A Syrian family sit on the dock side after being escorted into the harbor by the Greek Coastguard who found them drifting offshore on June 4, 2015 in Kos, Greece. © 2015 Getty Images

© Brent Stirton/Getty Images

DECEMBER 2011

THE DEFENDER

Membership Newsletter

September 2015

Risking Everything on the World’s Deadliest Migration RouteUnprecedented numbers of people are crossing the Mediterranean Sea in hopes of reaching a better life in Europe and beyond. Thousands of these asylum seekers are children, often unaccompanied by their parents. In the first 5 months of 2015, at least 1,850 people fleeing from war-torn countries like Syria, Somalia, and Afghanistan had drowned on boat journeys crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa.

The European Union’s response to this migration epidemic has focused largely on trying to prevent or discourage people from attempting the dangerous crossing. But this approach overlooks the reasons why people are willing to risk their lives to attempt such deadly sea-passage in the first place—including horrific human rights abuses and forced displacement due to conflict in their home countries. These asylum seekers not only face persecution at home, but also abuses at

the hands of the smugglers they pay to ferry them across the sea. When migrants do reach European shores, they frequently face closed doors, discrimination, and forced deportation. The EU’s priority should be saving lives, increasing safe pathways into Europe, and ensuring that due process is given to all asylum seekers.

THE DEFENDER | September 2015

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I N T H I S I S S U E

Risking Everything . . . . 1

A Child Marriage Epidemic . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Exposing Drone Strikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

When Gender Expression is Against the Law . . . . .3

Anti-LGBT Laws . . . . . . .3

Partners for Justice . . . .4

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Be a Partner for JusticeHuman Rights Watch is proud to have the support and trust of all of our contributors. Those who make contributions between $500 and $10,000 annually are inducted into our Partners for Justice, a giving circle whose generosity helps to fund our human rights research and advocacy.

In grateful recognition of their exceptional support, we provide the Partners for Justice with expanded information and benefits, including the assignment of a personal liaison within Human Rights Watch

to handle all questions and requests, a personal newsletter from Executive Director Ken Roth, tickets to our Film Festival, invitations to special events, and even a private briefing at our New York headquarters in the Empire State Building.

You can become a member of the Partners for Justice today with a contribution of $500 or more. For information on the increased access to information and insider briefings, please visit our website at HRW.org/PartnersforJustice.

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YOUR IMPACT: With your support, Human Rights Watch has brought international attention to this pressing issue. We will continue to demand that EU governments not only pursue robust search and rescue operations on the seas but also ensure that the right to seek asylum is available to those who so desperately need it.

Learn more at HRW.org

You’ll soon be getting your annual membership renewal from us with your 2016 membership card! Please keep a lookout for this important piece so you can renew your dedication to the defense and protection of human rights around the world.

Exposing Drone Strikes in YemenUS drone strikes in Yemen targeting Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have killed dozens of civilians. However, the US government remains unwilling to acknowledge these operations, let alone apologize for wrongful deaths.

Instead, it has reportedly provided secret payments to victims of strikes, such as the December 2013 attack on a wedding convoy that killed 12 people and wounded 15 others.

The US government’s utter lack of transparency on this issue deprives the public of the right to freely debate vital policy issues, and deprives victims of meaningful acknowledgment of the harm they have suffered.

When Gender Expression is Against the Law: Transgender Women Face Persecution in Malaysia

Anti-LGBT Laws across the World

THE DEFENDER | September 2015 Learn more at HRW.org

Saleh Mohsen al-`Amri of Yakla shows photos of nephew Shaif Abdullah Mohsen Mabkhut al-`Amri (left) and cousin Saleh Mes`ad Abdullah al-`Amri, who were killed in a US drone strike outside Rad`a, Yemen, on December 12, 2013. © 2013 Human Rights Watch

Bangladesh currently has the highest rate of child marriage in the world for girls under 15. Child marriage blocks girls’ access to education, causes serious health consequences—including death due to early pregnancy—and makes girls vulnerable to domestic violence at the hands of spouses and their in-laws. Nonetheless, in a country beset by extreme poverty and continual natural disasters, child marriage is often a survival strategy for poor families. Human Rights Watch researchers found that for families concerned about their land and homes being destroyed by river erosion, marrying off a daughter before they are displaced or unable to provide for her can seem like the most viable option.

