• One AIDS march that should end
    Commentary
    Oct 28, 2011
    “No prejudice against HIV/AIDS patients.” That’s a banner worth walking behind. To make it real in Vietnam will require those walking in Washington to ask tough questions of U.S. global AIDS policies.
  • UN: Report Is Milestone for Reproductive Health
    Written statement
    Oct 25, 2011

    Human Rights Watch joined other human rights groups and health groups in issuing the following statement today following the release of a report about reproductive health by Anand Grover, the UN special rapporteur on the right to health. 

  • Keeping Health Systems Accountable: A Critical Component of the Every Woman, Every Child Campaign
    Commentary
    Oct 20, 2011

    Abeba M., an Ethiopian refugee living in Port Elizabeth, a small coastal town of South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, developed severe high blood pressure during her pregnancy. She went to a district hospital for treatment of this dangerous condition, but left because “the nurses and doctors did not treat me well,” she told me. She had to return when her condition worsened, though, and was admitted. Instead of getting the help she needed, she experienced treatment delays, abuse, and negligence.

  • We Know What to Do
    Backgrounder Briefing
    Sep 13, 2011
    Implementing harm reduction practices widely in the US is not just sound public health policy, it is a human rights imperative. Yet in too many states, misguided laws and policies block harm reduction and prevent drug users from accessing sterile syringes that can save their lives. One such state is North Carolina.
  • 30 Years into the HIV Epidemic, Still Locked Up and Left Out
    Commentary
    Aug 4, 2011
    Worldwide, funding for HIV programs decreased last year, and UNAIDS estimates that there is a $6 billion annual gap between what is needed and what donors are prepared to provide. Until more funding is available, demanding more funds to address HIV in prisons risks robbing Peter to pay Paul. But there is a better approach.
  • US: Court Overrules Anti-Prostitution Gag Rule for US Groups
    Press release
    Jul 8, 2011
    The US Court of Appeals' ruling on July 6, 2011, that the government may not force US organizations that get funding for international anti-AIDS work to pledge their opposition to prostitution is an important step in the global fight against AIDS, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Philippines: Dictating choices, risking lives
    Commentary
    Jun 20, 2011
    Doe-eyed and frail, with a mellow voice and a cheery smile, nothing about Sara (not her real name) suggested she had been through ordeal after ordeal in her 22 years. Forcibly married at 15 to a much older man, she discovered after the marriage that her husband had HIV, and that he had infected her. When her in-laws found out, they subjected her to a barrage of abuse and accused her of infecting her husband. Before he died, her husband apologized to her: Deported as a migrant worker from Malaysia for testing HIV positive, he knew he was positive before he married her. He told her he had not known much, though, about HIV itself, how it is transmitted, or that condoms could have kept him and her from becoming infected.
  • Canada: Caribbean Activists Honored
    Press release
    Jun 9, 2011
    Today, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch will jointly present their 2011 International Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights to the late Dr. Robert Carr and the organization he founded and co-chaired, the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities coalition.
  • Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS and Disability
    Fact Sheet
    Jun 8, 2011
  • Human Rights and HIV Activist Robert Carr Mourned
    Press release
    May 10, 2011
    Human Rights Watch mourns the death of Dr. Robert Carr, an international human rights and HIV/AIDS activist who worked tirelessly to defend the health and human rights of people living with HIV, or at risk from the disease.