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Witness: Sexual Violence During Kenya’s Covid-19 Lockdown

Government Should Support Community Activists Working to Protect Survivors

Gladys Koskey, 48, has always kept her home in Trans Mara, southwestern Kenya, open to friends and relatives. But in the past decade, her home has also become an important refuge for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Gladys leads a group of…
Gladys Koskey helps a nine-years-old rape survivor who lives in her home with her writing.
News

How to Hold a Former Child Soldier Accountable?

Dominic Ongwen, Kidnapped by the LRA at Age 10, to Face ICC Judgment

After a four-year trial, in February the International Criminal Court will deliver its judgment in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a senior commander of the brutal rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). He is charged with 70 counts of war crimes and…
Dominic Ongwen, a senior commander in the Lord's Resistance Army, sits in the court room of the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands
News

Stories of South Africa’s Powerful Women Doing Extraordinary Things

From Fighting Apartheid to Demanding Equality for Women and LGBT People

On August 9, 1956, 20,000 women of all races marched through the streets of Pretoria, South Africa in defiance of apartheid. They stood outside the Union Buildings, the government seat, protesting apartheid, and sang, “You strike a woman, you strike a…
Women march on the Union Buildings protesting apartheid in Pretoria, South Africa, August 9, 1956.
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Witness: What They Gave Up To Leave a Marriage

Women and Matrimonial Property Rights in Kenya

Women in Kenya still face insurmountable difficulty when trying to claim matrimonial property after divorce. Here are some of their stories.  Issa B: When her abusive husband left her, she was ordered to return her dowry My husband turned…
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Witness: No Reprieve for Trafficking Survivors in Nigeria

Government Should Provide Victims With Better Support

Adaura now lives in an orphanage, with high walls and gates, despite being 25. She previously stayed in a shelter in similar conditions, alongside other trafficking survivors. The shelters are secluded, far away from the city or other neighborhoods. The…
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Life or Death Choices for Women Living Under Honduras’ Abortion Ban

Women Tell Their Stories

Abortion in all instances, including rape, is illegal in Honduras. Any woman who has an abortion, and anyone found to have helped her, can be charged with a crime and imprisoned. For that reason, La Línea (“The Line”) was a rare resource in…
Lorena (a pseudonym) was unaware she was pregnant when she went to a hospital in intense pain two years ago. Doctors suspected she had attempted an abortion and called the police. She was taken from the hospital in handcuffs and is now facing charges.
News

Witness: Supporting Women’s Rights in Poland Could End Your Career

Teachers Threatened After Taking a Photograph Supporting Equality Protests

Since that day, October 3, 2016, that one simple photograph which first appeared on Facebook, has been splashed over Polish newspapers, social media, and debated far and wide. Some of the women in it have been ostracized by colleagues, seen their careers…
Ewa Wnorowska and her colleagues pose for a photograph in support of women's rights in Poland
News

Creating Neighborhood Schools in Pakistan

22 Million Children Out of School

She opened the school around 2014 in a room in her grandmother’s home. At first, Shazia only had three students, but she went door-to-door recruiting more children, telling parents about the school and encouraging kids to attend. She makes a special…
Laiba, age eight, with Shazia, the founder of the lyari School.
News

The Courage of Women in Mauritania

Tales of Activism in the Fight Against Sexual Violence

Support and Justice - Aminetou Mint Ely More than two decades of activism helping Mauritania’s rape survivors have not dulled Aminetou Mint Ely’s fire. Always dressed in the brightly colored melahfas, traditional…
Rape survivors, NGO leaders, and activists supporting women’s and girls’ rights in Mauritania, Nouakchott, 2018.
News

Witness: Coming Back to School

  “Evelina” (not her real name), 17, looks immaculate in her pressed white-and-blue school uniform and her neatly divided cornrows, as she futilely tries to escape the sweltering heat of western Kenya beneath a shady tree. Her black leather shoes…
“Evelina,” 17, with her 3-year-old daughter “Hope,” in Migori county, western Kenya. Evelina is in Form 2, the second year of lower secondary school.
News

Colombia: Amicus Curiae on Access to Abortion

Honorable Cristina Pardo Schlesinger Justice of the Constitutional Court of Colombia Rapporteur of Case T-6.612.909   Case: T-6.612.909 Subject: Human Rights Watch amicus curiae brief …
News

Witness: Silently Struggling with Rape in Kenya

Widespread Sexual Violence during Kenya’s 2017 Elections

    Judith Wavinya*, 30, was walking home on a cool August night in her neighborhood of Dandora in Nairobi, after spending the evening with her sister. She had to get back home to her three children and to prepare for the new day –…
Judith Wavinya (not her real name), 30, was attacked by two men on the night of August 11, 2017, as she was walking home. They asked if she knew them, threatened her with knives, and took her to an isolated place where they beat her badly and one of them
News

Trapped and Abused Behind Closed Doors in Oman

Tanzania Weak Protections Leave Their Domestic Workers Exposed to Abuse in Gulf Countries

  “Basma” (name changed for her safety) carefully unwrapped the headscarf she had neatly tied on her head to reveal the rest of her thick, black hair. She ran her fingers through, searching her scalp, then parted her hair to reveal a long scar on…
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News

‘They Said My Character Is Bad’

How a Rape Survivor Found the Courage to Fight for Justice in India

What should have been a short ride from one village to another in India turned into a nightmare that will haunt Kajal (not her real name), a shy young woman, for the rest of her life.  Kajal, who was 23 and married at the time, had set out on…
A close-up photo showing the hands of a sexual violence victim in India.
News

Witness: Stripped of Their Brick Home, Living in a Mud House

Zambia’s government should protect families evicted to make way for commercial farms

  When bulldozers destroyed her small home on the cold June morning, Evelyn K. (not her real name), watched, overwhelmed by feelings of loss and hopelessness. She saw the bulldozers level her two-bedroom brick house, making way…
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News

Witness: Hoping for a Child Who Survives

Women in Sudan’s War-torn Southern Kordofan Region Have Little Access to Health Care

When 14-year-old Hassina had still not given birth after more than two days of labor, her family started to worry. She was bleeding and had passed out more than once from exhaustion and pain. The nearest hospital was miles away.…
Mukuma Hamad, a volunteer health worker (L), and James Atai, a nurse, sit at a table displaying almost the total stock of basic medicines in the only health clinic in Hadara village, rebel-controlled Southern Kordofan.
News

Witness: Terrified to Lose Their Healthcare

Women Share Their Experiences, Concerns

After deciding not to push forward with an unpopular and flawed health care bill in March, the US House is considering a new version of the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Yet many women in the US rely on the ACA and on Planned Parenthood,…
Jacquelyn

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