• Health and Human Rights

    Promoting and protecting health and respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights are inextricably linked, and every country in the world is now party to at least one human rights treaty that addresses health-related rights and the conditions necessary for health. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family.” Download the complete brochure.

  • At Heavenly Ministries Spiritual Revival and Healing Center, some people with presumed mental disabilities lived in buildings with cubicles for each resident and were chained to walls. They could not leave the cubicles without permission of the staff at the prayer camp.
    © 2011 Shantha Rau Barriga/Human Rights Watch
    Involuntary Treatment: The Invisible Health Care Crisis
    In his new report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez, the UN’s leading expert on torture, has drawn attention to severe abuses, such as neglect, mental and physical abuse and sexual violence, against people with mental or intellectual disabilities in health-care settings.
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Health

  • Re: Letter of Support from Human Rights Watch for Bill: AB 336 (Condoms as Evidence in Prostitution)
    Apr 22, 2013
  • Memorandum of Support from Human Rights Watch for Bill: S1379/A2736
    Apr 22, 2013
  • Polluting Tanneries in Bangladesh Face Fines
    Apr 18, 2013
    For probably the first time, Bangladesh’s government has leveled pollution-related fines against two leather tanneries in Hazaribagh, a Dhaka neighborhood so polluted with waste from its roughly 150 tanneries that residents and workers are plagued by serious health problems.
  • Universal Periodic Review: Joint HRW submission on Cameroon with Affirmative Action, Alternatives Cameroun, ADEFHO, Camfaids, Evolve, Humanity First, IGLHRC
    Apr 18, 2013
    This submission, by Affirmative Action, Alternatives-Cameroun, the Association for the Defense of Gay and Lesbian Rights (ADEFHO), Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (CAMFAIDS), Evolve, Human Rights Watch, Humanity First Cameroon, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), highlights shortcomings in Cameroon’s human rights record related to its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. It is based on research conducted in Cameroon in 2009 and 2010 by ADEFHO, Alternatives-Cameroun, Human Rights Watch, and IGLHRC and published in our 2010 report Criminalizing Identities: Rights Abuses in Cameroon based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and on follow-up investigations conducted between 2010 and 2012.
  • The Dark Side of Iran's Drug Policy
    Apr 12, 2013
  • UAE: Don’t Deport Tamil Refugees to Sri Lanka
    Apr 6, 2013
    United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities should not deport 19 Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka because they would be at serious risk of torture and persecution upon return. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has recognized all 19 as refugees, but the UAE authorities have told the group they must leave the country by April 11, 2013.
  • Russia: Woman in Dire Health Is Freed
    Apr 5, 2013
    Russian authorities on April 5, 2013, released a young woman with a severe health condition after three months in pretrial detention.
  • New Police Practices Help Fight HIV Epidemic
    Apr 4, 2013
    Sex workers in San Francisco, Washington DC, and part of New York State can now carry condoms – protecting themselves and their clients from HIV/AIDS – without fearing that police will use the condoms as evidence of prostitution.
  • Italy: Leather Buyers Beware
    Apr 2, 2013
    (Barcelona) – Leather buyers at an international leather fair in Italy should only purchase leather goods from tanneries that comply with laws that protect the right to health and labor rights, Human Rights Watch said today as the fair opens in Bologna. Such compliance should include respecting both national and international environmental standards. Tanneries in the Hazaribagh area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, do not meet these criteria, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Ghana: People With Mental Disabilities Face Serious Abuse
    Mar 31, 2013
    This week’s high-level ministerial meeting about gender equality in international development assistance should promote the rights and needs of women with disabilities, Human Rights Watch said today. Specifically, governments should address the marginalization of women with disabilities in the declaration to be adopted on July 1, 2010.
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