Reports

“We Need Access”

Ending Preventable Deaths from Cervical Cancer in Rural Georgia

The 82-page report, “‘We Need Access’: Ending Preventable Deaths from Cervical Cancer in Rural Georgia” documents how state and federal policies neglect the reproductive healthcare needs of rural Black women. Cervical cancer is highly preventable and treatable. In 2020, 194 countries committed to ending cervical cancer globally, the first such commitment made for a cancer. While cervical cancer mortality rates have declined in Georgia over recent decades, they are still high and racial disparities persist.

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  • “The Only People It Really Affects Are the People It Hurts”

    The Human Rights Consequences of Parental Notice of Abortion in Illinois

    The 73-page report, “‘The Only People It Really Affects Are the People It Hurts’: The Human Rights Impacts of Parental Notice of Abortion in Illinois,” is the product of a collaboration between Human Rights Watch and the ACLU of Illinois.

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  • A Case for Legal Abortion

    The Human Cost of Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Argentina

    The 77-page report named “A Case for Legal Abortion: The Human Cost of Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Argentina,” describes the consequences of the Senate’s rejection of a 2018 bill that would have fully decriminalized abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Human Rights Watch documented cases of

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  • “It Wasn’t Really Safety, It Was Shame”

    Young People, Sexual Health Education, and HPV in Alabama

    The 65-page report, “‘It Wasn’t Really Safety, It Was Shame’: Young People, Sexual Health Education, and HPV in Alabama,” documents the Alabama state government’s failure to provide young people with comprehensive, inclusive, and accurate information on sexual and reproductive health.

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  • A Changing Paradigm

    US Medical Provider Discomfort with Intersex Care Practices

    This report examines the controversy over the operations inside the medical community and the pressure on parents to opt for surgery. Once called “hermaphrodites”—a term now considered pejorative and outdated, intersex people are not rare, but their needs are widely misunderstood.

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  • Neglected and Unprotected

    The Impact of the Zika Outbreak on Women and Girls in Northeastern Brazil

    This report documents gaps in the Brazilian authorities’ response that have a harmful impact on women and girls and leave the general population vulnerable to continued outbreaks of serious mosquito-borne illnesses.

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  • In Harm's Way

    State Response to Sex Workers, Drug Users and HIV in New Orleans

    This 57-page report documents government violations of the right to health and other abuses of at-risk populations in New Orleans.

  • Hostages of the Gatekeepers

    Abuses against Internally Displaced in Mogadishu, Somalia

    The 80-page report details serious violations, including physical attacks, restrictions on movement and access to food and shelter, and clan-based discrimination against the displaced in Mogadishu from the height of the famine in mid-2011 through 2012.

  • "This Old Man Can Feed Us, You Will Marry Him"

    Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan

    The 95-page report documents the consequences of child marriage, the near total lack of protection for victims who try to resist marriage or leave abusive marriages, and the many obstacles they face in accessing mechanisms of redress.

  • Breaking the Silence

    Child Sexual Abuse in India

    This 82-page report examines how current government responses are falling short, both in protecting children from sexual abuse and treating victims.

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  • Capitol Offense

    Police Mishandling of Sexual Assault Cases in the District of Columbia

    This 196-page report concludes that in many sexual assault cases, the police did not file incident reports, which are required to proceed with an investigation, or misclassified serious sexual assaults as lesser or other crimes.
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  • Sex Workers at Risk

    Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities

    This 112-page report documented in each city how police and prosecutors use condoms to support prostitution charges.

  • Cultivating Fear

    The Vulnerability of Immigrant Farmworkers in the US to Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment

    This 95-page report describes rape, stalking, unwanted touching, exhibitionism, or vulgar and obscene language by supervisors, employers, and others in positions of power. Most farmworkers interviewed said they had experienced such treatment or knew others who had.

  • "How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?"

    Child Marriage in Yemen

    This 54-page report documents the lifelong damage to girls who are forced to marry young. Yemeni girls and women told Human Rights Watch about being forced into child marriages by their families, and then having no control over whether and when to bear children and other important aspects of their lives.

  • “Nobody Remembers Us”

    Failure to Protect Women’s and Girls’ Right to Health and Security in Post-Earthquake Haiti

    This documents the lack of access to reproductive and maternal care in post-earthquake Haiti, even with unprecedented availability of free healthcare services.

  • Rights at Risk

    State Response to HIV in Mississippi

    This 59-page report documents the harmful impact of Mississippi's policies on state residents, including people living with HIV and those at high risk of contracting it.