Health

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.

Partners, not pledges, needed to fight HIV

May 23, 2013
Bangladesh’s other workplace catastrophes

May 20, 2013
Easing Africa's Pain: The Need for Palliative Care

May 16, 2013
Ukraine: New Breakthrough for Incurably Ill

May 15, 2013

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Cops Arrest Sex Workers for Carrying Condoms

Reports

Hostages of the Gatekeepers

Abuses against Internally Displaced in Mogadishu, Somalia
Capitol Offense

Police Mishandling of Sexual Assault Cases in the District of Columbia
Toxic Tanneries

The Health Repercussions of Bangladesh’s Hazaribagh Leather

Health

Partners, not pledges, needed to fight HIV

May 23, 2013
Bangladesh’s other workplace catastrophes

May 20, 2013
Easing Africa's Pain: The Need for Palliative Care

May 16, 2013

With the prevalence of chronic diseases rapidly increasing in Africa, expanding palliative care will be essential to help patients live with dignity.
Ukraine: New Breakthrough for Incurably Ill

May 15, 2013

Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers’ approval of new regulations on access to pain medicines will dramatically expand healthcare services for patients with incurable illnesses and reduce unnecessary suffering, Human Rights Watch said today.
Bahrain: Detained Activists Allege Torture

May 14, 2013

Bahraini authorities should immediately investigate allegations that officials are torturing activists in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should ensure that no evidence secured by torture is used against detainees.
Saudi Arabia: Let All Girls Play Sports

May 7, 2013

Saudi Arabia should allow all girls in the kingdom, including public school students, to play sports in school.
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.

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