Our work has been instrumental in some foundational victories for human rights, including our work on banning landmines worldwide, for which we and our partners received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Below are some examples of our historic impact.

Human Rights Watch in 1997 shared in the Nobel Peace Prize as a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and it played a leading role in the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions.

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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. Our work is guided by international human rights and humanitarian law and respect for the dignity of each human being.

If a court agrees that your human rights have been breached, it can award you compensation, make a declaration that your rights have been breached, overturn decisions made by a public authority or order them to do something.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Characteristics of Human Rights Human rights do not have to be bought, earned, or inherited, they belong to people simply because they are human—human rights are inherent to each individual. Human rights cannot be taken away; no one has the right to deprive another person of them for any reason.

The government does not grant these rights, and therefore no government can take them away. The Declaration of Independence says that among these rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”