The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Human Rights Watch" ...
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"The Torture Tapes"
A videotape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows violent and graphic torture carried out by the brother of the "country's crown prince." A former business associate of the prince's brother released the tapes and revealed that he was tortured, too. The UAE government initially denied wrongdoing, but as word spread, eventually detained the member of the royal family. It is also suggested that the U.S. Embassy in the UAE ignored the issue.
Tags: United Arab Emirates; Human Rights Watch; Sheikh; Gulf; Department of Homeland Security; UAE; House Human Rights Commission
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In Iowa Meat Plant, Kosher 'Jungle' Breeds Fear; Injury, Short Pay
Nathaniel Popper, reporting for the Forward (NY) investigated a Kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, where he uncovered dangerous working conditions, low pay, and anti-unionization pressures that raised questions about the ethics of the Jewish owners of the plant towards their largely immigrant workers.
Tags: Agriprocessors; Occupational Safety and Health Administration; slaughterhouse workers; Latin American immigrants; accidental amputations; Postville, Iowa; union "devils"; animal rights group; health and safety violations; Conservative Jewish synagogue movement; Kosher certification; Orthodox Judaism; immigration authorities; ethics; United Food and Commercial Workers; Father Floyd Paul Ouderkirk; Sholom Rubashkin; Caitlin Didier; Lubavitch Hasidim; Stephen Bloom; "Postville"; PETA; undocumented immigrants; Human Rights Watch; Rabbi Morris Allen; Rabbinical Council of America; Orthodox Union
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The Case Against Saddam
This documentary delves deep into the war in Iraq, gathering evidence against Saddam Hussein alongside investigators and judges. The investigation focuses on Hussein's 1988 chemical attack on the Kurds, known as "Anfal." Under the command of Saddam's cousin, Ali Hasan al-Majid, the campaign consisted of eight chemical attacks over a period of six months and left behind a mass grave in Al-Hatra.
Tags: Saddam Hussein; Iraq; Ali Hasan al-Majid; Kurds; Anfal; Al-Hatra; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; Baathist Rule
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Special report: Forced labor in America
This U.S.A Today investigative series reports on domestic worker abuse. The investigation compiles information on more than 140 cases of hidden exploitation. The main finding is that the private home is becoming the modern-day version of a sweatshop. The first part of the series reveals that "many immigrants hired to work as nannies and maids in the United States are instead being forced into virtual bondage, where some are beaten, barred from leaving and denied basic medical care." The victims' status is often illegal, and they are afraid to disclose the abuse for fear of being deported. Statistics quoted in the stories show that immigrant live-ins are generally paid much below minimum wages. The second part of the series looks at the uncertain justice that victims receive, and depicts their difficulties to achieve emotional recovery and financial independence.
Tags: immigrants; immigration; domestic work; foreign-born residents; Justice Department; Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); Human Rights Watch; lawyers; sexual assault; visas; police; courts; international organizations; CAR
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Japanese Prisons: Brutality By Design
This investigation gives a look inside the Japanese penal system. This report examines the fact that the system often "sacrifices the civil liberties, and the actual well being of its prisoners" in an effort to maintain a safe environment.
Tags: Center for Prisoners' Rights Japan Human Rights Watch Fuchu Prison chobatsu torture civil rights
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The Unwanted Children of Russia
"ABC News 20/20's (story) exposed the institutionalized system of neglect, even abuse, enclosing and stunting the lives of tens of thousands of abandoned children in (Russia.) ... (an) undercover investigation, spending time at a balanced range of institutions... The report uncovers handicapped children virtually imprisoned in their beds. Other, apparently healthy, children are officially labeled as 'imbeciles,' and institutionalized, possibly for life. Babies are warehoused in roach-infested hospital cribs, some for as long as two years, without stimulation, and kept on limited diets to reduce the number of diaper changes required. Strong sedatives are used to control, even punish children..."
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"Norwich Severs Ties With Indonesia"
In two articles submitted on a free-lance basis to the Boston Globe and the Vermont Times (see story # 16096), the reporter traced how graduates from an elite New England military school were serving in East Timor around the time of heated conflict in Indonesia. Several high-ranking members of the Indonesian military's elite special forces who had been accused of human rights violations were linked to administrators at the school. The investigation called into question a United States presidential ban on cooperation with the Indonesian military, and led to the reporter's firing from a daily newspaper.
Tags: Kopassus UN United Nations Norwich University Human Rights Watch ROTC Barre-Montpelier Times Argus
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"Indonesian Army Recruits training in Vermont: Students at private military school linked to 'most feared, most abusive' special force" and "Lawmakers urge probe of Norwich program: Training of Indonesian students cited"
In two articles submitted on a free-lance basis to the Boston Globe and the Vermont Times (see story # 16097), the reporter traced how graduates from an elite New England military school were serving in East Timor around the time of heated conflict in Indonesia. Several high-ranking members of the Indonesian military's elite special forces who had been accused of human rights violations were linked to administrators at the school. The investigation called into question a United States presidential ban on cooperation with the Indonesian military, and led to the reporter's firing from a daily newspaper.
Tags: Kopassus UN United Nations Norwich University Human Rights Watch ROTC Barre-Montpelier Times Argus
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Stolen Refuge
The Boston Globe reports that "the presence of a broad range of people who had been granted residency in the United States despite serious, credible evidence of their involvement in human rights crimes. In addition to the detailed evidence compiled on each case, the series exposed weaknesses in procedures used by the US government to screen refugees; the broad failure by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to prosecute human rights cases; and the lack of adequate laws to prevent human rights abusers from entering the country..."
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"A Family's Terrifying Odyssey," "Eyewitness to Terror," "The Fire This Time," "The Missing Men of Djakovica"
This series of stories, reported by Newsweek's Berlin bureau chief over a six-month period from Kosovo, attempts to put a human face on the tragic events unfolding in the region, both during and after NATO involvement.