• Advances in Fighting Maternal Death

    In a recent report Human Rights Watch analyzed India's maternal health policies in Uttar Pradesh state, which has one of the highest maternal death rates in India. One of our most important findings was that the government was not tracking the problem closely enough - and understanding the scope and underlying causes of the problem is the first step toward solving it.

    After analyzing the data, we recommended that the government track all pregnancy outcomes, investigate the causes of deaths and monitor access to emergency obstetric care. We also urged the creation of a complaints system for women and their families to register grievances and access reparation for harm caused.

    A new study in the medical journal The Lancet says the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth is dropping worldwide. That's good news! But there is still much more to be done. The study estimates that only 23 countries are on track to meet international goals for reducing maternal death rates. It also notes that HIV/AIDS has slowed progress in reducing maternal deaths, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Like Human Rights Watch, the authors of the Lancet article call for reforming healthcare systems and "delivery of interventions to women when and where they need them." Over the last six years, countries like Sri Lanka and Malaysia have managed to halve their maternal mortality numbers. By putting in place the right measures, we believe that other countries - including India -- should be able to do the same.

  • Ireland: Death of Woman Denied Abortion Should Spur Reform
    Nov 16, 2012
    The tragic death of a woman denied an abortion in Ireland should catalyze the Irish government to fulfill its international human rights obligation to ensure access to safe and legal abortions. Savita Halappanavar, 31, who was 17 weeks pregnant, died from septicemia on October 28, 2012 at a hospital in Galway after she was refused an abortion and miscarried.
  • Bangladesh: Discriminatory Family Laws Fuel Female Poverty
    Sep 16, 2012

    Bangladesh’s discriminatory personal laws on marriage, separation, and divorce trap many women and girls in abusive marriages or drive them into poverty when marriages fall apart. In many cases these laws contribute to homelessness, hunger, and ill-health for divorced or separated women and their children. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have recorded significantly higher levels of food insecurity and poverty among female-headed Bangladeshi households. 

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Sexual and Reproductive Health

  • Ireland: Death of Woman Denied Abortion Should Spur Reform
    Nov 16, 2012
    The tragic death of a woman denied an abortion in Ireland should catalyze the Irish government to fulfill its international human rights obligation to ensure access to safe and legal abortions. Savita Halappanavar, 31, who was 17 weeks pregnant, died from septicemia on October 28, 2012 at a hospital in Galway after she was refused an abortion and miscarried.
  • Crisis calls for Bill's swift passage
    Nov 1, 2012
    Busisiwe's story was only one of many tragic stories we heard while researching a report about maternal mortality. But it is a prime illustration of why the National Health Amendment Bill, published in January last year, needs to become law, and quickly. The Bill is designed to address key shortcomings in the monitoring and oversight of the health system. Among other things, it would make several changes to the office of standards compliance, tasked with developing quality standards for the health sector and monitoring them.
  • It's time for governments to finally put an end to child marriage
    Oct 11, 2012

    The first UN International Day of the Girl, designed to promote education for young women everywhere, is the perfect opportunity to finally stamp out child marriage, writes Gauri van Gulik from Human Rights Watch.

  • Bangladesh: Discriminatory Family Laws Fuel Female Poverty
    Sep 16, 2012

    Bangladesh’s discriminatory personal laws on marriage, separation, and divorce trap many women and girls in abusive marriages or drive them into poverty when marriages fall apart. In many cases these laws contribute to homelessness, hunger, and ill-health for divorced or separated women and their children. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have recorded significantly higher levels of food insecurity and poverty among female-headed Bangladeshi households. 

  • More than lies about rape
    Aug 31, 2012
    Voices from across the political spectrum condemned the Missouri Senate candidate for Senate, Todd Akin, for his recent offensive and scientifically inaccurate reasoning to deny rape survivors’ access to abortion. 
  • US: Police Practices Fuel HIV Epidemic
    Jul 19, 2012

    Police in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and San Francisco are confiscating condoms from sex workers and transgender women, undermining health department campaigns to reduce HIV.

  • Distributing, Then Confiscating, Condoms
    Jul 15, 2012

    Over the last eight months, Human Rights Watch has interviewed more than 200 current and former sex workers in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and San Francisco. The interviews were part of an investigation into barriers to H.I.V. prevention for sex workers, who, worldwide, are more than 10 times as likely to be infected as the general population. What we found was shocking: While public health departments spend millions of dollars promoting and distributing condoms, police departments are harassing sex workers for carrying them and using them as evidence to support arrests.

  • Ending Forced Sterilization of Women and Girls with Disabilities
    Jul 9, 2012

    In many parts of the world, women rely on sterilization voluntarily as one of a range of methods for family planning. However, for other women, including women and girls with disabilities, sterilization is not a choice. Forced or coerced sterilization is often justified by claiming that it is in the "best interests" of women and girls with disabilities. But how are those interests defined, and who is defining them? Why isn't there greater attention in protecting women and girls with disabilities against sexual abuse and exploitation? Why are there so few services to support and empower women with disabilities in decisions about becoming parents?

  • Rio + 20 missed an opportunity to bolster human rights
    Jun 27, 2012
    Development initiatives without a clear commitment to non-discrimination and addressing the needs of marginalised and vulnerable communities are wrong in that they violate human rights. But they can also drive injustice, poverty and conflict, and are ultimately unsustainable.
  • Rio + 20: Outcome Document Undermined by Rights Opponents
    Jun 22, 2012

    Global economic troubles are being matched by a recession in human rights with worryingly minimal commitments coming out of the United Nations Rio+20 conference on Sustainable Development, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for International Environment Law (CIEL) said at the close of the conference.

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