• The disabled often are denied information about sex and HIV
    Dec 1, 2012
    Over a billion people — 15 percent of the world’s population — live with a disability. These numbers should confer power and authority in decision making about all aspects of their lives, including to HIV and AIDS. Yet people with disabilities have been largely ignored in the global response to HIV.
  • A year of progress in eliminating violence against women
    Nov 24, 2012
    On November 25 every year, a grim accounting takes place: the world takes stock of violence against women, the toll it takes, and progress toward eliminating it. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women has been commemorated on November 25 for more than three decades. It’s a day each year when my colleagues and I focus on the courageous women we have met, the injustices they’ve suffered, and the hope they inspire.
  • Two steps forward, one step back
    Nov 8, 2012
    Two resolutions adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council during the past 16 months represent potential advances and setbacks for the global lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement. One is concerned with defending sexual orientation and gender identity; the other with protecting traditional values. Together they represent divergent views on the universality and indivisibility of human rights.
  • Deadly Aid
    Aug 6, 2012
    When Colombian paramilitary leader Carlos Mario Jimenez, known as "Macaco," tried to reduce his expected prison time in 2008 by turning over his ill-gotten gains to prosecutors, he included on his property list the assets of a major palm oil cooperative. The revelation came as little surprise: The drug-running militias had famously displaced thousands of small farmers across the country through years of massacres, killings, torture and threats, and there had long been rumors that their proxies were developing palm oil projects on the stolen land. Now it was clear that the suspicions were correct.
  • Peru: No More Exceptions
    Jul 2, 2012
    In our research in Peru, we documented the legacy of a policy, changed only last October, that arbitrarily denied thousands of people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities labeled “mentally disabled” their right to vote. This June, Congress passed a new disability rights law to update its national laws to conform to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – which Peru ratified in 2008, one of the first countries to do so. The new law makes clear that people with disabilities can act in their own interest, and when necessary, should be supported to exercise their rights. But for many Peruvians with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, these rights are not yet realized.
  • The Future Women Want
    Jun 19, 2012
    Beatriz understands perfectly that her access to reproductive health care is intimately tied to the economic well-being of her household. Unfortunately, this simple truth is something that some world leaders gathering in Rio this week seem to have trouble grasping.
  • Putting Women on the Agenda in Cartagena
    Apr 13, 2012
    Happening every three years, the Summit of the Americas brings together the heads-of-state of the region to talk about pressing concerns. Over the weekend in Cartagena, Colombia, the theme will be “Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity,” but some of the liveliest debates are likely to focus on discussions around decriminalization of personal drug use.
  • In Argentina, Court Reaches Out to Rape Victims
    Mar 31, 2012
    The Argentine Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month in the case of A.G., a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant after her stepfather raped her, does not decriminalize abortion. But it does humanize the judicial process for rape victims seeking timely medical intervention after suffering unspeakable violence.
  • Bill to fight human smuggling only punishes victims
    Mar 30, 2012
    Parliament is currently debating legislation that would require one-year, mandatory detention for certain migrants arriving in Canada, including 16- and 17-year-old children. Ostensibly intended to prevent human smuggling, this bill in fact punishes victims of human smuggling, including those desperately fleeing persecution and violence.
  • Child soldiers: A worldwide scourge
    Mar 23, 2012
    The use of child soldiers extends far beyond Central and West Africa. Today, child soldiers are fighting in at least 14 countries, including Colombia, Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Afghanistan. In most of these cases, there have been no arrest warrants, no trials and no convictions for those responsible.