of 2013 through November 2014. The book is divided into two main parts: an essay section, and country-specific chapters. In his introductory essay, “Tyranny’s False Comfort: Why Rights Aren’t Wrong in Tough Times,” Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth reflects on a year so tumultuous, “it can seem as if the world is unraveling.” The rise of Islamic extremists, the retreat of hoped-for gains after the Arab uprisings, and the creep- ing frost of Cold War-style tensions, he writes, have prompted many governments to view human rights as a “luxury for less trying periods.” But, he says, retreating from such ideals and falling back on established relationships with strongmen, as many influential governments and important international actors have done, is both myopic and counterproductive. Surveying several of the year’s most daunting security challenges—including the rise of the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS), China’s crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang, and Mexico’s abuse-rid- dle war on drugs—Roth stresses the important role that human rights violations played in fomenting and aggravating those crises. He argues that ending and re- dressing those violations is essential if sustainable solutions are to be found and affected societies put on a firmer foundation. Until the summer of Snowden in 2013—when former National Security Agency con- tractor Edward Snowden exposed details of the agency’s previously secret spying programs—international momentum and commitment to global Internet freedom had been building. That movement has since been derailed by revelations that the United States and United Kingdom have been engaging in mass surveillance—a practice widely condemned, but also increasingly emulated by other countries. The result, warns Cynthia Wong in “Internet at a Crossroads: How Government Surveil- lance Threatens How We Communicate,” could be a “truly Orwellian” scenario in which “every online search, electronic contact, email, or transaction is stored away” in government databases, vulnerable to misuse. With fundamental human rights—including freedom of expression, association, and information—on the VIII HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH line, Wong insists that privacy and surveillance remain on