World Report 2011: Your Global Guide to Human Rights

January 25, 2011 Follow us on

The World Report 2011 Launch Essential Human Rights Investigations in 90 Countries The Human Rights Watch 21st annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. It reflects extensive investigative work undertaken in 2010 by Human Rights Watch staff, usually in close partnership with domestic human rights activists. The World Report 2011 also features three essays on worldwide trends: The tendency for governments to “soft talk” rights abusers rather than pressuring them to change, the use of schools as battlegrounds, and the roles of nongovernmental organizations in a changing media landscape. On our website you can browse the World Report 2011 chapters by country, purchase a bound copy of the edition, or download the full pdf.   Check out the World Report 2011 online » Photo: © 2010 Moises Saman/Magnum for Human Rights Watch A Facade of Action The Misuse of Dialogue and Cooperation With Rights Abusers By Kenneth Roth  Executive Director In last year's World Report, Human Rights Watch highlighted the intensifying attacks by abusive governments on human rights defenders, organizations, and institutions. This year we address the flip side of the problem – the failure of the expected champions of human rights to respond to the problem, defend those people and organizations struggling for human rights, and stand up firmly against abusive governments. There is often a degree of rationality in a government's decision to violate human rights. The government might fear that permitting greater freedom would encourage people to join together in voicing discontent and thus jeopardize its grip on power. Or abusive leaders might worry that devoting resources to the impoverished would compromise their ability to enrich themselves and their cronies. International pressure can change that calculus. Whether exposing or condemning abuses, conditioning access to military aid or budgetary support on ending them, imposing targeted sanctions on individual abusers, or even calling for prosecution and punishment of those responsible, public pressure raises the cost of violating human rights. It discourages further oppression, signaling that violations cannot continue cost-free.   Discover which leaders, governments are abandoning pubic pressure » Photo: © 2010 Reuters Podcasts   Rights Watch Radio With Anne Garrels The state of human rights around the world 2010 in Photos 2010 in Photos Read the World report 2011 on our new iPad app. It's free at Apple's App Store, and you can rate it in iTunes.

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