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 ouster of General Manuel Noriega in December 1989 and the installation of the democratically-elected coalition government of President Guillermo Endara brought high hopes in Panama that a long period of disrespect for law and the civil rights of the Panamanian people had come to an end.
For more than a decade, Argentina has commanded the attention of the international community for two widely divergent reasons: atrocious human rights violations, and subsequent efforts to punish those responsible.
Shortly after the December 1989 revolution in Romania, many of the most repressive practices of the Ceausescu era were abolished. As Romanians looked forward to 1990, there was much to celebrate. However, the initial euphoria was quickly followed by a bitter realization that, although Ceausescu was gone, he had left his mark on every institution and every citizen.
In describing the conditions experienced by all major categories of inmates including criminal and security offenders, Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel, and Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Middle East Watch investigates issues of overcrowding, food, hygiene, outdoor time, visiting rights, and treatment by staff, among others concerns.
In advance of Albania’s first contested elections under Communist rule on March 31, we took part in a fact-finding mission from March 7 to March 12 as part of the first team of independent human rights investigators to have officially visited the country.
Despite the checks and balances inherent in India’s democratic structure designed to curb government lawlessness, the institutional basis for the prison system has become grossly unfair.
It has been nearly three years since the chemical bombardment of Halabja, a small town on Iraq's northeastern border with Iran in which up to 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, died a painful and well publicized death.
Middle East Watch Reminds Allied Countries And Iraq Of Obligations Under Geneva Conventions
Middle East Watch is gratified that both sides in the Persian Gulf war have begun to release prisoners of war (POWs) in their custody, and that Allied countries have stated their intention not to repatriate any Iraqi POW who claims to fear persecution in Iraq.
Middle East Watch Condemns Bombing Without Warning Of Air Raid Shelter In Baghdad's Al Ameriyya District On February 13
The purpose of this newsletter, the fourth released by Middle East Watch since January 17, is to provide information and analysis concerning compliance by the U.S. and coalition forces under its command with binding restraints on methods and means of combat as they apply to the conduct of air warfare.
One Year after Reform is Announced, No Improvements in Civil and Political Rights
This newsletter examines the promises of reform held out by the Ethiopian government one year ago, and assesses whether these promises have been fulfilled. Africa Watch considers that few promises were made in the way of increased respect for civil and political rights, and that the small improvements promised in freedom of association have not in fact been delivered.
The report details a range of human rights violations against the academic community, defined as persons teaching, studying, researching and working at an institution of higher learning.
Mexico’s prison system is characterized by massive overcrowding, deteriorating physical facilities, poorly trained and vastly underpaid guards and other prison officials, system-wide corruption, and, most fundamentally, lack of money.
On January 28, shortly after the start of the Persian Gulf War, the Fund for Free Expression issued "Freedom of Expression and the War," a report on U.S. Defense Department regulations that impede press coverage in the Gulf, and on other U.S. war-related censorship issues. This newsletter updates that information in light of developments to date.
Attacks Against Independent Associations March 1990- February 1991
President Fidel Castro's dismissive attitude toward the resolution on Cuban human rights abuses adopted last year by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) reflects the latest chapter in a continuing and disappointing deterioration in Cuban human rights over the past three years.
Human Rights Abuses and Violations of the Laws of War Since the Soviet Withdrawal
For the last decade, Afghanistan has been the scene of some of the most serious human rights violations on record. About one half of the country's prewar population are either refugees, internally displaced, or dead. Most of the abuses were at one time attributable to the Afghan government and its Soviet advisers.