• A chance for Congress to help Haitian women
    Commentary
    Jan 24, 2012
    Haiti desperately needs legal reform on gender-based violence. Haitian law prohibits domestic violence against minors but does not classify domestic violence against adults as a distinct crime. The penal code includes penalties for rape but does not address marital rape. Women and girls cannot seek protection orders from judicial officers.
  • Hope for Haiti's Women
    Commentary
    Jan 17, 2012
    Women's rights is one example of huge problems and work ahead, and yet it also shows why no one should give up on Haiti. Groundbreaking work is being done to promote the rights of women and girls -- who have suffered immeasurably in Haiti's disasters and instability -- through new legislation.
  • Ending Violence Against Women: A Public Health Imperative
    Journal Article
    Dec 16, 2011
    Sexual violence causes physical injury, disability, and even death. It can result in sexually transmitted disease, poor reproductive health, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and depression. The public health community, including local and international health providers active in Haiti, needs to be prepared to handle the health and social consequences of violence against women, and to work to prevent this violence.
  • 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.

  • Stability of Haiti's Reconstruction Hinges on Women
    Commentary
    Sep 29, 2011
    Conditions have become worse for many Haitian women and girls after last year's earthquake, including access to reproductive health care. Their needs must be considered in every aspect of reconstruction and at each step.
  • Women in the Crossfire
    Commentary
    Jun 8, 2011
    Iman Obeidi became famous in March when she burst into the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli and accused Libyan forces of raping her. She was quickly taken by authorities, but eventually found her way to Qatar to seek refugee status in the West. Last week, Qatari authorities inexplicably sent her back to Libya. She has since begun the process of moving to the U.S., where she will apply for refugee status. Her story has highlighted a growing problem – the use of rape as a tool in war zones. [Note: This interview took place before news broke that Obeidi is headed to the U.S.]
  • Help Obeidy out of Libya
    Commentary
    Jun 5, 2011
    The call was urgent, the news shocking: Qatar, a close US ally and supporter of the NATO campaign in Libya, had forced a Libyan woman who said she was raped onto a plane back to Libya.
  • Liberia: Protect Refugees Against Sexual Abuse
    Press release
    Apr 20, 2011
    Dozens of Ivorian refugee women and girls recently arrived in eastern Liberia say they have had to engage in sex to get adequate food, shelter, or money, Human Rights Watch said today. The Liberian government, the police, and United Nations agencies should take urgent measures to protect and assist vulnerable women and girls, including rapidly building protected shelter and helping them get sufficient and appropriate food, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Sexual Violence in Haiti’s Camps
    Media spotlight
    Dec 27, 2010
  • Saudi Arabia: Reform's Uncertain Future
    Press release
    Sep 27, 2010
    King Abdullah should do more to transform his reforms - largely symbolic so fa­r - into institutional guarantees.