Although the official minimum marrying age for girls in Bangladesh is 18, many families circumvent the law by bribing local officials to obtain forged birth certificates. Local religious authorities that perform these marriages are often complicit in this fraud. Successive inaction by the central government and complicity by local officials allows this convention to continue unchecked.

Instead of taking steps to end child marriage, as previously promised, the Bangladesh government is now trying to lower the minimum from 18 to 16 years of age—a disastrous move that will surely encourage parents to marry off their daughters even younger.

A Sharia (Islamic law) court in Malaysia recently sentenced nine transgender women to fines and two to one-month jail terms under a discriminatory law that prohibits “a male person posing as a woman.” Religious authorities in the state of Kelantan arrested the women in a raid on a private birthday party.

Far from an isolated incident, the raid is the latest in a pattern of arbitrary arrests and harassment of transgender Muslim women. Although transgender people have historically been accepted in Malaysia, a series of legislative initiatives enacted between 1985 and 2012 have criminalized them if they freely express their identities, forcing them underground.

With these laws, Malaysia has become one of the few countries in the world to explicitly criminalize transgender people—making it possible for them to be arrested simply for wearing clothing—or even hair accessories—deemed not to pertain to their assigned sex.

Human Rights Watch researchers have found that state Religious Department officials and police regularly arrest transgender women and subject them to abuses including physical and sexual assault, extortion, and violations of their privacy.

A Child Marriage Epidemic in Bangladesh

“ My parents would have never let me get married, but they had to because we became poor. [Our house] was destroyed by the river. What could my parents do? Because they couldn’t even feed me, they gave me away.” —SHARMIN, MARRIED AT 14

TAKE ACTION: Despite the challenges they face, transgender people in Malaysia are not passive victims of their circumstances. A vibrant local trans-rights movement has developed, with community members increasingly speaking out. Because of you, Human Rights Watch is able to strengthen the impact of these local groups by amplifying their work through our targeted advocacy and international media exposure. Stand with us to help support them and ensure that transgender Malaysians are no longer denied their fundamental rights because of who they are and what they wear.

Human Rights Watch monitors and combats human rights abuses against LGBT people around the world. Today, 80 countries continue to criminalize consensual same-sex relations or discussion of LGBT rights. Punishments include prison sentences, flogging, and even death. Despite the Supreme Court’s decisions in 2015 and 2003 granting same-sex marriage and declaring sodomy laws unconstitutional, 12 US states allow these laws to remain on the books, perpetuating an environment of discrimination.

Visit our new interactive map of countries around the world with anti-LGBT laws at lgbt-rights-hrw.silk.co/

YOUR IMPACT: With your support, Human Rights Watch continues to pressure the Obama administration to transfer authority for targeted killings from the CIA to the Defense Department, which is more transparent about its operations. Recent media reports indicate that Congress may finally be on the verge of addressing this crucial issue so now is the time for us to stand strong and make this change happen.

TAKE ACTION: Help us take action before the childhoods of another entire generation of girls is lost. Please contribute to our efforts to pressure the Bangladesh government to enforce the current minimum and back away from lowering the marriageable age for girls.

Sharmin, age 16, holds her one-year-old daughter. She was married when she was 14 years old. Her husband sent her back to live with her parents. He no longer supports Sharmin or her daughter, but occasionally visits them. April 2, 2015. © 2015 Omi for Human Rights Watch

“Jina,” a 22-year-old transgender woman, sports a tattoo of a butterfly—a transgender symbol signifying transformation:

“ There’s a lot of politicization of the LGBT community at the moment, to distract the public from more important issues.”

© 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights Watch

Sentence Category:

Death Penalty

10 years to life

0 – 10 years

Other

Unspecified

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