Doula Care for Justice in Maternal Health in Florida
The 62-page report, “Witness, Ally, Advocate, Climate Worker: Doula Care for Justice in Maternal Health in Florida,” found that the state provides inadequate financial and programmatic support for doula care, including under state-based Medicaid plans on which almost half of all women who are pregnant or give birth in the state rely. Doulas are non-clinical health workers who provide expert support during birth and provide individualized information about health care options, rights, and resources. Academic and US government research suggests that doula services can help improve the availability, accessibility, and quality of health care services for pregnant people. One multi-country analysis of evidence found continuous labor support by doulas may reduce rates of cesarean delivery and improve Apgar scores (indications of good health in newborns) and women’s ratings of the experience.
The Transitional Government of Ethiopia, which assumed power in July 1991, has set itself an ambitious agenda for transforming the political structure of Ethiopia and establishing democracy and human rights. The Transitional Charter, the basic constitutional document adopted at the national conference in Addis Ababa in July, incorporates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as supreme law.
Despite insistent denials by senior officials, torture by Egyptian security forces frequently takes place while political and security suspects are held in incommunicado detention. Middle East Watch bases this finding on numerous accounts gathered from residents of cities and towns throughout Egypt regarding incidents that took place from 1989 to early 1992.
Over 70 percent of women in jail in Pakistan report sexual abuse by police officials. Despite the high incidence of rape and sexual torture of female detainees, no police official has been subjected to criminal punishment for these abuses.
On March 1, 1992, King Fahd ibn Abdel-Aziz issued three major laws: the Basic Law of Government, the Consultative Council Law and the Law of Provinces.
The issue of accountability for past human rights abuses gained considerable prominence in the 1980s as unprecedented global political change focused attention on the crimes of ousted regimes. Unlike most of the nations experiencing radical political change and facing accountability issues, however, Sri Lanka’s political system remains intact.
This report focuses on the chronic problem of impunity in Brazil in the context of the struggle over land use and agrarian reform. It highlights four states and concludes that impunity—or government failure to enforce criminal laws, permitting and encouraging further criminal behavior in the context of the struggle for land—exists in these regions and throughout Brazil.
When he took office in January 1990, Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel spoke out against the impulse for vindictiveness in the wake of over forty years of Communist rule.
The Greek government has taken significant steps to improve conditions for the Turkish minority in Western Thrace during the past year. Ethnic Turks can now buy and sell houses and land, repair houses and mosques, obtain car, truck and tractor licenses, and open coffee houses and machine and electrical shops.
On February 10-12, 1992, workers in the Medan [North Sumatra] Canning Company, which cans fish, went on strike. The strike was successful, and wages were raised after labor and management agreed on a settlement with the Ministry of Manpower.
In February, the Dominican Republic's telecommunications chief suspended the Creole-language news program of a popular Dominican radio station based in the southwest region of the country, near the Haitian border. After receiving complaints from Haiti's de facto military rulers, the Dominican authorities barred Radio Enriquillo from transmitting its news program in Creole, the Haitian language.
This report, based on a five-week visit to Mindanao in January and February 1992, provides fresh evidence that the military has failed to control its militia, the Citizen Armed Force — Geographical Units (CAFGU).
Helsinki Watch urges the Spanish government to end its secretive policy with respect to prisons and describes problems ranging from overcrowding and periodic violence to forced idleness for inmates and very limited visiting privileges for a significant group of prisoners.
The Case of Jakarta, Jakarta and the Dili Massacre
Jakarta, Jakarta, better known as JJ, is a weekly magazine which its editors like to think of as Indonesia's answer to Paris-Match and its reporters treat as something more akin to New York's Village Voice. A brash, colorful, trendy magazine, JJ has been consistently on the limits of what Indonesian authorities regard as acceptable journalism.
Violations of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in the Georgia-South Ossetia Conflict
Tensions between Georgians and Ossetians began in late 1989 and by 1991 took the form of armed conflict between South Ossetian and Georgian paramilitary groups. At the root of the conflict is South Ossetia's desire to separate from Georgia and be part of Russia. Throughout 1991 Helsinki Watch received alarming reports about human rights violations in the violent conflict.
Tensions between Georgians and Ossetians began in late 1989 and by 1991 took the form of armed conflict between paramilitary groups. At the root of the conflict is South Ossetia's desire to separate from Georgia and be part of Russia. The armed conflict included the shelling (by both sides) of Georgian and Ossetian villages, blockades and hostage taking.
