• Women's Rights Division

    Despite great strides made by the international women’s rights movement over many years, women and girls around the world are still married as children or trafficked into forced labor and sex slavery. They are refused access to education and political participation, and some are trapped in conflicts where rape is perpetrated as a weapon of war. Around the world, deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth are needlessly high, and women are prevented from making deeply personal choices in their private lives. Human Rights Watch is working toward the realization of women’s empowerment and gender equality—protecting the rights and improving the lives of women and girls on the ground.

  • © 2013 Brent Stirton/Reportage by Getty Images for Human Rights Watch
    South Sudan: End Widespread Child Marriage
    The government of South Sudan should increase efforts to protect girls from child marriage. The country’s widespread child marriage exacerbates South Sudan’s pronounced gender gaps in school enrollment, contributes to soaring maternal mortality rates, and violates the right of girls to be free from violence, and to marry only when they are able and willing to give their free consent.
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Women's Rights

  • Canada: Safety of Indigenous Women Under UN Scrutiny
    Apr 30, 2013
    The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted today the report on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Canada’s human rights record, which included a large set of questions, recommendations, and comments from countries across the world about violence against indigenous women and girls. The attention should spur Canada to take decisive action to address the hundreds of murders and disappearances of indigenous women and girls over the last four decades, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Universal Periodic Review: HRW Submission on Bangladesh
    Apr 18, 2013
    Bangladesh’s human rights situation has seen little improvement since its first UPR review in 2009. A key undertaking in the 2009 UPRwas to take a “zero tolerance” stand against abuses by security forces, and bring an end to impunity. Yet extrajudicial killings by the country’s security forces continue with impunity.
  • Universal Periodic Review: Joint HRW Submission on Germany, with Forum Menschenrechte
    Apr 18, 2013
    Germany is State party to most of the core international human rights standards with the exception of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The German Government continues to refuse ratification. This submission further explores the respect of human rights law by the Federal Republic of Germany, ahead of its UPR.
  • Saudi Arabia: Huge Obstacles for First Woman Lawyer
    Apr 12, 2013
    Saudi authorities need to lift the many obstacles facing the first woman to train as a lawyer in Saudi Arabia before she can enter the profession on an equal basis with men.
  • Somalia's Displaced: The Reform Test
    Apr 11, 2013
    The harsh experience of Somalis driven to seek shelter in Mogadiushu 's unsafe camps should be an urgent priority for the country's new government and its foreign donors.
  • It's Not Just About Sexual Violence
    Apr 9, 2013
    Human Rights Watch first documented sexual violence in conflict in 1993 when we published a report about how Indian security forces in Kashmir used rape to brutalise women and punish their communities, accused of sympathizing with separatist militants. Since then, we have investigated and documented rape in conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Somalia, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Haiti.
  • 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.
  • Somalia: Protect Displaced People at Risk
    Mar 26, 2013
    Members of state security forces and armed groups have raped, beaten, and otherwise abused displaced Somalis who have arrived in Somalia’s capital fleeing famine and armed conflict since 2011, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The new Somali government should urgently improve the protection and security of Mogadishu’s internally displaced population.
  • UN: Emphasize Rights in Development Agenda
    Mar 25, 2013
    The United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda should be grounded in human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
  • Letter to the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
    Mar 24, 2013
    Human Rights Watch welcomes the High-level Panel’s efforts to advance a Post-2015 Development Agenda that seeks to learn from and build on the progress achieved through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Post-2015 consultations have revealed a strong international consensus for placing human rights at the center of the Post-2015 framework. The human rights framework unites the core aims of economic development, equality, and environmental sustainability, and its use will ensure accountability for the new agenda by anchoring it in existing international human rights obligations.
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